"It’s changed my mentality, I’m mentally and physically healthier."

She began experimenting…

Rosie felt she had nothing to look forward to. At school she often messed around in class and lost interest very quickly. Rosie withdrew. She had a limited friendship circle and thought she had no one to turn to. She says “I had no interest in anything or anyone, I was always late and felt I had nothing going for me”. Then Rosie started to be excluded. She began experimenting with drink and recreational drugs to escape from her reality.

Rosie’s support worker Susie suggested Boxing Futures and she reluctantly agreed to try one of our Boxercise programmes. At first she found the sessions difficult, having had such limited interaction with others for a long time. Sometimes Rosie would sit out of the exercises. She says “I believed nobody in the group wanted to talk to me and I found the idea of trying something new with people I didn’t know very scary”.

As time went on though, Rosie started to relax and make friends with others in the group. Her fitness and punching technique started to dramatically improve! She adds “I started to make friends and realised I was quite good at boxing. I enjoyed it. I had a purpose and started to feel as if I belonged to something.”

Rosie has grown hugely since starting the programme and is even helping coach new members and volunteering at our events. Through Boxing Futures, she now has something to look forward to every week. She says, “Now I have a lot more confidence and enjoy trying new things, like I did with boxing. I love meeting new people and take pride in my achievements with this programme”.