My sister boxing - any good ?

[sinity]

I don't care what people say,and who gives a crap about age. when someone has natural athletic ability they'll pick up boxing quickly.Depends on the person of course. Your sister can use the lessons,but she definitly has something.

[Sharla]

I am a female boxer who has actually competed for a few years and i think if you are talking about competing you are getting a little bit ahead of yourself. Plus if you think about the hours coaches spend, often without profit, coaching their fighters it's no small thing and desverves some respect. You might want to have a go at boxing training seriously and get more of an idea of what is actually involved before you talk about competing.

Plus don't put a video of yourself pausing to do your make up in the middle of your training, with your hair down so it can get in your face without working hard enough to sweat - it doesn't say much about your training ethic. It doesn't encourage anyone to take you seriously.

If you want a coach to take you seriously you have to do what the rest of us do - go to a gym and train HARD - tie your hair back and get a real sweat up! I didn't see you hitting the bag long enough to prove you have something based on natural athletic ability. I don't really believe you got your heart rate up there and you need to be able to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

Based on the skills you have now if I or any of the girls aiming to fight I have ever trained with were lined up to fight you - even some still yet to have their first fight - we'd know we could obliterate you - totally and utterly obliterate you! The competition is not at the same standard as it is for the men as there are fewer female boxers. However depending on where you are from that can mean you are forced to give away more experience or weight or both to fight and that should not be taken lightly. You are talking about a sport where even as a girl there will be blood and black eyes.

The point of boxing is it's hard, it hurts sometimes and it is a never ending path to perfection. No one can seriously expect to become a great fighter quickly. Realistically we're talking years and years of conciencious work to become even half way decent and there are girls who do put in that amount of work. You need to be able to deal with that to learn anything and go foreward.

If you really want it go for it - we need more girls in the sport but DON'T expect anything to be easy or to require any less than a full commitment from you.

[sinity]

sharla,
All though I think that you have a good point.Not all women want to compete.there are girls at my gym that just come for the work out. It's true..not everyone has what it takes to train to compete,but what is wrong with people just wanting to learn to box for the pure enjoyment of learning something new and getting a good work out. Out of all the girls at my gym that come to train there are only three that compete... not all the men compete either..those people still pay their gym dues like everyone else...

[Sharla]

I'm not against anyone boxing for fun - male or female - I just got the impression by her Q that she was asking about the competitive scene - not simply for fun/fitness. I also thought she might be wondering why she got responses commenting on her boobs when she was asking what I gather was a serious Q for her. Really no matter what your fitness level or skill level if you want to try it out recreationally nothing should stop you giving it a go.

[jbirdy]

i dunno about her boxing. but she would get it

[boozeboxer]

If this is a woman posting this, the one in the video......she should message me on here....

[sinity]

And this is why Sharla women don't get taken seriously in boxing. Guys just think it's cute or a turn on.It gets me mad, but what can you do.That's why I had to change gyms twice before i found one that took female fighters seriously.

[Tribax]

she could come over to my place and we could work on some clinching

[Sharla]

I can empathise as far as the difficulty being taken seriously part - to a point.

I have had to change gyms a few times myself. I've had 2 separate coaches in 2 different gyms crack onto me to the point where I left. One was married with a 10 year old daughter who watched me train a lot and the other was manic depressive so both cases were extremely awkward. Having said that at least in the boxing culture you know where you stand.

If I am discriminated against by scientists (I am studying my PhD in plant science) they know to do it in a more underhanded way - like getting you to hand mix 1.5 TONNES of soil saying there is no way around it and I find out afterwards my supervisor has a small cement mixer he uses. This is not sexist - it's academic prejudice designed to keep students in their place - happens to the guys too.

Even the coaches I've had who've been a bit misguided have respected hard work though. Despite saying they don't believe in women's boxing I did become their first female fighter in both cases. Things did not become awkward immediately and I did learn a lot before it became clear that I needed to leave.

Possibly the worst 'coach' I ever had was actually a woman who was resentful of not being the only woman in the club anymore. I lasted 2 weeks in that gym - the shortest time ever for any gym - but it was no loss because she didn't know her stuff.

I do think it's important to recognize a few things from the guys point of view aswell:

1) Most of us girls are too light to be competitive sparring partners with the guys - especially as beginners. Consequently it's a lot of work for male coaches to train female fighters and extremely generous of male counterparts to contribute part of their training time to train with us.

The only time I've felt like a good high quality sparring partner for male team mates is when they are very new or when in Japan (since they were my weight). We can be a sort of technical training partner with touch sparring but we can't simulate a fight situation for them. Eventually a good coaches effort pays off - we're good at coaching kids and other girls etc when we're experienced enough but that takes a long time and we still need to be pushed by those who are better than us - usually guys.

2) I owe everything I have learnt to guys who have taught me and sparred with me and I have been unconditionally accepted by most of the guys I've trained with. Some of the guys in my gym now are coming up to having their first fight and actually ask for my advice because they know I have more experience than them. A lot of the guys I train with become good friends of mine.

3) If you train as a boxer - male or female you need to drop the vanity for the duration of your training. That is a big part of what evoked a sexist reaction to that clip. You can not worry about your hair, make up, tan, skin, what you smell like or look like in any way. If you're doing it properly you should look damn ugly by the end of your session. You can always enjoy looking good outside of training because the exercise does your figure good.

4) Some guys are not pigs but have just been brought up not to hit women! I was once told by a male sparring partner he found it difficult to get used to sparring me because he had a sister who he would never hit and he would bash anyone who ever did. Many guys are boxers partly to forfil a need to protect the women in their lives and hitting a girl in training is very difficult for them to do. They'd rather let you bash them to a pulp than hit back.

I'd usually combat this by saying I need them to hit back so I can work my defence otherwise i will get beaten up when I fight. It also takes some encouragement from the coach and time for them to learn you are not going to shatter into a million pieces after a single tap. After a while you might end up with a fantastic sparring partner but you need to give them some adjustment time. Also going along with the lack of vanity thing you need to avoid any non-serious training behaviour to let them see you are not like many girls who would not handle the confrontational nature of boxing. You don't need to shave your head or anything but don't bother with make up or anything for training - it's not good for your skin to work our wearing make up anyway. The guys in my gym partly justify the fact they have to hit me with their protective instincts by joking that I am not a real girl. I know they mean it as a compliment as much as I hate hearing it. On the rare occaision I change at the gym to go out after training they are always suprised and say stuff like "S..t Sharla! You look like a girl!".

5) Beyond gender - hard work is usually respected. I was put in charge of trainings by one of the coaches who didn't believe in girls fighting when he was away because I trained more often than the guys and I could be relied on to train every night. Coaches usually have a history of training hard themselves and they recognize hard work when they see it.

I didn't really like watching that clip from the point of view that the woman who made it has done so in a way which would evoke the type of reaction which makes it look like other women shouldn't even bother because they won't be coached properly when that is usually not the case.

I was also reminded a little of myself as a beginner in the way she might be unaware of how much she needs to learn. Underestimating the competition is common with beginner guys aswell but most common with women since even we are often subconsciously sexist in how 'tough' we believe other women might be. Usually a woman who really wants to fight is very unlike her friends in this compulsion and it's easy to feel you might come up against a 'girly girl' when you fight rather than someone with a bit of aggression.

[Von Milash]

And this is why Sharla women don't get taken seriously in boxing. Guys just think it's cute or a turn on.It gets me mad, but what can you do.That's why I had to change gyms twice before i found one that took female fighters seriously.

were they cardioboxing gyms? I love women boxers. It's such a turn-on!

my gym has a woman who's ranked 12th on the world at jr welterweight. and she's fookin HOT!

[Scrap]

Sharla, that was probably the best post Ive ever read by a woman on Boxing and the implications superb cc

[No Contest]

She is real hot ...a little ditzy but hot.Your kidding about the boxing right, just fishing for compliments?

[Chris Nagel]

A Tribute to the Rocky movies... she looks okay. Post one showing her serious side.

[Von Milash]

.

[boozeboxer]

She is hot. I am wokring in Utah right now and there arent too many chics where I am.