Lilia Payne

My hockey background

I started playing aged 6 at Bury St Edmunds Hockey Club. Whilst at the club I captained my team throughout all the youth age groups. As well as this, using my level 1 England Hockey coaching qualification, I coached all the youth age groups in my final two seasons at the club, helping the u14s to a national title as the assistant coach in 2022. I have played for the first team since I was thirteen, helping them to promotion in my final season, before deciding to leave the club to challenge myself more, joining Cambridge City Hockey Club and making my National League debut in September. This opportunity has allowed me to grow as a player as my understanding of the game has hugely developed since training and playing with the womens 1s.

Outside of club hockey, at age 12 I started playing for my county, Suffolk, in a central defence position and at sixteen I moved on to playing for the England Hockey East Talent Academy in a midfield and forward position, representing them at the 2024 England Hockey Talent Academy cup. Additionally to this, I am a sports scholar at my school and have always played for my school first team as well as captaining the team this year.

In every team I have been a part of, my role on the team has varied, from putting myself out of my comfort zone and playing forward at Cambridge City first team, to playing holding midfield for school, which has taught me discipline and the skills of being a leader on the pitch. I have found that my experience as a coach has helped me with this as I find it easy to bring out the best in my teammates and motivate them. This has taught me many new skills which has allowed me to be flexible on the pitch and open to new challenges. 

Within the game, my strengths involve my pace and my constant pre-scanning which allows me to receive the ball and make quick decisions as well as executing highly accurate fast passes across the pitch. In addition to this, my play making ability on the pitch helps me to eliminate opposition, partially with the use of intricate 3D skills, which helps me to create goals, assists, and winning penalty corners for the team. 

Outside of hockey, I enjoy running, having completed the Bath half marathon in sub 2-hours to raise money for charity as well as having strength and conditioning training multiple times a week as part of my school program. 

Why I want to play college hockey in the US

I think it would be a great experience to challenge myself and my hockey game as well as playing with other hockey players from potentially multiple nationalities.