If you love it you won't be able to give up. Maybe you'll be able to take a week or two off but you'll soon be back

Did you cry? Never cry in front of anyone at a boxing gym. Hold it and have a little cry when you can run into the change rooms and turn the shower on. I've had to do that twice myself but the fact is many boxing coaches are old school. If a guy cries in their gym they'd probably be a lot LESS forgiving. They don't like tears. They feel bad and they don't like to see you upset and just don't know how to handle it.

Blood noses can be deceptive. Some people are bleeders and bleed very easily and others might only bleed with a really good shot. It's good to forget about the blood and just think about how it feels after a minute or two - that tells you more and you don't want to be upset unless you really have to be.

In a full gym sometimes it's difficult to get time in with the trainers. Especially if there are bouts coming up and you are not fighting they may be preoccupied with those who are fighting. I get this at my gym and it's frustrating whether you are fighting or not. If you're not fighting you are thinking "where's my direction?!?!". If you are fighting you are thinking "why are you trying to teach me all this one week before my bout when you could've been spending the last month on this with me and I'd actually get it then!".

I like to find myself a few encouraging mentors. Sometimes you'd be surprised how much senior fighters in a gym can teach you. The coach is not the only one. As you get more experienced this will be harder but you'll also have more ideas of what you need to work on. You don't need to disrupt their training too much. Just ask them a simple question or to spot a combo you are throwing and then go away and work on it yourself. Sometimes you might be able to ask someone who is warming up to do a little partnerwork (easy drills) with you just for a couple of rounds once a week. Tell them it can be a small part of their warm up and won't cut into their workout too much and a couple of rounds can make a big difference. This is not sparring but it means you have a chance to make the impulses you need for sparring more automatic and then hopefully you'll enjoy sparring more next time.

You might find you do need to change gyms from time to time but i wouldn't let one bad sparring session get you down that much. Look at how much time your coach spends with other individuals before you judge whether or not this is his way of blowing you off. To be honest if I wasn't stuck in Adelaide finishing my PhD I'd move and find myself another gym just to get more training. However, I know I'm not the only one frustrated with my coaches style of coaching for Independence of a fighter at the cost of regular feedback. A lot of the guys loose momentum It's not always because you're a girl it can just be because the coaches are loosing momentum themselves.