2014 Rugby World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi MBE celebrated some of the best young sportspeople in Kent as the guest of honour at the Canterbury Academy Sports Awards this week.

The annual awards evening is used by the Canterbury Academy of Sport to showcase the exceptional talents which they have been able to nurture and improve throughout the year.

It’s been one year since the Institute of Sport opened and there’s already been a number of success stories from the students who attend the Canterbury Academy and its affiliated junior schools with a number of students from the high school being selected for regional, national and international competitions over a wide variety of sports from archery to lawn bowls and roller hockey.

With over 400 guests it was the best attended awards night the school has hosted, having celebrated its sporting prowess for the last few years.

As well as attending a night of celebration, the guests were also given the chance to listen to a talk from an England Rugby Union World Cup winner; Maggie Alphonsi, who spoke about her development and the difficulties she faced when attempting to reach the top level of Women’s Rugby.

The England flanker has 70 caps for her country and she understands how awards nights are able to help and support young athletes.

“Nights like this are so important, it gives kids the chance to recognise their own achievements and hopefully I can inspire them. I began just like them, I started off at school, my PE teachers inspired me and I hope their teachers are inspiring them”

It’s a big year for Alphonsi as she prepares for the 2015 men’s World Cup in England and Scotland as an ambassador, but she is also training to be able to compete in the Shot Put at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio next summer and she is revelling in the change of sport.

“I’ve always trained hard, it’s now a different type of training but my focus now is learning the technique. The transition is going well”.

The 31 year old also sees how her role as an athlete is able to keep children in sport and she is proud to take up that part of her job.

“When I was at school we had sports awards like this and we had a guest in. She was just like me and I was really inspired by her. Twenty years later I like to think that I now take that role”.