Whangarei football player Hannah Wilkinson's life has changed a lot in the past couple of months but the 17-year-old wouldn't have it any other way.
Wilkinson arrived back from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Saturday after taking part in the Football Ferns' best ever international showing at the Cyprus Cup,
where they reached the final of the eight-team contest.
Wilkinson was still obviously very proud of the team's efforts.
"It was awesome, it was absolutely fantastic once we made that final - it's hard to describe, it was just so good," she said yesterday.
New Zealand beat Scotland 3-0 to reach the final against Canada but lost 0-1 in a close contest.
"We had a lot of chances and we could have won just as easily as they did, when they slipped in a goal against us," she said.
New Zealand are sure to leap ahead in the FIFA rankings, announced this month, after they beat 11-ranked Italy and drew with the Netherlands.
After playing her first U20 international in January, the rise to the top has been meteoric for Wilkinson. After debuting for the national women's side last month against Australia, she now has six full caps after appearing in all of the Cyprus Cup matches.
"I was pretty stoked to get on for every game especially in the final where they gave me 20 minutes' game time," she said.
Her next focus will be gaining selection for the U20 World Cup squad in Germany in July.
Wilkinson said it was good to be back with her family but she was still suffering from the effects of travelling.
Today she faces a different challenge - leaving home.
She will shift down to Auckland, where she will study physiotherapy part-time at AUT - and play football the rest of the time.
"I move into my flat tomorrow, so it's all go at the moment. I've had to enrol part-time at university so I can fit in my training," she said.
The learning curve continues to steepen for the footballer but she has already shown she has the ability to adapt to whatever challenge is thrown her way.
