SAM KERR TRAINING WHEELS
Australian soccer ace Sam Kerr prefers to be in charge behind the wheel. The Matildas and Perth Glory forward hates flying and much prefers to drive if she can.
Kerr says her preference for driving is all about being in control of your destiny.
“Everyone always says that more people die in cars than on aeroplanes but when I’m driving I’m in control so it is my fault. I much prefer that than just sitting in the back waiting for what’s going to happen,” Kerr says.
Kerr’s love of cars started from an early age with the family’s big blue van. The youngest of four children, Kerr has fond memories of being crammed in the back with the captain-style chairs that reclined and turned around.
Competing with a flock of older siblings and facing long commutes to training, Kerr was quick to get her licence.
“Mum was keen to get me driving so I could take myself to training. She was doing three-hour, four-hour trips,” she says.
Her first car was a preloved Mazda3 that her mother bought from a friend. It had to be an automatic as Kerr had never learned to drive a manual.
Kerr takes pride in being a safe driver — but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.
“I’ve never been in an accident but a friend did crash my first car,” she says. She tried to take the blame for the friend’s blunder but her mum got wise to it.
“Mum was actually happy because (the driver) was 25 which (for the insurance) turned out better for us anyway,” she says.
But now thanks to Hyundai, Kerr gets around town in a Tucson mid-size SUV. The prolific goal scorer first got a taste for the Tucson when she hired one in the US on holidays and reckons that its size and convenience made it one of the highlights of her trip.
Kerr loves the Tucson as her everyday car but she has a keen idea on what she would be driving if money was no option.
“I like having really, really nice things but also things that suit my lifestyle,” she says. “But if I won lotto I’d have my business car which would be a Range Rover Sport or an Evoque. And then I’d have my weekend car which would be a Jeep Wrangler that I could chuck my dogs in and go to the beach.”
The West Australian native regularly hits the road up and down the coast from Perth to check the beaches or to go camping. She plans to stretch her driving legs even further.
“I love getting down the coast of WA and it is crazy that we always go on holidays outside Australia when our own backyard is so beautiful,” she says
Her itinerary for a big trip includes Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region in the state’s northwest
Kerr says she is usually pretty unflappable on the road but particular things annoy her.
“I hate when people have their indicator on but they are not actually changing lanes,” she says.
“It causes people to slow down to let them in and it is just super annoying.
“I’m a pretty calm driver. I’m never in a rush to get anywhere and I have a pretty relaxed lifestyle. I can get angry but usually that is at people doing dangerous things.
“I love pulling up next to someone at the lights and smiling at them ... they have been weaving in and out of traffic and you still catch them.”