Meet New Massage Therapist, Evgenia Baillie!

My main passions since my childhood have been Performing Arts and competitive sport. I’m naturally creative, hardworking, and a driven person and I always take on hard challenges in life. I never settle for easy targets! 

 

My hobbies have always been related to sport and dancing. I was born and raised in Scotland in a rural area of Dumfries and Galloway. I moved away at the age of 19 and came to Coventry to pursue my passion in Figure Skating, to perform but also to be mentored by one of the best Olympic coaches in the UK at the International School of Skating. This has helped me to gain knowledge and skills in coaching Figure Skating. I gained my Level 2 Figure Skating Coach Badge when I was 20 years old and I have been coaching since then. 

 

I became attached to Coventry due to my positive experiences here. There is just so much opportunity and it’s such a convenient place to live. 

 

I got a serious knee injury which took me out of skating/coaching for three years. While I was too injured to do Figure Skating I went back to my very first competitive sport which was swimming. I did a few Meets (races) and I found out that I was still as fast as I used to be when I was on the regional team in my teens in Scotland. I managed to get some qualifying times to go to Worlds as a Masters swimmer (which is the over 25’s), and I was close for qualifying as a senior too. 

 

During the time I was injured I became really interested in Rehabilitation & Sports Massage. I took this seriously and qualified as a Sports Massage Therapist whilst working as a personal fitness trainer. Since I qualified, I have enjoyed helping people very much. The fact that I was working in a Gym allowed me to meet my clients and gain more experience in the field. 

 

Before my injury I was at university for a year studying Contemporary Dance as well as personal fitness training and Skate coaching, but I decided to focus on the Skating and Coaching. I gained dance teaching experience from this course though, and continued to teach dance classes through dance schools and gyms afterwards. This came to a stop when I got injured. 

 

Partly why I like treating clients through sports massage and personal training is because I know how much of an effect injury can have on someone’s life and I like helping people get through these obstacles. I am keen to progress my professional development by extending my study in the fields of Sport and Massage Therapy. I am keen to link my current experience, skills and knowledge to further study and perfect my techniques to help others.