Green Lights All The Way For Soccer Star Amber by Jeremy Ruane Caution is a word one normally associates with the colour amber, but it’s something which is thrown to the wind where Auckland women’s soccer star Amber Hearn is concerned. Instead, it’s green lights all the way for the powerfully built attacking midfielder, one of the driving forces in the "A Team"’s quest to win the National Women’s Soccer League again, and someone who knows exactly what she wants out of life. "My dad took me along to play soccer when I was four", she recalls some fifteen-odd years later. "I remember I cried in my first game!! But I’ve since grown to love it, and I still do, very much". As is evident in her performances, and in the rewards she has gained for same, particularly with her club side, the champion Lynn-Avon United combination. "We’ve taken everything out - the league, the Uncle Toby’s Women’s Knockout Cup … even the top goalscorer award!", says the young lady who made her senior debut as a substitute in the 2000 Uncle Toby’s Final, when Lynn-Avon walloped Wairarapa United 6-0. Since then, Amber has amassed three league championship winners’ medals, and another two cup gongs, and in that three year spell, has leapt to eighth on the all-time list of Lynn-Avon’s goalscorers, having struck thirty-three goals for her club, twenty-seven of which have come in league combat, including two hat-tricks. But it’s her representative goalscoring feats which are even more noteworthy. She made her New Zealand debut at Under-17 level, at the 2000 Australian State Youth Championships in Brisbane in July, and scored two goals against Tasmania during the tournament. Later that year, she played for Auckland in the Northern Regional Under-17 Tournament, and smashed twenty-two goals in just five matches, including a stunning nine-goal haul against Waitakere. If you think that’s impressive, wait - there’s more!! For after scoring four goals for the Auckland Under-19s at the 2000 National Tournament at that age level, Amber amassed a score more goals a year later in the same competition, a staggering eleven of her twenty-four goal haul coming in a 17-0 win over Southern Soccer. Appearances for the national Under-19 combination at the 2001 National Tournament, then an international quadrangular tournament involving representatives from South Australia and Queensland saw Hearn add three more goals to her collection, before she finally got the chance to represent her country on the international stage at this age level, at the Oceania Under-19 Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Tonga. While the Junior SWANZ bombed out in the final of that competition, against the old enemy from west of divide, it wasn’t for the want of trying on Amber’s part. Her ten-goal haul topped the New Zealand scoring charts, half of this tally coming against the host nation in round-robin play. Having served her apprenticeship in age-grade action, the senior scene is now Hearn’s bread-and-butter, and while she has yet to score for the "A Team" in her four appearances to date, she is more concerned with satisfying her main goal. "I’m really pushing myself to try and make the Olympics squad going to Vanuatu next March, and to do so would just be awesome!", says the quietly-spoken accountant. "I’m quite a maths freak!!", she giggles, when prompted further. "But I’ve made enquiries about becoming a police officer recently, and plan to follow those up after a trip overseas, which I’m anticipating making in a couple of years. Reflecting on her career to date, Amber is keen to sing the praises of a handful of people. "My parents have been a big influence on my career, for the support they’ve given me, while Dave Parkinson, my first women’s coach, is another. And Maia Jackman, too - achieving what she did in China last year has been a big inspiration to me, and has helped push me to better myself as a player. "I’d love to crown my debut season at senior representative level by adding a National Women’s Soccer League championship winners’ medal to my collection in the next couple of weeks", the talented playmaker muses. "But as things stand right now, I’ve pretty much got my life the way I want it", declares Amber, unquestionably one of the brightest stars on the women’s soccer scene. NB  Amber did more than crown her debut season for the "A Team" with a National Women's Soccer League winners' medal - she was named National League Player of the Year to boot!!

National Women's League Player of the Year, 2003 Photo by Grant Stantiall Photo by Grant Stantiall NZ International Women's Player of the Year, 2004