Meet the Coaching Staff

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Meet the Coaching Staff

Varsity Head Coach: Alaina Hearon (Flanagan)

Email: aflanagan@jacksonsd.org

This is Coach Hearon’s second year as the Head Coach of the Lions.  For the past five years, she dedicated her time by serving as the team’s assistant coach.  She is excited to continue her role as she has always dreamt of leading this team, ever since she had the opportunity to play for the Lions during her high school playing days.  Drawing upon her experiences from high school and collegiate athletics, Coach Hearon’s mission is to provide a positive, challenging, and fair experience for her players.  Through her leadership, the mindset of “I can’t and I won’t” will be dramatically altered to WE CAN and WE WILL! 

Varsity Assistant Coach:  Dana Costello

Email: dcostello@jacksonsd.org

Coach Costello is a former Monmouth University Student Athlete. She has seven years of coaching experience this is her second year with Jackson Liberty. Coach Costello is the head girls soccer coach as well as assistant girls basketball coach. She is excited to be back coaching in Jackson as well as teaching Health and Physical Education. Being a former Jackson Memorial alumni, It has been her goal to come back to Jackson to coach and teach in a district that gave her so much. Coach Costello is looking forward to creating legendary sports programs at Jackson Liberty.

 
"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them" - Michael Jordan

 

Freshman & Varsity Assistant: Lacey Smicklo

Email: lsmicklo@jacksonsd.org

Coach Smicklo has been coaching for over 20 years.  Her coaching career started at Kean University as a student assistant for the women's soccer program.  After college, she got a job teaching Health and PE at Riverdale Middle School, where she also coached basketball and softball.  Finally, she landed herself here in Jackson.  She started as an assistant for both the JMHS girls soccer and softball programs.  When JLHS opened,  she became the first head girls soccer coach and moved her softball and basketball positions here to be a lion.
She has been coaching with the girls basketball program for the last 12 years.
 
"Mental toughness is when you can find fuel in an empty tank."

 

Volunteer Assistant Coach: April Szymczyk

Email: aszymczyk31@gmail.com

This is Coach Szymczyk's secondyear coaching with the Lions. Coach Szymczyk is a 2013 graduate of Jackson Liberty High School. After high school she went on to play for both Ocean County College and Rowan University, where she scored a combined 1500+ points and grabbed over 1000 rebounds. Coach Szymczyk graduated this past Spring from Rowan University with a Health and Physical Education degree and a 3.8 GPA. She is looking forward to bringing her experiences from years as a student athlete to the Jackson Liberty Girls Basketball program. She understands the importance of academics as well as athletics and is excited to help our girls grow into the best people and athletes that they can be. It's an honor to be able to give back to a program that helped make me who I am today.