Cathy Gilliat-Smith (born 19 March 1981, also known as Cath Nicholson) is an English international

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player who played as a forward for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, achieving 64 international caps. She currently plays club hockey in the Investec Women's Hockey League Premier Division for

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

Personal life

Cathy Gilliat-Smith was born in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and attended

Tonbridge Grammar School Tonbridge Grammar School is a state grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. The school was established in 1905 at the Technical Institute in Avebury Avenue Tonbridge, having only 19 enrolled students. Today, the school is situated in ...

between 1992 and 2000, after which she attended

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, graduating with a degree in

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

in 2004. In November 2011 she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. She returned to playing hockey about four months later, in early 2012, playing for

Sevenoaks Hockey Club Sevenoaks Hockey Club is a field hockey club that is based at Hollybush Lane in Sevenoaks, Kent. The club was founded in 1911. The club runs seven men's teams with the first XI playing in the Men's England Hockey League Division One South and ei ...

in the

England Hockey England Hockey is the national governing body for the sport of field hockey in England. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the United Kingdom. History and organisation England Hockey was formed on 1 January 2 ...

national league. On 4 July 2015, Gilliat-Smith married her partner of 15 years, Trevor Nicholson. She is a teacher at

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a highly selective coeducational independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432, only behind Oswestry (1407). Over 1,000 day pupils ...

. She is Head of Hockey, runs the girls' athletics programme, teaches PE and design, and is assistant to the Housemaster of Johnsons House as well as tutoring the Middle School boys of Johnsons.

Career

Gilliat-Smith was selected for the England Women's U21 squad to play in the Junior Nations Cup in 2002 European Junior (Women) Nations Cup in Jaen, Spain and was a member of the England U21 squad that toured South Africa in early 2001. She made her senior international debut for

in 2002. With the England team at the Eurohockey Nations Championships she twice won bronze medals – in Dublin in 2005 and in Manchester in 2007. She was in the squad that won a bronze medal in the 2006 Melbourne

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. She has played for a number of Investec Women's Hockey League clubs including Loughborough Students, Chelsmford,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and

. In 2020 Gilliat-Smith made her Stoolball debut for Weald, scoring 95 runs.

References

External links

Sevenoaks Hockey Club

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilliat-Smith, Cathy 1981 births Living people English female field hockey players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Field hockey players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games People from Sevenoaks People educated at Tonbridge Grammar School Commonwealth Games medallists in field hockey Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games