#TimeTogether: Samera Ali Breaks Boundaries

Female. Wife. Mother. Muslim. Coach. These are just a few of the roles Samera Ali embraces as she navigates a life dedicated to empowering others.

Whether she’s inspiring the South Asian community in the Midlands or coaching the next generation of rising stars for Team England, Samera seamlessly weaves these identities into a journey marked by passion and resilience. We caught up with our recent ‘Coach of the Year’ winner to uncover how she juggles it all with such grace—proving that for her, no challenge is too great, and no goal is out of reach.

How did you get into combat sports, which are traditionally seen as quite male-dominated?

It all started in kickboxing, my girls would do the sport and then I started training together with them. They then went onto compete at championships and open competitions, and I started competing alongside them. They’d go to the training sessions and I just joined in one day – I started off with ladies sessions, and then went into the mixed ones, and it just sort of went on from there. During Covid, we began training at home so I started coaching my girls and once we went back I then decided to join a boxing gym.

It was a new gym, which had recently been affiliated with England Boxing, and had members that were mainly there recreationally and I found myself coaching them. The Coach of the gym respected my skillset from kickboxing so asked for me to do the level 1 course in order to coach professionally…I completed that and then did my Safeguarding Course at Tamworth Boxing Club.

After that I started coaching at Tamworth Boxing Club, Alan really took me under his wing and allowed me to shadow some of the coaches there.  He appreciated the knowledge I had, and let me adapt and apply it. My daughters were and are still are competing in kickboxing, so I would be running back and forth to drop them off whilst still doing my own coaching in boxing. How I see it is, whatever I learn can help my girls too.

Do you feel as though the sport has shaped you?

Yes, it led to a healthy lifestyle amongst the family and improved our mental health. We are now living in the era where children spend a lot of their time on devices and constantly seeing likes and dislikes all over social media – it can take its toll on your mental health. What I noticed was, because my kids were in extra curricular activities from a young age (Gymnastics, Kickboxing and Mosque) I never really had to tell them to reduce screen time or anything like that – they were too busy! 

Sport can really impact so many different areas of your life, for example, I then made sure that we were all eating healthily. I also tried to teach my children that they must take part in a sport to keep fit and whichever they wanted to do was up to them. Overtime I saw them grow in confidence, have discipline with school work, learn how to handle nerves and work under pressure for exams…the list is endless.

Their routine was quite busy, they’d go to school, mosque (with their sports kit underneath) and then straight to kickboxing. Many people did doubt what I was doing, but my children absolutely loved it and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

People think extra-curricular activities affect education. But it helps their academics, as my kids get top marks, they train 5-6 days a week so it has a positive affect.

How does it feel to be a boxing role model within your own community? 

The England Boxing ‘Coach of the Year’ Award that I won was mainly for me, as I had to break through so many barriers to get here today. For the next generation and my kids in particular – it was fine because I wanted to change the narrative anyway, it’s something I wanted to overcome. I wanted my girls to do everything that I didn’t get the chance to do when I was younger.

My Mum was a single parent and although there are lots of issues surrounding women doing sport in my culture, in my household it was more of a focus on if we had enough money for us to do any extra activities. If there was, my brother was able to do it first. My mum has always encouraged us to make the best out of whatever we want to do, but we didn’t get the chance to do it.

When I first began coaching, I would get a lot of comments like, “Who’s doing the cooking at home?” but with my husband he is quite hands on with the sports stuff, bless him…it’s team work although he’s not involved in it himself. He’s always there to make sure their kit is packed and helps in dropping them off to sessions etc. he ensures that the fundamentals are done to make our family unit work. That level of support in your own home is definitely needed.

I feel like I am at that stage where, in the future, I do want to be able to encourage Muslim girls, South Asian girls, anyone that has a barrier. So it’s not just the Muslim girl, anyone who has a barrier or not being able to do something, because it’s not seen as a girl thing to do. 

Female boxing is now becoming so much better than what it was, and to get my community and other South Asian communities involved to that very same level  would be amazing – to be part of that change. Yeah, that’s the goal. I feel like we’re sometimes so fixated on “Why do they not let them go and do a sport?” rather than considering whether females from marginalised communities actually want to be in a male-dominated environment. We need to create a safe space for them.

Lead National Coach, Amanda Coulson with Samera Ali following her win at the England Boxing Awards 2024.

Tell us about any challenges you may have faced from being a mother and balancing coaching in boxing?

As a mum, there’s so many things I might want to do for my boxers, but family stuff is obviously a priority – especially with my daughter’s still competing in kickboxing. But there’s been times where as a female coach – you do get doubted by others. So when I first started people would say, “You’re going to coach?” and I would just laugh at the time as I’m the kind of person where that motivates me anyway, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt me. I did get upset about it but I used that to fuel me.

There’s been times when I’ve been trying to do judging and people will still question me, this is why I mentioned in my winning speech at the England Boxing Awards, that rather than sitting around and thinking about why this is happening to us we just need to accept the fact that sometimes we have to work twice as hard. But that’s with so many different types of people, not just ethnic minorities, people with disabilities for example, will  face hurdles too. There will always be situations where we may have to work twice as hard as the person next to us. I’ve never let it get to me and thankfully I’ve reached where I needed to be.

Obviously as a Muslim, some people wouldn’t understand it. But then likewise, there’s also so many that do understand it, there’s always 10 who are really encouraged by it. There are so many girls and women who come to me and say, “Wow, like, you really inspire us!” because then if I can do that and it motivates them to  go out and do something they wouldn’t normally go for – you’re winning. 

Do you train mothers and daughters in your sessions?

I’ve had quite a lot of aunties and nieces and I always say to my friends, just join in with them too…as the more people involved, the better the environment becomes.

This is a little more personal and closer to home, but my niece was born with spina bifida. When she was in my twin sister’s stomach, she had to be taken out and operated on and put back in. My sister was involved in kickboxing at the time and over the years has found it challenging to go back after being a mum. I always tried to encourage her and let her know that she was supported by her family. She’s still kickboxing now and does it competitively, even at 40 year old! She has also managed to get her daughter into horse riding, which is an activity they tend to do together. Their story is so inspiring – it shows that nothing should discourage you when it comes to doing sport and keeping fit. Nothing can stop you.

What advice would you give to any mothers and daughters involved in sport?

In my opinion, you both have to remember that you’re learning in that environment, and mothers must take into account that we can’t coach our own kids. We can advise them, and you can try to coach them a little, but I’ve learnt that this can quickly become personal. 

Instead, choose to work with them, not against them. And sometimes it’s good for you to ask them how to do things, because I feel sometimes when I’m learning a new combination, I’ll run it past my daughters and I’ll say to them, “I need some help with my pad work here, I want to run this drill, and I want to see if it works. So can I do it with you?” They then are able to provide me with feedback and vice versa.

Also, enjoy the conversations you’re going to have after each session, enjoy the moments that you will have together, because it just brings out the best in you. And I would encourage any mother and daughter to do it…the days where you don’t want to go, your daughter will probably encourage you to go!