Sophie Charlotte Bray, MBE (born 12 May 1990) is an English international field hockey player who played as a forward for England and Great Britain.[1][2]

Sophie Bray
MBE
Personal information
Born (1990-05-12) 12 May 1990 (age 34)
Grasse, France
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight 61 kg (134 lb)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club East Grinstead
National team
Years Team Caps Goals
2013–2019 England 86 (28)
2014–2019 Great Britain 48 (16)
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
Representing  England
European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2015 London
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Amstelveen
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Brisbane Team

She currently plays club hockey in the Investec Women's Hockey League Premier Division for East Grinstead.

Personal life

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Bray lives in Claygate, Surrey but was born in France where her father worked as a marketing consultant. Back in England she played tennis and football at local clubs, representing Surrey at tennis aged 11. She gave up playing tennis and played football for Fulham Ladies, because she preferred a team sport. She was educated at Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames joining Surbiton Hockey Club during her time at the school, initially playing for the colts aged 16, before progressing to the senior team.

She attended the University of Birmingham where she studied psychology.[3][4]

Career

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Bray competed for England in the women's hockey tournament at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a silver medal,[5] and was a member of the Investec sponsored winning team at the EuroHockey Championships in 2015.

In 2016, she competed for Team GB in the women's Olympic field hockey tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where Team GB won gold in the final against the Netherlands after a penalty shoot out.

Bray was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to hockey.[6][7]

Bray has also played for Surbiton, Uni of Birmingham and in the Netherlands for MOP Hockey Club, Vught, near Eindhoven and most recently Kampong.

On 4 February 2019, Bray announced her retirement from international hockey. During her international career she scored 44 goals and made 134 appearances for England and Great Britain.[8]

Honours and achievements

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International

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Great Britain

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England

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Individual

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  • Investec Women's Hockey League Player of the Season 2018–2019[14]

References

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  1. ^ Team England profile
  2. ^ "Sophie Bray - GB Hockey". www.greatbritainhockey.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019.
  3. ^ Bray on the England Hockey website
  4. ^ "Hockey, tennis, soccer, she's a star at them all". 8 February 2009. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Sophie Bray biography". Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  6. ^ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N16.
  7. ^ "New Year's Honours list 2017" (PDF). Gov.uk. Government Digital Service. 30 December 2016. p. 48. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Sophie Bray: Rio Olympic gold medallist retires from international hockey". BBC. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Rio 2016 Olympics hockey results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  10. ^ "EuroHockey Championships 2015: Results and tables". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Glasgow 2014: Australia beat England in shootout to win gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  12. ^ "England lose tense women's hockey semi-final against New Zealand". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Eurohockey 2017: men's and women's results & standings". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Players and teams of the year voting results announced". englandhockey.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
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