Gypsy girls at the age of 16 should be thinking about marriage and homemaking – but one teenager is intent on breaking the mould.
Jessie, who lives in Surrey with her family, is pursuing her dreams of becoming a professional boxer and she won’t let any one get in her way, including her father.
Reluctant at first to let his daughter step in the ring, her father, who is also called Jesse, thought she would soon lose interest when she discovered how hard the training was, but now she has his full support.
Not only has she made it to national amateur level, Jessie’s done it all while balancing her cleaning chores.
Jessie, 16, is a keen boxer, she had to beg her father to let her take part in the sport which is usually reserved for the male members of the traveller community
The teen represents south England in a national amateur fight, but despite a loss she ends up more determined to improve
Jessie still finds time to balance her passion for boxing with her cleaning chores at home – but isn’t following the traditional route of marriage and homemaking
Jessie’s father Jesse is her number one supporter and says he’d rather her pursue the sport than ‘mess up’ her life getting married to young
‘Traveller girls are brought up to cook and clean and look after the home. Boxing is a hard sport and I was just worried about her,’ her father explains in Channel 5’s Gypsy Kids, which looks at what it is like to be a young traveller.
Laughed at by her father when she first expressed an interest in the sport, which is usually reserved for the men, Jessie refused to give up.
‘When my dad says no, that means no. But I just didn’t take no for an answer.’
She trains with the boys in the gym and fights them too: ‘The boys don’t hold back on me, so I don’t hold back on them. I was sparring in the gym the other day and blacked me eye up.’
Her father Jesse recalls: ‘When she started training at the gym, I thought she’d find it to hard and jack it in. She proved us all wrong.’
Jessie trains hard in the gym – where she is the only girl – and fights against the boys in preparation for a match
She often sports a black eye after practise but insists it doesn’t hurt and is more than happy to get back in the ring
After training hard ahead of a national match representing south England in an all-girls boxing gala, she goes up against a tough opponent.
But as victory eludes her she doesn’t let it stop her: ‘Losing makes you want to be better and stronger and it makes you fight harder and train harder.’
Jessie has shunned the idea of marriage and children, which is often expected of girls her age, and instead wants to pursue the sport.
Her father is equally as keen and totally behind her: ‘Some girls at Jessie’s age they get married have children and it messes their life up a little bit.
‘I would rather her live a bit, see life and see the world.’
Gypsy Kids: Our Secret World airs next Thursday 21 September on Channel 5 at 9pm