Kailee Densworth reflects on spellbinding experience coaching at Australian Institute of Sport

Densworth, of Shepparton, was treated to the opportunity of a lifetime from February 8 to 11 as she attended a women’s youth and elite national development boxing camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The four-day retreat served to refine her budding coaching skills in the company of some of the nation’s most promising females with a penchant for punching.

But here’s the kicker.

Densworth’s trip to the Canberra sporting temple, which taxpayers fork out about $15 million a year to fund, arrives only two years into her boxing journey.

The 28-year-old has skipped the sport’s salad days and gone straight to the silk-hemmed summit and it all stemmed from a simple prompt following a sour stage of life Densworth is glad to leave in the past.

“I’ve always had an interest in boxing, but it wasn’t until I got out of a toxic six-year relationship and I needed an outlet, a stress reliever,” she said.

“A friend of mine said ‘why don’t you try boxing?’ and I’ve never turned back because of how much it has saved me.

“It’s completely changed me as a person, it’s made me stronger and I dedicate everything to boxing because it’s saved my life to be honest.”

Densworth enrolled in Shepparton Boxing Gym under owner Daniel Cleave and soon forged a newfound hardiness within the walls of the pugilistic edifice.

Last year, she booked four bouts beneath her belt — and now the boxing bug has truly bitten.

With Cleave’s new venture, Resolute Gym, needing all hands on deck, in the pads or otherwise, Densworth’s boxing caper took a slight detour as the appeal of coaching grew stronger.

And, funnily enough, so was she.

“Daniel Cleave opened up a new gym, I decided to get a coaching licence to help him out and that was my main goal really,” she said.

“That was until I got a phone call at the start of the year to ask me to come be a supportive Vic coach for the female boxers.

“It was really unexpected.”

Densworth emitted a slight chuckle when reminiscing about “that” invitation.

Though she didn’t admit it, something about her infectious chortle indicated that Densworth herself could not quite believe the strides she’d made, the latest being in and out of the doors of AIS.

Some of Australia’s finest athletic figures have made those same strides and, for the Shepparton product, it signified how far she’s come since being plagued by the insidious tendrils of self-doubt.

“While I was there I oversaw drills, pad work, shadow boxing, instructed girls on those drills,” she said.

“We did comp sparring, so I learnt to be in the corner, doing corner work and stuff like that.

“It was also a development camp for coaches as well for people like myself ... we had meetings to educate us as coaches as well as strength and conditioning.

“For me personally, I learned confidence — just because I lack that in myself.

“I’d never really done coaching before, so it was a whole new process for me. And as a fighter myself, I actually learned a lot.”

For so long Densworth needed someone in her own corner.

She found the reassurance she so craved at Shepparton Boxing Gym and later Resolute, never throwing in the towel no matter how hard life hit.

Now, it’s time to give back.

Following her successful trip to AIS, Densworth has grand designs to nurture the next crop of Shepparton’s female fighters as a coach at Resolute.

The 28-year-old is taking her stance outside the ring and, rather than being boxed into a corner, has taken up guard there in hope of reaching boxing's pinnacle.

“I’d like to see where this can take me, because it could lead me on a pathway of becoming a state coach, then Australian coach to Olympic coach,” she said.

ˑ To follow Kailee Densworth’s boxing journey, follow her on Instagram @boxwithkailee