Holly Grove hockey star named to U.S. national team
Aron Lankford doesn’t have too much free time in her life.
A three-sport athlete at Holly Grove, Lankford spends most of her time during the school year playing field hockey, basketball or softball.
When she’s not on the playing field, she can be found at Competitive Sports Performance (CSP) in Eden, doing what she can to take her game to the next level.
And for the next six months, Lankford will have even less free time on her schedule as she prepares to join the United States U-19 Indoor National Field Hockey Team. Lankford is one of four players from Maryland selected to “represent the red, white and blue in the international playing arenas.”
“I was surprised. I was driving on the way to a game and my sister read my email and told me I got it,” Lankford said. “There were a lot of really good goalies that tried out, so I wasn’t really expecting to get it.”
Lankford was named the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) Player of the Year in field hockey last season after allowing just six goals the entire year.
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Lankford’s group, along with the U-17 and Senior squads, will train through the summer in preparation for the Pan American Indoor Cup, being held in Guyana next October.
Surrounded by some of the top hockey players in the nation, Lankford is confident her resume and athleticism will speak for itself when it comes time to compete.
Her performance in the cage last season led Holly Grove to a regular season title as well as an appearance in the conference title game. The Eagles fell to Worcester Prep in the match, but Lankford racked up 12 saves, putting an exclamation mark on her junior season.
“Last year we were kind of riding off of the undefeated season the year before, but with this and coming up short last season, the push is going to come ... I think when we start playing again,” Lankford said.
As she makes the transition to a national hockey player, Lankford will go from learning from her mother and coach, Amanda Lankford, to learning from the national team's goalkeeper coach, Donna Chung, who represented the U.S. at the 2008 Pan American Indoor Cup.
Chung has served as an assistant hockey coach at Harvard and played goalie at the collegiate, national and international levels. She was also a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Field Hockey Team.
“We’ve already worked on basic movements, and I can tell it’s already making a difference,” Lankford said. “I really want to hear about how she got to the Olympics and what her journey was.”
But Lankford still has some time to learn from the man who's trained her the last few years.
While attending CSP, Lankford works alongside with sports performance coach Dominick Flora. A certified fifth degree black belt, with three state championships and two national titles, Flora trains Lankford in fundamentals, speed, agility and strength training.
Flora is no stranger to teaching successful athletes. Former Salisbury University football player Isaiah Taylor trained with Flora before participating in a regional NFL Draft combine in 2016. Taylor later signed with an arena team in Texas.
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Despite a packed schedule, Flora says Lankford shows up for training eager and ready to go no matter what difficult exercise he may throw at her.
“She does hard work, she’s got dedication, even on days she’s tired she gives 100-percent effort, and I’m super proud of her,” Flora said. “Everything that she’s earned she definitely deserves.”
The next several months for Lankford will be filled with practice, preparation, development and daily training.
With summer break just over a month away for Maryland high schools, Holly Grove’s junior goalie won't have the luxury of taking any time off.
But luckily for Lankford, she’s used to balancing a full schedule.
"My mom wakes me up every morning to do conditioning, even when I don't want to, so I'm use to it by now, and I'm excited to keep going," Lankford said.