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For Sophie Robins, judo is not like other fighting sports.
Described as a "pocket rocket" by her coach and teammates, at 15, Robins is considered one of Australia's best up and coming judo fighters.
Standing 155 centimetres tall and competing in the Women's Extra Lightweight, 48 kilograms and lighter category, Sophie's recent form has been rewarded, with her addition to Australia's 75-person Commonwealth Youth Games squad to compete in the Bahamas this week.
She is hoping to become Australia's first woman to win an Olympic medal in judo since Maria Pekli won a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000.
Robins says judo teaches self-defence unlike any combat sport.
"It is not like other sports where you are being aggressive towards someone else and trying to attack them like kicking and punching sports," she said.
"It is more about counter-attacking what they are trying to do to you."
Robins says she almost got in to judo by accident, looking for an activity to keep her busy after school.
"I went along to a free after-school judo class while waiting for my parents to finish work," she said.
"I had no idea what it was, going in to my first trial, I really was not sure what I had signed up for."
She quickly took a liking to throwing people and soon began training up to seven hours a week at Kano Judo School.
Coach Carlo Knoester runs the Kano dojo in Perth's northern suburb of Joondalup.
In Kano Judo schools, to be considered for "Sho-dan", black belt grading, judokas must be at least 17 years old, have earned enough competition ranking points or won an international competition.
Robins is an early achiever at the dojo, having earned enough ranking points this year, despite not being old enough to formally hold the "Sho-dan" grading.
Robins is the only Western Australian selected to represent Australia in judo for the upcoming Youth Games competition.
Knoester says Robins trains with boys to keep sharp in between competitions.
"Sophie trains against boys her same weight, if not bigger," he said.
"She fights boys in competitions and beats them. They are not keen to train against her, none of the boys want to be beaten by this girl.
"In her weight group, I would say she is the best Australian talent at the moment."
Robins has juggled her Year 10 studies to produce an impressive performance at the 2017 National Championships on the Gold Coast.
Last month, she ended up winning gold in cadets, bronze in juniors, and silver in seniors, where she was competing against people 21 years and older.
Robins says she dreams of making the Olympic team for Tokyo in 2020.
"I would love to medal at the Olympics, it is really hard as Australia does not have a big reputation in judo, but I would love to raise that bar for Australia," she said.
She will head to the Chile Cadet World Championships next month.
Topics: sport, commonwealth-games, judo, martial-arts, wa
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