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Sports

Former Ridge Soccer Star Expected to be Top Draft Pick

Ridge Alum Tobin Heath will enter the Women's Professional Soccer draft on Friday after completing a successful collegiate career that included three national championships and an Olympic Gold medal.

What began with a little girl's love of kicking the ball around has become a professional soccer career for one Ridge alumna.

Tobin Heath, who grew up playing soccer in local community programs and graduated from Ridge High School in 2006, is expected to be one of the top draft choices in the Women's Professional Soccer draft on Friday.

Heath said she is excited about her transition to professional soccer, even though she does not know exactly where she could end up after the draft.

"I'll figure out where I'll be spending from March until August with some city, and a new team for me, which is really exciting, and that will be most of my 2010," Heath said. "I'm really not that picky when it comes to where I'll play because I know when I get drafted that's where I'm supposed to be."

Although Heath never dreamed of being a professional soccer player as a child, now that her collegiate career is ending, she is ready to play at the next level, as a professional, and hopes to continue playing on the national team as well.

On Dec. 23, U.S. Soccer named her Young Female Athlete of the Year Award Winner for 2009, an honor they have been giving for over 20 years.

Last month she also won her third national championship with UNC, where she has played throughout her four years of college. She also played this past year on the full Women's National Team, becoming an Olympic gold medalist in 2008 with the U.S. women's soccer team. She has also played in the past on the U-23 women's national team.

But what has become a distinguished collegiate and budding professional career for Heath began when she was just a little girl playing in community programs.

Heath first began playing soccer at age four in the back of the Somerset Hills YMCA. She went on to play on local recreational teams and then for Somerset Hills at age seven. During this time she met her coach, Bernardsville resident Tom Anderson, who continued to coach her through the years to come.

It was Anderson who wanted to create a more competitive club for Heath to play in, so he started a team for the Player's Development Academy. "I still consider him my coach," Heath said.

Heath went on to play on the girls' soccer team at Ridge her first three years of high school.

"It seems like so long ago that I played high school soccer, and I remember that our team was really competitive and it was a really fun experience for me getting to play with all my friends from school," she said.

Heath credits her experiences growing up in the area to her ability to go on to play soccer in college, and soon, professionally.

"I was really fortunate living here in Basking Ridge because New Jersey is actually one of the top states in the country for soccer, specifically women's soccer," she said. "I was given all the resources at a young age to succeed—great teams, great coaches who believed in me and who I'm still connected with today."

She credits the faithfulness and loyalty of her coaches and the level of intense competition in New Jersey in her formation as a player.

"It made me the player I am today because without that driving force it wouldn't have been possible," she said. "I'm just extremely fortunate that I grew up here from a young age, to become the best player I could be."

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