Teesside boxing coach 'sad' number of UK female coaches has dropped
A study shows the number of UK female coaches has dropped since 2022
Last updated 1st May 2025
A new study is highlighting that the number of female coaches in the UK has sharply decreased by six percent since 2022.
A YouGov survey, published by UK Coaching, indicates only 38 percent of current active coaches are female, a substantial drop from 44 percent just two years prior.
The findings show women tend to coach "creative" sports such as dance and yoga, whereas men typically lead team sports, racket sports, and combat sports.
Nichola Readman is a female boxing coach in Stockton and she said: "Female boxing in the last couple of years is really coming through, especially in professional boxing, so I thought it was on the rise. I'm quite sad to think that female coaches have dropped since then to be honest.
"I love coaching because it's giving something back to the community. Also, seeing the young boxers coming in shy, don't know what to say, they don't know what to do and then you see them each lesson building confidence, getting more fitter and learning new skills.
"I think boxing is a male-dominated sport because with it being a contact sport, getting punched in the face mentally is hard work. It's a really tough sport to be in but now women are just showing that they can be just as mentally strong and they can deal with the toughness of the sport.
"There needs to be more facilities for women in boxing gyms because with it just being men, it's always just male changing rooms and there's nothing really anything for a woman to go in and change. Some gyms are mixed and I think they should be advertising more showing that there are woman at a boxing gym.
"Hopefully getting more female coaches to be in the gyms so when young girls and women come through to the gym, they can see that women to go to the gym and do box, maybe just things like that can change the outlook of women's boxing."