I am a 50-something girlboxer living in Brooklyn, NY with my family and started this blog back in October 2010 to ruminate on life from the perspective of women’s boxing and the wisdom of the ring.
Boxing has been a part of my life since I first took it up 1996. It is always humbling, not the least of which is due to the overwhelming kindness and generosity of boxing people.
Blogging has also been a humbling experience — I’ve met great writers, bloggers, boxers and boxing fans, MMA denizens, lovers of life, martial artists, yoga folks, potters, avid readers, and am otherwise learning to open my voice! I’m not sure where this is all going suffice to say I’m having a blast getting there!
Order your Girlboxing Gear here!
My friend Niamh Griffin over at Inspiring Sports Women was kind enough to do a two-part piece about me.
Part I: Age no limit for Girl Boxing
Part II: Why should you box?
Feel free to comment, pontificate and send in ideas!
My email is girlboxing.wordpress (at) gmail.com
© 2010-2012 Malissa Smith All rights reserved.
Hey,
Just wanted to let you know that I named you to receive the highly prestigious Stylish Blogger Award.
Here’s the link:
http://margaretreyesdempsey.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/did-you-hear-im-stylish/
Thanks so much Margaret. I will do the column tomorrow. Best!
ive been looking for your address here but I cant find. i love your articles and hopefully we post it at the site also.
thanks
I can’t say I’ve ever met a girl boxer before. Thanks for subscribing to my blog.
My pleasure. I came across your blog on the Conjuring My Muse blog.
Hi Melissa!
You don’t mind do you? I’ve been neglecting my blog, but its about to get going again.
I have been meaning to write, but the show had me so busy. Thank you for all of your GREAT coverage and the stories on Lisa and Mischa! Its a pleasure to have a fellow female pugilist working for the good of the sport! I hope to meet you one day, and I want to import your blog into mine.
-Terri Moss
Thanks so much for your support, Terri. I’ve emailed you directly. – Malissa
I just started boxing. Age 45.
I feel wiser already!
Welcome to the conversation, Emily! It’s great to hit things! Your blog’s great too — I’ll add it to the link page.
Thank you SO much for adding me to the link page!
I will add you to mine when I figure out how to do such a thing.
(I just bought my first cell phone-to give you an idea how behind I am)
My pleasure, Emily! You posts are really fun!
I met you at Margaret’s site. You left a comment about “There were no mirrors in My Nana’s House.” This is my all-time favorite Sweet Honey in the Rock song.
I know next to nothing about boxing, but I’m here, reading your site expanding my brain and my world. Thank you for your writing and for letting me see women and boxing from a whole new light. I had never thought about these things in this way. This is why I adore the exchange of ideas blogging brings. I am enlightened by your words and my world expands.
Thank you.
Rebecca,
Thank you for your very kind words. “There were no mirrors in my Nana’s house” is my favorite song from Sweet Honey in the Rock too. More than uplifting it seems to paint an entire world that encompasses passion and imagination.
Boxing holds out similar possibilities to me. For women in particular, the parameters of the sport seem to take on additional meanings, wherein each woman who approaches it has to do so consciously, much as women who embrace other martial arts and even athleticism that falls outside of the boundaries of what is viewed as normative. I came to this late in my life having eschewed all sports, running, aerobics and so on with a Manhattanite’s effete dismissal, but did I ever miss out! Having come to it now, I love sharing the complexities of the personal saga, as well as putting out small brush strokes that like quick sketches give the sense of what women’s boxing is all about as a global experience.
I really appreciate what you’ve written and love forward to exploring your blog — http://www.alterspaces.com.
All the Best!!!
I enjoyed your blog that I just stumbled across. I enjoyed boxing in my late twenties into thirties but just for fun and exercise. That’s how I came up with my email address years ago and more recently my blog. My blog is about my experience in college as an alternative student and my unfortunate experience as a fighter in the divorce ring.
Keep blogging when your gloves are off!
Pattie girlboxer1970
Thanks so much, Pattie. I can’t wait to check out your blog!!!
Hey Malissa, I’m a young female boxer, and i absolutely LOVE it! I’m glad you started this blog to show that girls can box and can be great at it. It is a VERY hard working sport, but no matter how hard it gets…I just think to myself all this hard work and pain is going to get me somewhere far in life. I will be a champion. Your an inspiration to girl boxers. I’m open to any advice or tips you may have for me.
Ashley! Thank you so much for your note!! I looked at your blog and you are off to a terrific start!!! As for training, a lot of professional and amateurs boxers gripe about it … but it is precisely the work that lets you dance in the ring. I was at Gleason’s this morning at about 8. My trainer wasn’t around so it was just me, but it didn’t mean that I slacked on the work, if anything, I pushed harder on things I knew I needed to work on, and even managed the 100 sit-ups.
If I can offer anything, Ashley, it is to say that whatever you choose to do with you life over the long run, your passion for the sport and your willingness to do the work necessary to get yourself where you want to go will be something you will carry with you for the rest of your life. PLUS … four years from now … it could be you carrying an Olympic dream in your heart. BTW, I’ll be adding a link to your blog under the Boxing Blogs links. BEST of the best!!!
Thank you SO much! Yeah, boxing is very hard work and to tell the truth, At first I did gripe about it because when I first started I was soo sore…but now it makes me feel like I have more energy.
Please check out my blogs when you get a chance. Thanks(:
Hi! Thank you for your fantastic blog!!! I love it!!! I saw in your tweet you’ll be presenting a paper on women’s boxing and gender issues. Will you put this paper on your site?
Thank you again!!!
Thank you so much, Jordan! And yes, I’ll put some version of it on the site once I’m back. Best!
Thank you very much!! Have a great time at the conference, and congratulations on your paper!!
I’m glad to have found your blog. You’ve got a great writing style, and it’s nice to see a women’s perspective on the sport.
I took up boxing many years ago when my kids were young and new to it. I recently started doing boxing workouts again after getting an injury that is keeping me from running. Your blog is a great motivator!
Abby,
Welcome and thank you so much for your lovely comment! Good luck with the training! I hope your boxing doesn’t further aggravate your injury.
All the best!
Thank you for sharing your articles! You have a lot to say. Drop on by sometimes to http://brendabell.org
Thanks! Will check out your blog!
FYI, I’ve linked to your blog under the heading Boxing Blogs. Great stuff!
We recently had Cathy Brown on the Podcast, London Real, talking about her career and female boxing more generally. Please take a listen and if you like it, please host it and let us know. Thank you
http://www.londonreal.tv/episodes/female-boxer-cathy-the-bitch-brown/
Thanks for the comment. Will definitely give a listen and pass along in a future post.