On Sunday, Lilly in Year 8, was one of four athletes announced by the Sunday Times newspaper as having been nominated for a prestigious Sports Women of the Year 'Young Inspiration Award.'

Lilly is a natural athlete who excels in all sports, but her real passion is hockey. She has been playing for her club, Clifton Robinsons since she was 7, and for school, since she was 9. But lockdown looked like it was going to put a stop to all her hockey activity - that is until she took matters into her own hands. 

With all practice sessions and matches cancelled, Lilly decided to put her time at home to good use by recording a daily hockey video and uploading it to her Twitter account @miss_hockey1

Her daily skills started with simple drills around homemade obstacle courses and learning to aerial over a ladder. She then moved on, using online video recordings, to teach herself more technical skills such as drag flicking.

Lilly continued practicing and posting daily, right up until day 137 of lockdown, when she was finally able to get out and start training with local coaches and friends again.

Speaking of Lilly's nomination, Miss Maggs, Director of Sport said, "We are delighted to see that Lilly has been shortlisted for this prestigious award. She is an outstanding athlete who has been representing the school across a number of sports since she joined us in Year 5.

“This year she was part of the hockey team who were crowned U13 County and Regional U13 Champions. They were due to go to the National Finals in March, but this was sadly cancelled due to Covid.

“We would love to see Lilly win this award, in recognition of her sheer enthusiasm, drive and determination.”

This now goes to the public vote! We would love everyone to get behind our rising sports star and would encourage you to vote online here. 

Lilly was also featured recently  in 'bsporty' - an online sports magazine for 7 to 14 year olds. You can read the article in full here.