When Elise Glynn first walked into a boxing gym in Solihull, she wasn’t stepping into something familiar.
She had grown up in Hockley Heath, Warwickshire, where boxing wasn’t part of her environment. The 2012 London Olympics had sparked something, leading her to reach out to a local gym and ask about training.
But walking through the door was different.
“Girls don’t box. Why are you here?”
That was the response Elise received when she first walked into that boxing gym. Which made it clear she wasn’t welcome.
Her dad, Pete Glynn, was with her.
“Well she isn’t your daughter.”
It was enough. She wasn’t leaving because someone else said she shouldn’t be there.
What followed wasn’t a typical introduction to the sport.
There was no real structure around her training. No consistent coaching. No clear guidance.
She learned by watching. Repeating. Adjusting.
As Pete later put it, they “did their level best to get her to quit.”
Six weeks after walking into the gym, she had her first fight.
She lost, narrowly.
Things began to move quickly from there.
Within months, they had started looking elsewhere. Travelling to find a better environment, somewhere she could actually develop.
The difference showed quickly.
Elise reached her first national final, boxing above her age group. She lost, but the response was immediate, she said she would come back the next year and win.
She did.
Still boxing up an age, Elise returned to win the junior national title.
“That was her first win in 2016,” Pete said. “I’d just got my coaching badge. I was in the ring at the national championships, and she won.”
Around that time, Pete had taken full control of her development. Building structure into her training that hadn’t been there at the start. A gym space in a barn became part of that, giving her a consistent base to work from.
From there, the pattern stayed the same.
She kept stepping up, taking on more experienced opponents and building through it. The results followed.
Four consecutive national titles before COVID. Then the 2022 Adult Belt, which led to her being brought into Team GB.
Now part of Team GB, Elise is working towards the LA 2028 Olympics.
The level has changed, but the work behind it hasn’t.
The training. The preparation. The system around her. And her dad, still in the corner.
“We’ve had some arguments, we’ve had some blips, but he’s always there. Pushing me to keep going and keep getting better.”
He’s been there from the start.
And he still is.
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