Sport Lifts Her Higher<\/a>, which aims to increase female participation in sport, celebrate role models and build a long-term legacy for women and girls of all ages across Brighton & Hove.<\/p>\nFound boxing by accident – but never looked back<\/p>\n
Isabel said: \u201cI never expected to be competing at this level when I started boxing 7 years ago. I got into boxing by accident after I went along to watch my younger brother train. Something just clicked in me, and they let me have a go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started off training at other clubs in East Sussex, but it got to a point where there was no route for progression. Some of the clubs were \u2018old school\u2019 and they were always putting the boys ahead of me even though I was training and working harder than them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started training at the Brighton & Hove Boxing Gym last year and they welcomed me with open arms. I was being treated like a champion before I\u2019d even won anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helped with confidence and mental health<\/p>\n
Isabel continued: \u201cIt\u2019s a very welcoming environment and they have female-only classes that makes it even better.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoxing has given me a lot of confidence, I used to be shy and introverted, but when I realised I can fight and most people can\u2019t it helped a lot with my confidence and mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isabel has been actively competing since 2020. Last year, Isabel\u2019s career reached new heights after she won the silver medal at the England Boxing National Youths Championships in February and won the Harringay Box Cup at Alexander Palace in June.<\/p>\n
She went on to represent England in an International Youth Dual against Scotland and won the National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs Boxing Championships in November 2025.<\/p>\n
Opportunities for girls are much better than they used to be<\/p>\n
Isabel said: \u201cMy ambition is to progress as an amateur and eventually turn over to professional.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpportunities for girls and women are much better than they used to be \u2013 I used to always spar with boys because back in the day you couldn\u2019t get a female sparring session for love nor money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really grateful there are more opportunities now, the Women\u2019s Aspire programme is great, and there are a lot more female-only tournaments \u2013 there has been a lot of growth but there\u2019s still more to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gender gap still needs tackling<\/p>\n
In Brighton & Hove, a recent survey found only 15% of secondary-school-age girls had done an hour of physical activity every day for the past week, compared with 27% of boys. In primary schools, 22% of girls met that target, compared with 34% of boys.<\/p>\n
However, more than half of girls surveyed said watching professional athletes inspired them to play, and two-thirds agreed that seeing diverse athletes taking part showed sport was for everyone.<\/p>\n
Just give it a go<\/p>\n
Isabel added: \u201cI would tell anyone who\u2019s thinking about boxing to just give it a go.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when things are really tough and hard, boxing can help you overcome them, it\u2019s given me that grit and determination that get you through tough times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to struggle with panic attacks in the ring, I\u2019d have to lie down on the floor in the changing rooms for 20 minutes to try to calm down and stop crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the support from my family who encouraged me to carry on, I was able to overcome my own mental health struggles through boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clubs asked to support our campaign<\/p>\n
As part of our Sport Lifts Her Higher campaign, we’re asking local clubs and activity providers to complete a survey<\/a>, which will help us better understand the current participation levels and any barriers for women and girls participating in sport and physical activities.<\/p>\nActivity providers and local clubs are also invited to share details of their sessions and success stories via the survey.<\/p>\n
During the campaign, we’ll showcase work being done by clubs and share stories of local role models through our social media channels to promote the wide range of sporting opportunities available across the city.<\/p>\n
Isabel Mitchell in action at the Golden Girl Boxing Championships in Sweden this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aspiring local boxer Isabel Mitchell is soaring high after her win at the Golden Girl Boxing Championships in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-485623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}