Casey Stoney: How boxing helped Man Utd Women to promotion

This article was originally published on 17 April

For Casey Stoney, early-morning boxing classes, obstacle courses and dance lessons have all played a part in her first season as head coach of Manchester United Women.

Managing a heavyweight club in the predominantly part-time Women’s Championship, perhaps the biggest hurdle she had to face was getting a brand new squad to gel quickly.

But victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday will see Stoney’s team named champions less than a year after the women’s side reformed.

So how did dancing and dawn sparring sessions help the former England skipper – who was capped 130 times – win 15 of her first 17 league games as a manager?

“When they came together last summer, they were effectively 21 strangers coming in to a room,” Stoney told BBC Sport.

“It’s quite incredible where we’re at, in terms of the team togetherness. That’s not by chance.

“We’ve been boxing at six o’clock in the morning, character-building. I believe in taking the players out of their comfort zones, because it stretches them.”

Former centre-back Stoney calls her off-field activities “Team United”.

“We actually put it to the players to come up with their own ideas, and they had to pitch it back to us and the best team won,” the 36-year-old added.

“‘Team United’ was my brainchild, something I was keen to do. Things away from the pitch, I think, are always key.

“We brought a dance teacher in – that was my biggest fear. Dancing in front of the group – I couldn’t stand that. But some of them loved it, some of them hated it, just like some of them loved the boxing and some of them hated that.

“It works on different aspects of teamwork and the different dynamics within the team, and facing your fears, as well as communication skills.

“When we’re not talking about football and we’re just problem solving – and sometimes doing things that we hate and we’re frightened of – that adds to the team cohesion.”