Four female boxers from same family fighting in Swindon competition as girls are 'force to be reckoned with'
They are hoping to encourage young girls to give the sport a go
A mum and her three daughters are all fighting in the same boxing competition at MECA in Swindon today as they say “girls are a force to be reckoned with”.
Even though they are all competing in different matches, mum Michelle Minaides came out of retirement when the opportunity came up for her to fight alongside her girls.
She said: “More often than not when I've trained, I've been the only female in the gym and that's quite common for females. But we've really built up this atmosphere in this environment and in our gym there's loads of women.
“You know, women inspire women and we've empowered each other. And it's really exciting to be headlining that for my girls as well”.
The family’s enthusiasm for the sport started when Michelle’s oldest daughter, Tilly, was six years old and asked her mum to take her to a kickboxing class.
“It wasn't really a sport I'd ever had anything to do with, and I thought ‘Fine, we'll go along, she won't like it. We won't have to go again’. But she loved it and she carried on.
“My other children started and then there was an adult's class and I thought ‘Well, while I'm here’ and took part. I'm fairly competitive, so I did quite well and my coach from Chippenham Kickboxing Academy, put me forward for a fight. And once you've got the bug, I think you've got the bug”.
While her girls took a break from boxing to pursue dance, Michelle carried on and won six titles.
She then decided to retire from the sport while on a high last year.
Since then, she has been helping to coach her girls who came back to boxing around the same time she herself left.
“My eldest daughter, Tilly, she's fighting for a title tomorrow. She's got a really big fight and she's actually fighting one of my old opponents. So, actually, this time she really does listen to me because she knows that I know what I'm talking about”, Michelle explained.
They think it is the first time a family of four women has been in the same boxing competition.
For Tilly, Bella, Flick and Michelle, it is an opportunity to make other girls aware that even though boxing is considered a male sport, there is no reason to be scared of it.
“It's definitely a girl sport too. You know, girls are tough. It's not about violent fighting. It's about being skilful. And us girls hate to generalise, but we're good at using our head and our smarts and being skilful. And that's really good in boxing.
“And I would say to any girl that wants to try it, just come and try. There's nothing better than having an hour workout and, you know, throwing some shots at the pads and you'll just leave feeling great”.