"I feel a lot more confident and don’t feel nervous when I meet new people."

She struggled at school…

At 13 Maria began to struggle at school; fighting and playing truant. At 14 she was expelled and sent to a behavioural unit. Sadly, Maria continued to fight and remained angry at others and herself. She worried she would not receive any GCSE’s but this just further fuelled her bad behaviour, which she struggled to control. Ultimately Maria left school with no plan; she felt alone and worried about what life had in store for her.

Maria says “I did not want my nephews to grow up and copy my behaviour and it scared me that they may also follow the same path”, this recognition became a driver for Maria. She was first introduced to Boxing Futures through her case worker, as they knew she was sporty and played football. Maria was very quiet at her first couple of sessions but she had a natural talent for boxing. After a few weeks she began making friends and kept up her attendance. She started to demonstrate real motivation, discipline and drive on the programme.

Since joining Boxing Futures, people often tell Maria they’ve noticed a change in her. She said, “I feel a lot more confident and don’t feel nervous when I meet new people in the group or in day-to-day life.”

Maria feels strongly that Boxing Futures has helped control her anger and vent her frustrations in a positive way so she doesn’t snap at people and get into physical altercations anymore. Maria’s now able to communicate her points effectively in a group and started to explore a career working with children.

Maria has just completed her Bronze Boxercise award and is rightly very proud of her achievements. She has started applying for colleges and now holds much more hope for the future.