{"id":360666,"date":"2026-01-09T09:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360666\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T09:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:57:10","slug":"southampton-boxing-coach-62-proves-age-is-no-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360666\/","title":{"rendered":"Southampton boxing coach, 62, proves age is no barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Joanne Seward, based at Poseidon Boxing Club in Southampton, has been highlighted in a new \u2018Women in Coaching\u2019 series by UK Coaching and England Boxing for changing lives through sport.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 62-year-old only started boxing at the age of 52 to improve her fitness, but quickly developed a passion for the sport and began supporting the coaching team at her club.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/25687031.army-royal-navy-go-head-to-head-boxing-event\/?ref=ial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Army and Royal Navy go head-to-head at boxing event<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Ms Seward started boxing at the age of 52 to improve her fitness, but quickly developed a passion for the sport. (Image: Run Communications)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Seward said: &#8220;I wanted to be just as committed to the programme as I was in my first job.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She went on to join an England Boxing coaching programme and is now a key member of the coaching team at Poseidon, working closely with head coaches.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, Ms Seward admitted that starting out wasn\u2019t without its challenges.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: &#8220;When I started the development course, I felt like the slow one at the back because I was the one who knew the least.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;I felt like I had more to prove, but once I got further down the line, I realised it didn\u2019t matter.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Her story comes as figures from UK Coaching\u2019s Coaching in the UK Report show a decline in female coaches, dropping from 44 per cent in 2022 to 38 per cent in 2024.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Seward believes more women in coaching roles is essential.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: &#8220;Having female coaches is crucial because they can coach people who are similar to them.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She also acknowledged that not everyone was comfortable with her taking charge at her previous gym, but says attitudes have changed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/25575440.southampton-man-cerebral-palsy-fulfils-lifelong-boxing-dream\/?ref=ial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Southampton man with cerebral palsy fulfils lifelong boxing dream<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She explained: &#8220;It\u2019s not an issue 90 per cent of the time now.\u00a0People understand that you are there to coach.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In addition to coaching, Ms Seward has spent the past two years as a boxing judge at grassroots events across the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said the judging role has helped her broaden her knowledge of the sport.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Seward hopes her journey encourages more women to step forward.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: &#8220;Believe.\u00a0You must believe in yourself and do it.\u00a0What\u2019s the worst that can happen?\u00a0Don\u2019t let people put you down.\u00a0Just believe.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joanne Seward, based at Poseidon Boxing Club in Southampton, has been highlighted in a new \u2018Women in Coaching\u2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-360666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}