Francesca Wilson, a student at Kimbolton School, has been registered to play for one of England’s top hockey teams.

Following two successful seasons turning out for Leicester’s under-18s and seconds, the 16-year-old centre half and right inner who lives in Brampton has signed first team forms for the National Premier League club and hopes to make her debut soon. And she has loftier ambitions, too.

“I’d love to progress towards an England trial this season, or maybe next,” she said. “And I am aiming for a British university that plays in the national league or a US university with a sports scholarship.”

Ben Mills, Kimbolton School’s professional hockey coach, said: “Francesca has been an integral member of our first team this season at Kimbolton. She is clearly an outstanding athlete and has consistently put in excellent performances.

“Perhaps, most significantly though, is she is a fine role model for the other girls. She displays an exemplary attitude to training and matches and she really represents what can be achieved by dedicating yourself to a task.”

Wilson, who started playing hockey in Year 3, was selected for the east region’s Junior Regional Performance Tier 1 squad last year and has since played a key role in Leicester’s progression to the quarter finals of the National Under-18s Cup.

Away from hockey she has also represented her school at netball, athletics, cross-country running and tennis. She gained seven A*s and two As in her GSCEs and is now studying English literature, geography, government and politics and mathematics at AS Level.

In the Leicester first team Wilson will play alongside Hannah MacLeod, the former St Ives hockey player, who won a bronze medal playing for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics.