Former regional swimmer Lucia Hooper reveals swapping her costume for boxing gloves has improved her mental health.
Hooper found interest in the combat sport when she began studying at Loughborough University earlier this year.
“It is an extremely sporty university so I was interested into doing a ‘different’ sport,” she said.
“Something along the lines of martial arts. I spoke to the boxing society and expressed my interest and they were very friendly. The fact that they had a girl there made me feel a lot more comfortable to get involved.”
Hooper’s interest in boxing was sparked by early memories of watching British former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua.
Liquid motivation 💧 @LucozadeSport pic.twitter.com/7D803kWBNK
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) September 19, 2024
“I’ve always liked watching fights, growing up I was obsessed with Anthony Joshua,” she said.
“Boxing has become quite prominent especially with all the social media and influencer fights now, so I just really wanted to start something new and be able to learn self-defence, especially as a woman.”
The 20-year-old admitted there is a huge difference between the two sports.
“Before I came to university, I used to be a competitive swimmer, so it feels very much different doing boxing because it is a lot more aggressive,” she said.
“In swimming, you just focus on your technique and your breathing, yet boxing is so technical, but you also must have the power behind it as well.
“With swimming you are only focused on yourself but in boxing you must focus on the other person the whole time.
“That is quite difficult as well going from a sport where you are swimming your own race to boxing where you are fighting another person.”
Hooper revealed that boxing has had a big positive impact on her mental health as she uses it as a stress reliever.
“It’s as an outlet to take my stress away and it feels therapeutic when you are smacking a punching bag as hard as you can,” she said.
“I can’t even really describe it; it takes your mind away as it is so cardio based, and you must focus on technique.
“There are just so many things to always be working on and doing.”
