Staff Spotlight: Sophie Robinson, Sports Lecturer 

Sophie Robinson, one of our Sports Lecturers, is dedicated to creating great experiences for our learners. 

We spoke to her during a recent outdoor session to learn more about her, what she is passionate about as a Lecturer, and why you should study sport here. 

What’s your background in Sports? 

I have always participated in sport from a young age. I started off in rugby first, and then I moved on to hockey before taking up rowing.  

Rowing was my main sport at school. I rowed to a pretty decent level and really enjoyed it. When I went to university, I started playing rugby again and then rediscovered rowing. 

I did my degree in Sports Science and Nutrition, and then I completed a Masters in Strength and Conditioning. I really enjoyed teaching and decided soon after that it was where I wanted to go. 

My previous experience includes working in boarding schools as a sports coach, focused on rowing and multi-sports disciplines. I then moved onto teaching BTEC qualifications in sport, which was when I decided to apply for this role here at EKC Folkestone College.  

I’ve been here since September 2023, and I love using my prior knowledge to enhance the students’ learning.  

What’s your favourite part of being a Sports Lecturer? 

My favourite part of teaching has to be that practical element. I really enjoy leading the learners through lots of sessions and watching them become brilliant coaches.  

I also really enjoy teaching the Anatomy and Physiology, and Strength and Conditioning modules because they’re my passions and what I did at university. It’s been brilliant to incorporate that into the courses that we run here.  

 Why are you so passionate about Exercise Science? 

I’ve always been interested in Sports Science and Nutrition as a whole, which is why I did a degree in it. I also did some work as a personal trainer, (which I still do in addition to being a CrossFit coach) meaning I was working in lots of gyms. I thought it’d be beneficial to increase my knowledge so that I could impart that on my clients.  

I also decided when I was younger that I’d like to work with athletes, so I ran Strength and Conditioning sessions and Anatomy and Physiology sessions. I’ve always been interested in the body, so it’s nice to link these two areas together. 

What’s your favourite sport overall? 

That’s a tough one! At the moment, I am participating in CrossFit so I’d say that’s my favourite sport to take part in. 

My favourite sport to watch is rugby as I’m a big rugby fan. As I’ve said, I’ve grown up with rugby in my entire life, so I love watching rugby at the weekend. 

What sorts of practical activities have students done this year? 

I try to incorporate as many practical exercises as I can into the modules. I think it’s really important to apply knowledge to real life situations, but to also get these students ready for employment. Whether that’s working as a PT (personal trainer) in a gym or becoming a sports coach for example. 

I think that here we have a nice balance of putting theory and practical together into a real-life situation to enable them to develop and showcase their skills. 

 At the moment we’re doing sports coaching, which means that they’re able to run their own practical sessions as part of their modules. Last summer, we ran a sports day for our nursery, which was really enjoyable, and the students got heavily involved.  

We have also run dodgeball and football tournaments for local primary schools which the children and our learners really enjoyed. It’s been really nice to watch them participate in that.  

The students like a variety of sports so it’s quite nice that everybody gets to try a bit of everything. We’ve taken part in cricket, football, rugby, badminton, basketball, netball and more this year alone, so a nice broad range of team sports.  

We’ve got some individual sports coming up so that’ll be the next module for us. We have taken part in strength and conditioning sessions in our gym and fitness sessions too.  

Why should someone study Sports here at EKC Folkestone College? 

I’d say you should study here because Folkestone is a very inclusive College, it’s a very lovely atmosphere and we’re improving our facilities so I’m looking forward to seeing those develop over time.  

We are also now running our Level 2 course, which is an appropriate level to start your sports journey, and it allows you to branch off into different avenues. This could be physio or sports coaching or becoming a personal trainer as some examples.  

The courses here provide quite a large variety of modules to enable you to decide what you want to do in the future. I know it may seem difficult when you’re young and you’re not entirely sure what you’d like to do, but I think coming into a sports course is a great option.  

Here, you can learn lots of skills. Not just sports knowledge but also employability, work experience, communication and teamwork, so you can experience lots of activities and grow your best qualities. 

If you’re interested in developing your sports knowledge and taking part in exciting sporting activities during the year, explore our Sports courses today.