Women in Boxing Conference delivers insightful messages
December 9, 2023 | by Chris Boyd
The England Boxing Women in Boxing Conference and Women in Boxing Awards returned for 2023 yesterday evening (Friday 8th December) at Leigh Sports Village, home to the Women’s Winter Box Cup 2023.
England Boxing’s Women and Girls Officer Laura Sargeant began proceedings in the new location of the Pennington Suite at Holiday Inn Express.
Sargeant spoke about the positive improvements in participation and success in the last year, including a 33% increase in young female boxers taking part in the Women’s Aspire programme.
This was followed by words from Head of Operations Avoen Perryman, who spoke about the implementation of the England Boxing 2022-2027 strategy and the integration of women’s boxing within that.
It was then the turn of our first guest speaker, coach, and official Amy Pu. Her day-to-day role is that of a life coach and creator of Go the Distance Boxing.
Amy brought those skills to the conference and spoke about the mindset of a boxer and the positive use of nervous excitement.
Pu also demonstrated breathing techniques and described the importance of mental training – all timely reminders ahead of this weekend’s competition.
Dr Isra Hale then delivered an impassioned talk about relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) and in particular nutrition, energy sources and amenorrhea which invoked a positive discussion amongst the whole group.
Hale then finished her talk by providing information on safe weight loss and its relationship with RED-S.
Questions were then presented to the five-person panel, including the two guest speakers, England Performance and GB coach Naadrah Hafeez, two-time European champion Ruby White and England Boxing EDI officer Chloe Hawes.
Naadrah Hafeez spoke on the development of women’s boxing, as our young female boxers won eight of the 15 gold medals at this year’s two major European competitions, the EUBC Schools and EUBC Junior European Championships.
The evening then closed with the winners of the England Boxing Women in Boxing Awards 2023 being revealed.
The results were decided after nominations were invited from all England Boxing members.
The Outstanding Official of the Year award went to Terri Kelly, adding the accolade to the Female Official of the Year award she picked up at the England Boxing Annual Awards in July.
The Outstanding Coach of the Year was Naadrah Hafeez, whilst Elise Glynn won Outstanding Boxer of the Year.
Glynn’s former coach, Amanda Groake picked up the award on her behalf and delivered an impactful speech on the GB boxer’s commitment to the sport.
Sergeant then delivered a closing statement, reiterating a commitment to continued growth in 2024.
