Being an athlete while juggling a full load of classes is an ongoing challenge, but FCHS senior Abigail Ford is one student who manages to rise to that challenge all year-long.
Ford has been named second-team All-District for field hockey, and second-team All-District, second-team All-Region, and second-team All-Central Virginia for soccer. She has also qualified three times for Regionals and twice for States for swimming. She has received all of these accolades during her high school career, and her success appears to have endured not only due to natural talent, but also pure determination and a high level of commitment.
Ford wants to end her high school career on a high note. She hopes that success in her senior year will transcend into some form of competition at the collegiate level.
“I’m considering officially continuing my athletics [most likely soccer] in college, but I’m not entirely sure if I will, as I plan to place priority on my academics,” she said. “If I don’t play for the actual school, I’ll more than likely end up playing club soccer, playing field hockey recreationally, and continuing to coach swim during the summer,” she added.
Ford’s commitment to field hockey, in particular, stemmed from the influence of her friends, who encouraged her to start playing the sport. “I started playing field hockey to stay active, spend more time with my friends, and challenge myself with a new sport. However, over the short time I played, it became much more and I truly loved the sport and environment,” she said.
As the field hockey season has ended, Ford likes to focus on the positives even though the team didn’t have a classical “winning” season. “Although our record wasn’t the greatest, I feel we had a pretty successful season. I’m very proud of everyone involved as we grew a lot technically and the skills of everyone in the program improved greatly. [We played some] very talented teams, so our growth and depth aren’t accurately reflected in our record,” she said.
Lack of motivation appears to be no issue for Ford, as being a team player and having a positive morale are key to her commitment. “I participate in a lot of team sports and the success of my team as a whole keeps me motivated. I don’t want to fail my teammates or my coaches, so I use that as motivation to keep working and giving my all,” she said.
While her current focus is on the swim season which has just kicked off, Ford is also already keeping an eye on the upcoming soccer season. “After losing some vital seniors, we’re going to have to go through a phase of rediscovering our identity. But once we get through that I think we’ll have a solid team and could have a very successful season,” she said.
