Fulham FC Foundation Coach Sophie Modak wears many hats but only one tracksuit! Across any given week she can be found coaching in different sessions where participants range from 3 to 63 years old, as well as each Sunday spent representing Fulham Football Club’s senior women’s side. We caught up to talk through her time at Fulham so far.
You joined us as a Health and Wellbeing coach, working on programmes like Walking Football and Fulham Memories. What were your previous experiences in Health and Wellbeing?
I have quite a lot of experience working with older adults in personal training. I started off working as a lifeguard when I finished school, then from there it was a natural progression in that gym environment to get qualified to work in the gym, start doing some personal training and go from there. I still do work as a personal trainer now. It’s really fun because everyone is different, they have different goals and things they want to achieve. It’s nice to be part of their journey and help them through that.
How did your role grow from Health and Wellbeing to the wide variety of coaching you do today?
I’ve always liked to do a bit of everything so the more I learnt about different programmes that we deliver I just wanted to be involved because it’s such great work and so diverse. I think the first ‘other’ programme I worked in was our DisAbility team. I suppose it was a benefit of lockdown to be able to meet different participants, although it was predominantly online you still got a really good feel for what each programme had to offer. When we came back to face-to-face delivery it was still nice to be involved in those sessions and see everyone in real life.
Tell us about the challenge of coaching online during lockdown.
It was new for everyone, no one really knew what to expect. We adapted as we went and learnt along the way. I met our Active Autism and DS Badgers groups working online in lockdown so when we came back to face-to-face sessions it was nice transition. Obviously online is different to face-to-face but also there are a lot of similarities. As long as it’s engaging and everyone’s having a good time, it’s fun for everyone then.
You also Head Coach our Girls Only Skills Club as well as coaching on our Girls Development Centre. How did that start?
Because I’ve worked across different programmes the Foundation trusted me to take it on. It was a good chance for me to develop and progress as a coach, because it’s a different coaching style entirely. Again it’s a nice one to add to the mix of the sessions I’ve been doing and helps me develop at the same time.
You also play for FFCW, joining shortly after you began working at the Foundation. How did that occur?
I was quite lucky, when I started work here the Women’s team was run by Fulham FC Foundation so (FFCW Head Coach) Steve Jaye was here, we got chatting and he came to watch one of my games. After that he asked if I wanted to come train at Fulham, which was a big compliment, so I came down to start training. Again it was that professional side of things, the set up, all the facilities, and the players were so nice. It was such a great environment from the first session I went down to.
How has this season gone so far?
It’s been great. Our aspiration for this season is to push for promotion, it’s not going to be an easy journey, but I think everyone’s really dedicated and trusting in the process. There is work to be done but we’re going in the right direction.
As a coach and a FFCW player you are a role model for so many of our younger participants. How do you reflect on the impact you’ve made?
I think as the years go on you realise how important the work we do is for everyone. Obviously they choose to come to our sessions, which shows the importance of it to them. It’s just like small wins sometimes, if you see someone who has been a bit nervous to come to a session and suddenly one day they walk in all smiling, you think ‘Yes I’ve achieved something!’ It’s just really nice to be a part of.
