Boxing has always been a part of the Copeland Family. Stacey’s father was a professional boxer and her granddad has been involved in the family gym, which has been teaching boxing for over 40 years.
Stacey was brought up at gym and spend many happy hours down there from a young age learning how to box, and she would happily spar with the boys not knowing any different. It was only as she got older, she was made aware how unusual her passion for boxing was. She’d wanted to take boxing to the next level, but because boxing was illegal for women, she had to put her dream on hold and instead decided to follow her other passion, football, and after playing for her country at under eighteen, she then became a professional and headed off to play football for clubs around the world.
After twelve broken bones, it was time for Stacey to retire from football and at 29 she decided she was going to follow her dreams and see if she could make it at boxing!
Although many people said at 29 Stacey was too old to take up a new sport - especially boxing. Stacey knew, she would not be stopped, she was going to at least try.
During this podcast, Stacey shares with us the hardships and challenges she faced and how she persevered and was able to prove all her doubters wrong and went on to win two ABA national titles, as well as four Boxcup tournaments in Europe.
I loved recorded this episode, there are so many learning points, and for me, it really does show no matter what happens, its never to late to go after your dreams and with hard work, commitment and focus you can make it happen and you can achieve amazing things. You just need to go for it.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode send Stacey a tweet she’s @Staceyspongebob I’m also on twitter @_TOUGH_GIRL as always it would be great to hear from you.
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See you next Tuesday for another awesome episode when we speak with Ali Young a “non runner”, who’s just completed a 24 hr endurance race!