Payton Lumley '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Payton Lumley and I am a 2026 soccer player from British Columbia. My parents put me in soccer when I was five and I joined my Academy team when I was 8. I have learned a lot from soccer, especially that I am very competitive, and I always want to win. I work hard at soccer and want to learn as much as possible to be the best player I can be. In addition to these traits, I feel I have strengths in being able to play full matches against older competition, field vision, digging out the ball and accurately passing into space to create offensive opportunities. I am willing to play whatever role my team requires and have positional flexibility with experience in both midfield and defensive roles.

In the 2021/2022 season, my team didn’t have enough players. We ended up combining with an academy program from another town consisting of two age groups. I played centre back that season and we allowed only 4 goals in league play and went undefeated. My team won several tournament's and won the Provincial Championship that year.

In the 2022/2023 season player numbers changed again and we had to split up our previous year's team. Due to this, I joined the girls a year older than me and switched to defensive midfielder. I helped lead our team to a successful season despite being made up of now three age groups. We won several tournaments, went undefeated in the regular season and won gold at the Provincial Championships.

In the 2023/2024 season our team stayed mostly unchanged. I played attacking and defending midfielder depending on the game. We went undefeated in league play, won 2 tournaments and finished second in the other 3 tournaments. Due to player injuries, I moved from midfield back to a centre back about 2/3 way through the season. Unfortunately we couldn’t overcome a short bench and we finished fifth In the Provincial Championship tournament. It was disappointing but made me look forward to this this coming season.

This 2024/2025 season we continue with change. I attended high performance training at the local university and have attended university camps over the winter. Our club winter training consisted of futsal and outdoor field training. We now have some younger girls joining our team due to low numbers at their age group and ours. Having played up an age has been good for my game and I hope I can mentor and coach the new players to help them adjust. During my fall tournaments and into this league season I have been playing centre back but got some time at midfield in the second half as players returned from injury. Individually I attended the Umbro Top Rated showcase as a guest player with OUFC (Formerly TOFC) and got lots of play time including a full 90 minute game. My club team finished the season 7-0-1 and we got a bye to the Championship game which we won 2-1 and have qualified for the Provincial Championships July 10-13, 2025! In the off season I am attending private training at the Elite Touch football academy over the summer and doing some speed training sessions in August. I have two camps scheduled in July after Provincials as well and may add some more when time permists.

In 2022 I started to assist my academy with coaching 5-8 year old boys and girls. This has taught me about what it’s like to be a coach and working with younger players which I believe makes me a better player in my understanding of the game and taking on a leadership role. I enjoy coaching and have completed my Canada Soccer active start (Coach U4-U6) certificate in 2025. I try to be involved in the community whenever I can. I donate items to charity when I outgrow clothing  and through sports I have collected donations for the food bank, and have campaigned for blood drives which I found rewarding.

I have been lucky enough to do some personal travel and have learned a lot about other cultures and countries. For soccer travel, I have been to is Las Vegas with my academy team for the Las Vegas Mayor’s Cup in 2019 and 2023. I was great experience to play soccer outside my country. I am very thankful for my parents because they support me through everything I do and always help me in any way they can

Some of my other interests are art, volleyball, and traveling for fun! I love animals especially Marine creatures such as Green Sea Turtles and Sharks! My goals for school are to graduate with honors from high school and then when I’m in college I would like to finish with a degree. I also hope that I can continue to play competitive soccer through college and maybe after