Kathryn Lane

"I come from a hockey family. My parents met playing hockey, my gran was president of the hockey club, my aunts, uncles cousins all played. I grew up on the side of a pitch watching my Mum or sister play so as soon as I was old enough to hold a stick I started playing!

"Balancing a degree with international sport is obviously pretty hard! I think the most difficult part for me was the travel because our training camps were a four-hour train journey away. But Charlotte Hale and the rest of the high performance team were great in helping me balance my studies with my sporting commitments.

"The scholarship programme definitely helped me. The financial side helped me fund my travel around the country which I needed to attend training camps. The high performance staff were incredibly supportive, we had regular check-ins and helped me with whatever I needed really. They occasionally acted as intermediaries between myself and lecturers or myself and coaches, which is helpful when needing to have difficult conversations. You often get pulled in a lot of different directions at uni and the scholarship programme helped to maintain the balance.

"It was a great feeling to get the England call-up. A lot of people work hard for years, dedicating huge amounts of time and energy to achieving their goals so it feels great when that hard work pays off! My proudest moment was the Commonwealth Games Bronze medal on the Gold Coast. It was my first international tournament and medal, and I loved the whole experience.

"I think donating to the programme could genuinely make the difference for someone who might be playing junior / age group international sport to transition into the senior squad. The financial side and support makes a huge difference when you’re committing to training at university - especially when you pick somewhere like Exeter. It’s a brilliant university but pretty much in the middle of nowhere so travel costs add up pretty quickly. Eating well, getting the right equipment, physio, psychology support etc can also be costly and a lot of university students can’t afford it without a little help.

"I'm now on the other side of the fence, having recently started a new job with EY in Birmingham, helping to develop the Personal Performance Programme which helps athletes prepare for life after sport. So my goal at the moment is to help make a real difference for athletes within the team at EY."