Skip to main content
Blog

Answers To 2021 Survey Responses

By 2nd January 2021No Comments

Every now and again we will send out quick, online surveys to our gym community so that we can gather their thoughts and realise what it is they want from us going forward.

In our recent survey, the aim was to see what people think the Training Cave does well, what they would like to see us do in the future and if they were in charge of the Training Cave, what would they do? We have had some fantastic responses, as we wanted to see opinions from both sides. It was an anonymous survey as we wanted people to be honest, this gym is for YOU and if you aren’t happy, we need to know.

We found that some of the suggestions made are either already happening, going to happen or we had an answer for. So, we thought it would be a good idea to reply to the responses through this blog, to help people better understand why we do things.

We have also written a separate blog here with some great responses about what we do well (our chance to brag).

Hopefully, the below answers from us will help in some form. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to e-mail info@trainingcave.co.uk. We appreciate everyone giving up their time to write us some feedback, this is how we will continue to push forward and deliver what the public wants and needs.

What would you like to see from the Training Cave in 2021?

  • ‘Maybe a bigger ring’

We currently have two boxing rings, one of which is a small 10x10ft training ring which is permanently fixed. The other is a portable 14x14ft ring which lives in the changing rooms, but we sometimes build up for specific nights within the gym and outreach work. Unfortunately, our gyms building is only 1200sq ft including the changing rooms so we wouldn’t have much room to exercise in if the larger ring was up permanently. 

  • ‘Easier rockys’

This will probably never happen 🙂

  • ‘Extra classes for the smaller ones (my 6yo would love to come more than once a week)’

We understand that the young ones would love to come more, and we hope to be able to accommodate more 6-8 years classes in the future but at the moment this isn’t possible as our timetable is completely full. When we eventually have a bigger gym and full-time staff on board, we will then be able to consider (possibly) running extra classes. Some reasons as to why we only run one session a week for 6-8 years is because we feel it is enough for them at that age, in boxing you can’t compete until you are 10 years old anyway, therefore a child could be in the gym for 4 years becoming bored and fed up with no end goal in sight. We also feel that if someone starts a sport so young, and then overdo it, they are more likely to burn out later in life, in this case we are more concerned about longevity. We always run free sessions for young people during the school holidays, usually every day so please keep an eye out for those!

  • ‘More mental health and suicide awareness, I know at least 4 men that committed suicide in 2020. Maybe have a dedicated member of the staff available for the younger generation to speak to about any problems.’

One of Jacks friends has recently set up a mental health hub in Dewsbury and they plan on running mental health and suicide awareness sessions within the Training Cave throughout 2021. Everyone will be notified when these are.

If you was in charge of the Training Cave, what would you change? How can we improve?

  • ‘Maybe do a extra class and take people that aren’t beginners into there own class’

We run both beginners and advanced classes. We move people from beginners to advanced once we think they are ready. There is no real difference to the sessions, so no one is missing out on anything special, it’s just that the level of skill, physical ability and experience is much different between participants and we will only progress someone from the beginners to advanced once we think they are 100% prepared for the switch.

  • ‘Id get one of those massage chairs that cost £1 for 5 mins . Would be a nice touch that’

We’d be charging more than £1 for this.

  • ‘Nothing to improve. Maybe a bit of 1-1 counselling/coaching etc…after the past year of chaos, as people are struggling and won’t ask for help, as they think others need it more.’

This is something that we plan to bring into the Training Cave in the long run. We currently offer 1-1 support to young people referred to us through the Kirklees youth offending team, they may be people who are rehabilitating or who are victims of crime. We help them using the power of boxing, exercise and mentoring. Some local pupil referral units also send small groups of young people to us to provide this support. We do enjoy this work and would like to provide it on a much wider scale as we think it is needed and fits perfectly with what the training cave is all about.

  • ‘With the covid id get the kids to wash there hand more & bring there own gloves that is all really as we all need to look after each other so they can still train, but im really happy with everything.’

We have installed 3 hand sanitising stations. Two, one at each entrance and one outside the changing rooms. We admit, we should probably be a little more proactive in making sure people wash their hands before they do anything, and we aim to be better in 2021. In terms of people having their own gloves, we 100% recommend people have their own gloves. We provide sets for new people to use, so they can try out the training and boxing first before investing in a pair themselves. Boxing gloves can be bought from most sports shops, online or we have ordered a bulk amount to be sold from our own online shop. Everyone will be informed once they are available for people to buy.

  • ‘Heating and air con’

Are we training fighters or what?!?! 

Yes heating or air conditioning would be lovely but it comes at a big cost! Something that is currently out of our reach at the moment unfortunately. We can’t have gas blowers because of the landlord’s insurance. To tell the truth, we don’t plan on staying where we are forever and would rather wait until we get our ‘forever home’ before investing in heating. Until then, wear more clothes and don’t ever stand still!

  • ‘Make booking easier,I sometimes have problems with the website.’
  • ‘I find the booking system annoying. I’d like to either sign up for particular evenings for my child in advance so I know what our plan is for the week. It’s frustrating when his friend gets on one session and then when I look to book it’s fully booked. I know this is difficult due to covid.’

We will answer both of these as one. In terms of booking particular evenings for your child so you know what your plan is for the week, you can do this 14 days in advance. You don’t need to wait until the day before, in case you have missed it, there is an arrow at the top of the timetable so you can scroll to the next week. Classes are never fully booked 2 weeks in advance. We apologise if anyone can’t get booked onto the same time as a friend but this is out of our control, the timetable is available 14 days in advance from the date you look at it, so as long as you are prepared you will get your place.

The booking software we use hasn’t been created by us, we pay to use it so if you have any suggestions of how the booking system can be made easier please e-mail info@trainingcave.co.uk and we will forward the suggestions to the software company. In the past, when someone has had an issue with booking on, they have come into the gym and shown us the reason why they are struggling, its often been a matter of knowing how to navigate round the system and which buttons to click. We can help with that, so please come in and talk to us 🙂

  • ‘Women’s class’

Does this mean you want a women’s class or that you want it to improve? as we do run a female only session every Friday 4-5pm 🙂 If you want it to improve, we are trying our best and feel we have some real quality in there, we may have the next Katie Taylor/Beth Walsh coming out of Birstall. 

Click here to view our blog with all the responses about ‘what we do well’.