Ready for the ring: New Brunswick fields 1st female boxing team at Canada Winter Games

In the coming week, Tessa Scott and Lily Brown will do something no female boxer has done before: step into the ring at the Canada Games. 

Scott, who is from Saint John and Brown, from Boundary Creek near Moncton, will take part in the 2023 Canada Winter Games on Prince Edward Island, which are the first to include women's boxing. 

When Brown found out she was going to the Games, she said it was nerve-wracking. Having never competed at such a high level, she questioned whether she was good enough.

"But now I know that all the girls who are going are in the same position," she said. "So I think we're all pretty excited because it's the first time girls are allowed to compete."

Brown sees it as a step forward that stretches beyond the ropes around the ring. 

"This is great for all women in all sports, and especially women in boxing, because it's going to let a lot of young girls make a lot of new opportunities they would have never had before," she said.

Scott shares in Brown's occasional self doubt, but she's excited about the prospect of making history. 

"It would feel very, very special to be known as the first female to win the Canada Games in boxing," she said. 

Her coach thinks she has the juice to do it. 

"I would put money on Tessa winning if we were allowed to bet," said Team New Brunswick coach Joe Blanchard. "But we don't do that." 

Both athletes share a local role model in Charlie Cavanagh, a boxer from Saint John who placed second at the 2022 IBA world boxing championships. 

Cavanagh said she's happy to fill that role, because there wasn't anyone local for her to look up to when she was starting her career. And she has a special message for Scott and Brown.

"I'm proud of you, and everyone else in New Brunswick