Cardiff and Vale College student Rhys Payne has taken a step closer to being selected for the Wales Hockey senior team.

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The 17-year-old Level 3 Sport student has been asked to train with the Wales Hockey 21s senior men’s squad. He has been playing in goal for Wales since the age of 13, when he was part of the U18s team.

“It’s nice to see my hard work pay off – this is only the beginning of where I want to be,” Rhys said. “I feel honoured and I’m looking forward to more hard so I can get selected for matches.”

Rhys is currently playing for the U21s Welsh hockey team and is looking forward to competing in the U21 Europe competition later this year.

“It should be fun,” he said. “I was at the U16 Europe competition where we won gold so it will be nice to go back.”

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Rhys also plays in goal for the Cardiff Met hockey team, and has been involved in coaching with the university’s youth team.

“I want a career in hockey coaching,” Rhys said. “I would like to be a full-time hockey coach.

“My course at the College is definitely helping me with my career. I’m learning about psychology which is important to a goal keeper in hockey and it has elements of coaching in it as well which is I want to go on to study in university – sport coaching. That’s really important to me it’s good.”

CAVC Sport Lecturer Kayley John said: “As a department we are all very proud of Rhys and his achievements. He balances his commitments to Welsh hockey with impeccable attendance and is a credit to the College.”