{"id":450273,"date":"2026-01-31T21:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/450273\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:02:14","slug":"boxing-prodigy-ciara-storch-punching-above-her-weight-on-world-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/450273\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing prodigy Ciara Storch punching above her weight on world stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ciara Storch spends 12 hours a day working as a dump truck operator at a coal mine.<\/p>\n

But as soon as she’s done, the lightweight boxer can’t wait to train on a baking-hot open-air tennis court her dad calls “the prison yard”.<\/p>\n

“I just love to punch people in the face,” she says.<\/p>\n

She’s not talking about her teammates, who say they look up to her.<\/p>\n

The fighter is talking about chasing wins around the globe.<\/p>\n

But she says for now, she’s laser-focused on improving her timing and accuracy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ciara Storch says she’s travelled more than 35,000 kilometres in the past year. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

“The feeling is amazing,” she says.<\/p>\n

“The level that we’ve reached from this little town, it doesn’t happen.”<\/p>\n

Fighting for space<\/p>\n

Her father, Craig Storch, has been supporting his daughter from the get-go as a coach, while building up a boxing club in Dysart in central Queensland.<\/p>\n

Enormous mats and a boxing ring sit in the centre of the town’s aging tennis courts.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dig Deep boxing is based on Dysart’s former tennis courts. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

“It’s an old country gym,” he says.<\/p>\n

“We call it the prison yard because there’s a 20-foot high fence around it, but just as a joke.”<\/p>\n

The gym has become a place where champions and aspirants of all ages mix, train and spar together.<\/p>\n

In the masters division, Christine Laycock says she originally took up boxing for fitness, but has been pulled into bouts over the past year.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely an eye-opener: I felt myself getting quicker, getting the brain working and self-control,” she says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Christine Laycock says boxing is a mental game.\u00a0 (Supplied: Christine Laycock)<\/p>\n

Now in her 40s, Ms Laycock says it is an empowering experience to go into a ring and put the fear of getting hurt to one side.<\/p>\n

She says while the masters boxers use a thicker glove to reduce the impact of the blows, it can still be “nerve-wracking”.<\/p>\n

“It is a very mental game, and everybody knows the struggles that you have to go through, like cutting weight,” she says.<\/p>\n

But she says no amount of pre-match planning can take her through the intensity of a bout.<\/p>\n

“As soon as you get hit, that’s it: the nerves are gone, your plan’s gone, everything’s gone,” she says.<\/p>\n

“It’s all on muscle memory.”<\/p>\n

A multi-generational sport<\/p>\n

Yanai “Rose” Edwards has been attending training sessions with Mr Storch since she was six.<\/p>\n

Now 12 years old, she says the training regime is intensifying.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Yanai “Rose” Edwards has been dedicated to the sport since a young age. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

“We’ll punch the bags most nights, do bag sprints and then we’ll spar and do technical stuff,” she says.<\/p>\n

Her performance in the ring has already earned her the nickname “Raging Rose”.<\/p>\n

Ms Storch says she is hopeful she has been able to inspire other young girls to dedicate themselves to the sport.<\/p>\n

“Not to toot my own horn, but it’s really good to have a female athlete that the little ones can look up to in this small town,” she says.<\/p>\n

“It helps that they can come to someone and just get some clarity on how they’re feeling, cause it’s perfectly normal when they struggle.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ciara Storch won at the 2025 USA Boxing International Open in Colorado. (Supplied: Boxing Australia)<\/p>\n

She says the club has refused to allow its remoteness to be a barrier, despite being a 10-hour drive to Brisbane.<\/p>\n

She estimates she has travelled 35,000 kilometres flying and driving in the past year.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely full on, there’s no rest for the wicked, but it’s worth it when you get to come home after every trip,” she says.<\/p>\n

The work has paid off: Ms Storch was a 2024 youth bronze medallist in her class at the Under 19s World Boxing Championships.<\/p>\n

She was also named the USA Elite Women’s Champion after winning at the 2025 USA Open International in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Craig Storch says living regionally gives his boxers an advantage, not a disadvantage. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

Her father says he’s fought for better recognition of regional talent in the boxing world and Australian talent internationally.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s more discipline here; there’s no nightclubs, there’s no beach,” Mr Storch says.<\/p>\n

“You’re bored: you go for a run.”Growing numbers<\/p>\n

Data from Boxing Australia shows interest in the sport is climbing.<\/p>\n

In 2025, 593 female boxers registered with the national body, up more than 200 from 356 new registrations in 2024.<\/p>\n

Ms Storch says interest at both the amateur and professional levels is growing.<\/p>\n

“There’s women that come in that have started a lot later in life. The opportunities are endless,” she says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ciara Storch says she’s glad her international success has helped elevate boxing in her hometown. (Supplied: Dig Deep Boxing)<\/p>\n

Despite qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, an injury to Ms Storch’s right shoulder means she has had to put any competition bouts on hold for now.<\/p>\n

She says she’s focused on advocating for her own health and wellbeing and looking to the long term.<\/p>\n

“I’m only 19, I’ve still got heaps of years left in the sport,” she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciara Storch spends 12 hours a day working as a dump truck operator at a coal mine. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,232866,232865,232868,232864,92092,85,232867,232870,232869],"class_list":["post-450273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-queensland","tag-ciara-storch","tag-craig-storch","tag-dig-deep-boxing","tag-dysart","tag-sports","tag-usa-open-international","tag-women-in-boxing","tag-world-bronze-champion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}