{"id":91199,"date":"2025-08-25T08:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T08:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/91199\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T08:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T08:17:11","slug":"peterborough-teacher-swaps-classroom-for-boxing-ring-for-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/91199\/","title":{"rendered":"Peterborough teacher swaps classroom for boxing ring for charity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shariqua Ahmed<\/p>\n

BBC News, Peterborough<\/p>\n

\"TeresaTeresa Colman<\/p>\n

Teresa Colman was nicknamed Tenacious T Colman by her boyfriend Patrick for her boxing bouts held at Planet Ice in Bretton<\/p>\n

A 53-year-old teacher has raised almost \u00a32,000 for charity after swapping the classroom for the boxing ring.<\/p>\n

Teresa Colman, a lecturer at Peterborough College, took part in two Ultra White Collar Boxing (UWCB) fights at the city’s Planet Ice to support Cancer Research UK and local charity Boxing Futures.<\/p>\n

Ms Colman said she was inspired to lace up her gloves after a close friend was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer.<\/p>\n

“I felt helpless and wanted to do something,” she said.<\/p>\n

Initially hesitant, she worried she was “too old”, but soon discovered a new passion.<\/p>\n

“At 53, I did not think I could have done it. But I am fitter and have better mental health. I always like to push myself,” she said.<\/p>\n

After signing up in April 2024, she had eight weeks of free professional training at gyms including Boxing Futures in Yaxley. <\/p>\n

She went on to compete in two bouts at Planet Ice in Bretton \u2014 winning both matches after three 90-second rounds in each contest.<\/p>\n

Her efforts raised \u00a31,200 for Cancer Research UK in her first bout, and a further \u00a3750 for Boxing Futures in her second bout this summer.<\/p>\n

“For my first match I was nervous, it was a whirlwind. For the second, I was more relaxed and enjoyed it even more. It was hard, but worth it \u2013 an incredible experience,” said Ms Colman, who is from Fletton.<\/p>\n

\"TeresaTeresa Colman<\/p>\n

Teresa Colman said she was supported and cheered on during her matches by 10 of her closest friends <\/p>\n

Ms Colman said the sport had also had a “significant positive impact” on her physical and mental health, and she hoped to continue.<\/p>\n

She was inspired by the work of Boxing Futures, which supports young people through mentoring and physical activity.<\/p>\n

“Working with young people myself, this struck a chord with me. After my first match I decided I wanted to raise money for them to support their great work,” she said.<\/p>\n

Her journey has inspired others \u2014 one of her female students has since joined Boxing Futures after hearing about her experience.<\/p>\n

“I felt delighted about that,” Ms Colman said. “I like doing things that women in their 50s are not usually expected to do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shariqua Ahmed BBC News, Peterborough Teresa Colman Teresa Colman was nicknamed Tenacious T Colman by her boyfriend Patrick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-91199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91199","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=91199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}