Amy Lawton is a Hockey player and Olympian who was awarded a Tier 2 Scholarship within the 2022 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, and has been promoted to a Tier 1 Scholarship within the 2024 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. Amy has been paired with former Australian Surfer Layne Beachley AO as her Mentor.
Amy was born in Worthing, England, in 2002 and moved to Australia with her family in 2007. She has always loved sports and participated in sports such as Football, Triathlon and Athletics before settling on Hockey as a child.
Southern United Hockey Club in Victoria was Amy’s first team and she soon earned regular selection in junior representative teams before playing for her adopted country as a 16-year-old at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in 2018.
Only a year later, Amy made her first senior national team and played for the Hockeyroos, one of the most successful sporting teams Australia has ever produced. The achievement earned her the title of Australian Institute of Sport Young Athlete of the Year, as well as Victorian Institute of Sport Rising Star.
In 2021, at the age of 19, Amy was selected to play for the Hockeyroos at the Tokyo Olympic Games. An unexpected loss in the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2021 has only strengthened the desire of Amy and her teammates to continue the outstanding tradition of the Hockeyroos at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Inspired to work even harder to improve after their devastating results in Tokyo, Amy and the team collected bronze at the FIH Women’s World Cup and silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. Following these performances, Amy was nominated for Junior World Player of the Year, placing her in the top 5 of U21 female players across the world.
2023 has been another big year for Amy playing in the Pro League, a home and away international series, where the Hockeyroos finished 3rd overall.
Outside of Hockey, Amy is committed to increasing female participation in her sport and helping younger players by continuing to ignite their love for the game. She is also studying for a Bachelor of Prosthetics and Orthotics at La Trobe University and is working at OAPL and Wesley College whilst pursuing her hockey career. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking in the outdoors and spending time with her friends and family.
“It is an absolute honour to be a successful recipient of this outstanding program, particularly with the amazing depth of talent in Australia ahead of the Olympic Games. I am so excited to begin working with Layne Beachley to help develop myself as an athlete, and a person, to holistically improve my performance on and off the field. Not only does SAHOF build meaningful connections and develop young athletes, it is also a program that continues to support athletes on their ever evolving journeys, which is something I am super proud to remain a part of. I am excited for a big year head!” – Amy Lawton on being selected as a 2024 Tier 1 Scholarship Holder
Awards, Honours & Achievements
- 2018: Youth Olympic Games – 5th
- 2019: Hockey One – 2nd
- 2019: Pro League – 2nd, debut
- 2019: AIS Young Athlete of the Year
- 2019: VIS Rising Star
- 2020 (2021): Tokyo Olympic Games – 5th
- 2021: Tokyo Olympics 5th Place
- 2022: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder – Tier 2
- 2022: Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2nd Place
- 2022: FIH Women’s World Cup 3rd Place
- 2022: FIH Junior Player of the Year Nomination 4th Place
- 2023: Women’s International Pro League 3rd Place
- 2024: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder – Tier 1
