Happy to give students a lift
Bridgewater State professor to compete in World Masters
BRIDGEWATER -- A jelly doughnut doesn't seem that interesting until Ellyn Robinson relates the breakfast treat to a ruptured disk.
An associate professor in exercise physiology at Bridgewater State College, Robinson formed a circle with her hand and explained how a small crack can send jelly oozing out of its doughy shell. Now imagine that jelly is spinal fluid pressing against a nerve in the lower back.
"It feels like your finger is in a socket," said Robinson, calling upon her own experience.
While a college student in the mid-1980s, Robinson suffered a ruptured disk, which ended her bodybuilding career. She said she was paralyzed for five weeks before regaining her strength. Doctors told Robinson, a Franklin native, that she might never lift weights or do any strenuous activity again.
Eleven marathons and a few triathlons later, Robinson, 42, is as active as ever. Recently, she captured a gold medal in weight lifting at the Pan American Masters Games in El Paso, Texas, her second Pan American gold in two years. Next month, the Hanover resident will compete in the World Masters Championship in Hungary.
Her long-term goal is to become the first woman to coach the US weight-lifting team.
In her college classroom, she teaches through participation. If she can put theories taught in exercise and physiology to use, then her students will have a living example to help grasp an idea.
"You have to be able to say something eight different ways that would make sense to someone who is 8, 18, or 40 years old," Robinson said.
Anyone who knew Robinson as she was growing up in Franklin wouldn't be surprised at her career path, said her mother, Ginny Robinson.
Even as a preschooler, "when she could get a group of kids together to play school, she did it," her mother said.
Robinson grew up with three brothers and did not have trouble expressing herself. Before she was in the fifth grade, she told her parents she wanted to change the spelling of her name from Ellen to Ellyn.
"We thought it was pretty creative," Ginny Robinson said.
Robinson was swimming competitively at age 12 and continued to be active in sports through high school, graduating from Franklin High in 1983.
When she left for college, she dabbled in bodybuilding, winning trophies so large they left her embarrassed to carry them on a plane. Robinson said she enjoyed the competition, but was forced to stop after she ruptured her disk.
She partially ruptured the disk again two weeks before the Pan Am games and questioned whether she would be able to compete. But she contacted Dr. Joanne Borg-Stein, medical director at the Spaulding Wellesley rehabilitation hospital. Borg-Stein oversaw Robinson's treatment and was able to help her prepare to compete and earn the gold medal.
There have been other physical challenges along the way.
In 2000, she was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disorder in which a fusion of the joints can cause pain and discomfort. It is a condition that Robinson rarely talks about.
"I didn't want people feeling bad for me," she said.
She has begun treatment that helps with the pain and allows her to focus on her training.
Robinson is in her 11th year at Bridgewater State. Years ago, she thought she would become a college president, but she realized her comfort was in teaching.
She currently trains with Team Bridgewater, a college club weight-lifting team that began last February. It was not enough for Robinson to coach the team; she also wanted to be a member. The team started with four people and has grown to include 24 weight lifters.
Music echoes down the halls of the building as the team works out. Robinson, a certified Team USA coach and competitor, encourages dancing and singing during the workouts, as artists from Madonna to Elvis Presley blare from speakers.
While the athletes train, curious passersby stop to watch. Arty Nash, one of the building's custodians, considers himself the team's biggest fan. Before his 4 p.m. shift, he chats with team members and encourages lifters who are in the midst of squatting a difficult weight.
Nash used to compete in weight lifting and took a course with Robinson. He came away understanding why so many students were drawn to her classes.
"She doesn't talk to you in smart," Nash said. "She doesn't take four paragraphs to explain something. She helps you retain it. . . . Her enthusiasm when she teaches makes them want to come in here and work out."
Mary Lynch, 28, an assistant coach, is also a coach for Robinson's events outside of Team Bridgewater.
Lynch's travels with Robinson were her first experiences with world-level competition and she was amazed at Robinson's interaction with opponents.
"She goes up to every single competitor and hugs them and congratulates them," Lynch said. "She's one of the classiest athletes I've seen."
That is why Lynch believes Robinson will be the perfect coach for Team USA one day.
"Athletes listen to her and love her," Lynch said. "She has a way of getting things across that's not like a drill sergeant."
Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com. 