A young female member of Lympstone Amateur Boxing Club is hoping to compete for England one day, after winning a place on a top training programme for teenage talent.

Lauryn Hitchcock, 17, who lives in Exmouth, will work with leading coaches and trainers on the Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) course, affiliated to England Boxing, at the SGS Sports Academy in Bristol.

She will spend five days a week in Bristol, returning home for the other two days, and continuing her training at the Lympstone club.

Lauryn said: “I’m really happy for this opportunity with DiSE and to be supported by my coach, Paul Silk, and my club, Lympstone ABC. I’m going to give it my all and see where it takes me. 

“Obviously the dream is to be picked up by the GB squad, but I know that there must still be a degree of reality. Not everyone gets to represent their country. Boxing will be my life work and I will be building my career within the industry, bringing boxing to a wider audience, with the understanding that the fitness training and discipline involved is a benefit to all, not just those competing in the ring."

Lauryn is keen to dispel the view that the boxing ring is no place for women. Last year she was interviewed for an International Women’s Day blog written by Joanna Taylor, who looks after PR and marketing for Lympstone ABC.

During the interview she explained that when she joined the club she was too young to be aware of the male/female divide in sports, but later realised that people thought female boxers were ‘butch and scary – which is totally not the case’.

She said: “I want all young girls to know that you can do whatever you want to do and if you want to box you should have the right. The more girls that are in boxing the more accessible and normalised the sport will become and I like the fact that I am part of that.”

She added that boxing has been ‘character building’ for her and she would love to be able to ‘change people’s perceptions and closed-minded opinions of women in sport'.

“I am extremely proud to be a female boxer and other girls should be proud too, and we should all work together to BreakTheBias.”

You can read Joanna's blog in full, including the whole interview with Lauryn, here.

Anyone – male or female – who would like more information about the Lympstone Amateur Boxing Club and its training sessions can email Joanna at at lympstoneabc@yahoo.com