Hit Girls: Adding punch to women's boxing in Scotland

CHERIE MACDONALD was 15 when she started boxing. A member of Inverness Amateur Boxing Club, for a long time Macdonald, who is now 22, was the only female boxer in the club. She trained five times a week – a combination of padwork and bagwork, strength and conditioning – and she sparred with the male boxers in her club. But getting a bout with another female boxer, and seeing the results of all her efforts and dedication, doesn't happen as often as she'd like, because there are so few women boxers in Scotland. But things are changing.

Macdonald is one of 12 women in the newly formed Scotland Women's Boxing Squad, an initiative set up by Amateur Boxing Scotland (ABS) to nurture existing boxing talent among women and attract more women into the sport.

"Last year I was getting a bit bored of all the waiting around, doing all the training and never getting a fight," says Macdonald. "Now that this has happened I feel really excited, I'm buzzing. I'm training harder and getting stronger. I can't wait." In England, women's boxing has grown dramatically in recent years. In 2005, 50 women were registered as amateur boxers, whereas now there are around 600. Forty per cent of boxing clubs down south run classes specifically for women.

Richard Thomas, chairman of ABS, acknowledges that in Scotland we are "way behind", but he is optimistic that things are set to improve. According to Thomas, the new board of ABS realised pretty quickly that women's boxing needed to become a priority north of the Border, not least because of the International Olympic Committee's decision in 2009 to include the sport in the London 2012 Games, a decision which prompted a wide range of reaction.

For the then Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, it was an "historic, landmark moment", whereas boxer Amir Khan said he was "not a fan" and suggested that "women should leave it to the men". For their part, the British Medical Association claimed whether it's women or men in the ring, boxing is a sport that "should play no part in a modern Olympic games".

For the volunteer coach of the Scottish women's squad, Mark Geraghty, the decision is to be welcomed and he hopes it will put a well-deserved spotlight on women's boxing. "The sport is going to take off big time after 2012," says Geraghty. "I think it's going to get a lot of attention and there are two or three girls who are likely to medal for England. I think after that there'll be a real change in attitudes towards the sport."

In fact, Amir Khan aside, there are signs that attitudes are already shifting. The BBC broadcast women's boxing for the first time in November last year when they showed bouts from the GB Amateur Boxing Championships in Liverpool, and for Thomas the setting up of a women's squad is the first step towards Scotland being able to punch above its weight in the future. The key to that, though, is attracting more younger women into the ring. It's a task, he acknowledges, that will be a challenge.

"The truth is that the numbers are very low," he says, adding that the number of registered women boxers in Scotland is in the tens rather than the hundreds. "But we've got some boxers worthy of further development. You never know until you actually run them out at an international competition how competent they actually are. We've now got the opportunity to do that on a relatively small scale."

The first aim of the ABS is to develop the existing 12 women in the squad while also increasing the numbers of women entering the sport. By next year there will be a championship and a development plan in place so that the ABS can seek funding and then enter international competitions.

"What we need is momentum and numbers," says Thomas. "Each boxer needs to box other boxers, they can't just keep boxing the same opponents. We need hundreds of young women and girls coming into the sport."

According to Thomas, it takes years to train a boxer. Yes, some girls can do it more quickly than others because they're already very fit, or they have a background in combat sports (judo, karate or taekwondo) or perhaps they're just extremely talented.

It might be a little too optimistic to think Scotland will have fighters ready to box in London 2012, but with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and the next Olympics in 2016 already on the horizon for athletes, there's plenty to play for.

"Boys start at ten or 11 years old," says Thomas. "If we can attract some young girls we've got a longer period of time to develop them." But how do you attract young women into the sport if there is a perception that it's dangerous, which will leave them with split lips and bust noses, if not a more severe injury? Thomas puts the risks into perspective. "Sports are dangerous," he says. "They're more dangerous than sitting on the sofa. But amateur boxing rates 17th in terms of dangerous sports, behind rugby and equestrian sports. It's not as brutal or bloody as people imagine. The officiation of it is very controlled. There's nobody getting knocked out or anything like that."

Amateur boxers wear a headguard and mouthguard and they use gloves which are larger than those used in professional boxing and cause less damage. They box for two-minute rounds which are carefully refereed.

Points are scored for technique; hits and knockouts are rare.

Scotland may still lag behind England and Wales when it comes to women boxers, but the UK, as a whole, languishes behind Scandinavia, China, America and even Ireland. There are now 120 boxing federations globally with registered women members. In terms of public opinion, though, the real change will be when punters believe watching women box is as skilful and entertaining as watching men. For Thomas, that's not a worry.

"The guys I know who have seen women's boxing at an international level are absolutely raving about it," he says. At recent competitions, the women's boxing has been, he says, "every bit as good as the men's".

"The difference between women and men's boxing is that women box more to their speed, agility and skill rather than their physical strength. It's different, but there's maybe more skill. It's every bit as exciting to watch."

'There is nothing better than winning a fight …'

KRISTEN FRASER, 22, studying economics at Aberdeen University, member of Granite City Boxing Club and Scotland Women's Boxing Squad.

"I've been involved in boxing on and off since I was really little. My dad did a bit of boxing. I can't really run, I can't really throw a ball, but I can hit quite hard, so it just seemed natural. I started competing about four years ago. I joined the uni club, but I train at Granite City and it's there that I've really been trained and looked after and brought up to a good standard. We're lucky there because we've got a female junior who's about 14, another novice who's 20 and three open- class female boxers. It's amazing, you wouldn't get that anywhere else in Scotland. We're really lucky. We help each other – we encourage each other in training and it really helps.

"People can be a bit taken aback because the public image of female boxers is that they are these huge, 81kg, muscly women. I'm 57kg and I'm 5ft 3in, a scrawny little thing. But if you look at most male boxers up to about 75kg, you wouldn't believe that they box because they look really skinny, too.

"I have huge support from my family. My grandparents are actually my biggest supporters. They're brilliant. One of my aunties said she'd never come to see me fight because she couldn't stand seeing me getting hit in the face, but she came once and since then she's come to every fight. The fitness is great. You looked ripped and I love that, but, at the end of the day, if you train and train, you want to win a fight or come home with a gold medal. I box for a reason, I want to get in the ring. There is nothing better than winning a fight."

'I don't think about getting hurt at all'

KATY ATKIN, 22, studying law at Aberdeen University, member of Granite City Boxing Club and Scotland women's boxing squad.

"I started boxing about three years ago when I came to university. I really enjoyed the physical challenge of it and how it made me feel. I was hooked. People who don't know about boxing think it's a form of fighting, but it's a sport and it's a very hard sport. You gain a lot of strengths that you'll need in everyday life because it takes a huge amount of discipline and courage and dedication. It's probably one of the hardest sports I've ever done.

"Coming up to a competition, I train twice a day, six days a week. It's intensive. In the morning I do a lot of running and sprints. I also do strength and conditioning work In the evenings. It's oriented more towards boxing – a lot of bag and padwork.

"The first time I got hit really hard on the nose, I didn't like it. It's a shock when someone's trying to punch you in the face. I'm sure it's the same for guys. But you get used to it. I used to do horse-riding and, in a way, it's similar to the feeling that you get before the first time you take on a really big jump – it's scary. But the feeling of coming through it, of overcoming your fears, is great.

"My parents are very supportive. I've got five brothers and they all play rugby, one of them plays for Scotland under-20s. My brother has had so many more injuries than me.

"Walking into the ring is stomach-churning. I look at my opponent and think, 'Oh God, look at her muscles.' But once the bell goes and I start boxing, it's fine. I've never been seriously hurt during a bout or sparring. I don't think about getting hurt, I'm much more worried about losing.

"If I do well at the nationals, I'd really hope I can enter a GB tournament to see how I compare with the English team. I know they're more experienced than us, but, if we had a certain number of bouts, I don't think there'd be that much between certain people. It's probably a long shot, but I'd really love to have a shot at London 2012."'At weekends, my friends go out drinking. If I did that I'd be back to square one'

CHERIE MACDONALD, 22, studying sport and fitness at Inverness College, member of Inverness Amateur Boxing Club and Scotland women's boxing squad.

"I started to box about seven years ago when I was about 15. I loved it from the moment I started. I'd never done anything like it before, no combat sports, nothing like that, but I just had a knack for it. I started with bagwork and circuit training, but as soon as I had the hang of the combinations, I was sparring with the guys.

"I had my first exhibition fight in Aberdeen. It was great to get in a ring because at Inverness we don't actually have a ring set up, so I'd never boxed in one. We train on laminated flooring, so when I got on the canvas I was bouncing around; there was an extra spring in my step.

"I was a bit nervous at first, but, after the first round was over, I was fine. I had huge amounts of adrenalin pumping around my body – all those people watching, the cameras. My dad and mum were there and I really didn't want to disappoint them.

"My mum doesn't like my boxing at all. She doesn't want to see me get hurt, but she respects my decision to do it and she does whatever she can to help me. My dad wasn't really interested at first, but I think that was because he didn't really know that I was any good. Once he'd seen me fight, he got behind me 100 per cent.

"I try to train five times a week at boxing and I go running two or three times a week. It's a lot. At the weekends, my friends go out drinking, but I can't do that. One weekend of that and I'd be right back to square one – it's not worth it.

"I get quite annoyed by the negative stuff said about women boxing. But then again, what can you do? It's just an opinion. I don't do boxing for anyone else, I do it for myself."

• Log on to www.amateurboxingscotland.co.uk for information about boxing in Scotland, including upcoming bouts in March