Amber’s jumping to success

Amber proudly shows off a recent medal at the Australian Little Athletics Championships. Picture: SUPPLIED

By Nick Creely

Narre Warren North teenager Amber Clarke is an exceptional athlete, and one that is certain to make waves as she progresses her athletics career.
The youngster, who is also a talented young footballer in her own right, recently competed in the 2018 Australian Little Athletics Championships on the sunny Gold Coast from Saturday 28 to 29 April, and to unbelievable success.
Competing in the 80 metre hurdles, Amber ran an incredible 12.24 in the Under 13 age bracket, claiming gold and a national record as a result. Determined to walk away with even more medals, she stormed home by .13 of a second to claim the 200 metre hurdles gold medal with a time of 28.10.
Using Sally Pierson as inspiration, the sky is the limit for the ambitious hurdler, who has done a lot of work to get where she is now.
“I started years ago, I sort of just decided to try out hurdles, and I turned out to be really good at it, and I’ve done a lot of training to get good at it,” she said.
But what makes a champion hurdler?
You need to be fast, and be able to sprint, and also have the right technique – you have to stride out your steps a little bit so you can make sure you can jump over the hurdle properly,” she said.
While she looks to the future, Amber is extremely proud of her achievements and hopes it can spur her to continue to thrive in her chosen sport.
“I have an Australian record for my age group for 80m hurdles – I was really happy to get that, I knew I had the Victorian record, but I was shocked to win the Australian,” she said.
“I want to make a few more Nationals, and I’d love to make the Commonwealth Games and Olympics.”
But Amber is also a talented winger for the Narre North Foxes and the first female to be accepted into the Rowville Sports Academy football program, and already has a league best and fairest next to her name. On Sunday, she played her 75th game of football, and also harbors aspirations to make a career out of the game.
“I’d like to make the Olympics and the AFL, some people are saying it’s not possible, but my friends know someone who played netball and also AFLW, so it’s possible,” she said.
“I’ve won one league best and fairest, and I want to win another one too.”