Rising star of hockey

Well done to Carmel College student Kirsten Bottom who has been selected for the England National Colleges hockey team!

17-year-old Kirsten has been playing hockey since she was eight years old and has played for Prescot Hockey Club for five years.

Kirsten said: “I have always loved sport for as long as I can remember; as soon as I picked up a hockey stick I knew this was something I wanted to continue to do for as long as possible.

“I train six times a week with my “day off” being a game day on a Saturday.

“I also take part in training camps down in Cardiff once a month for the Welsh National Squad. I have training coming up in Switzerland and the Netherlands with them too.

“I’m currently studying A-level maths, physics and biology at Carmel.

“After college I hope to achieve a sports scholarship and study biomechanical engineering over in the US. To keep my options open, I’m also applying to universities in the UK and looking to study the same thing here.

“I’m part of the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) at Carmel.

The staff in the sports department have helped me massively over the last 18 months. If it wasn’t for Dan Chapman, Carmel’s Get Active co-ordinator, I wouldn’t have even known about the opportunity to represent the college without being part of a team.

“He also organised for me to compete at the nationals at the beginning of this year as a part of the North West team.

“My TASS mentor, Dominic O’Neill, has really helped me with applications to US universities and he also put me in contact with a number of different coaches over there.

“Dom has worked on a training programme with me to help improve my endurance which has definitely given me an advantage over some of the girls I am playing against.

“It’s a genuine dream come true to be selected for the England squad. I honestly could never have even imagined getting this far but I’m so glad that the work I’m putting in is paying off”.