When Jack was five years-old, his granddad took him to the gym.

Jack explains: “He noticed I really enjoyed it. So, he taught me to eat right, and different ways of training. Then, I got into playing for local sports teams. My granddad always supported me.”

Jack trained to be an electrician, like his dad: “I wasn’t enjoying it, so I did personal training courses.”

He founded Training Cave, a gym by day and boxing club at night, in Birstall in 2017. It ran as a limited company for two years.

“I realised I loved training adults just to get them fit, but the thing I was most passionate about really was working with the kids. I didn’t know how lucky I was as a kid, until I opened up my gym and noticed kids that didn’t get the opportunities I did.”

Boxing, Jack says, has a huge impact on young people.
“It’s everything. It’s discipline, respect; your taught nothing in life comes without hard work. Boxing just teaches you so many life lessons. It’s tough, but you’re surrounded by people that are also doing something hard, and coaches who are role models.”

Jack says youth services in the area were cut years ago.
“There’s just nowhere for them to go anymore. I was working with loads and loads of kids from the estates. A lot turned up with no money and couldn’t afford it. I said, we’ll train you and you can owe us, but months went by and I realised I couldn’t sustain that as a business.”

Jack says: “People were saying to me that we should be getting funding, so we could do more with the community. I didn’t quite understand it all, I didn’t know what funding was at the time. So, I emailed the council and said we’ve been here for two years, we work with the community and have all these kids coming in, is there anything that we can do?”
They invited Jack to host training sessions at the local park on a Bank Holiday weekend.

“It got absolutely rammed with kids. The council said we could fund you to do more projects.”

Being a limited company though was a barrier. The council offered Jack to do a course to learn about social enterprise, and he turned Training Cave into a not-for-profit.

“From there, things have just escalated,” he says. “I’ve gone from being on my own to having six full time staff, as well as volunteers.”

Training Cave runs a youth referral programme: “It’s probably what I’m most proud of.”

The young people are often in care or with special needs, and referred by the local authority, youth justice service, and schools. They also run school programmes with children at risk of being expelled, as well as an employability programme for young people out of work or education, using sports leadership.

It also delivers outreach work using a portable boxing ring, going into local parks and estates, high in anti-social behaviour: “One summer we engaged with over 1100 young people just over a four-week period.”

One night a week, they host sessions for young people with special needs or disabilities. Demand has been high, thanks, Jack says, to boxing being an individual sport, giving them the freedom to be themselves and not dependent on getting picked or competing in team sports.

One day a week, they train over-fifties. The group began for those with early onset dementia, but continued to serve all over-fifties, with tea, coffee, and a chat after.
Training Cave engages 1,000 people each month.

Key Fund provided a £19,500 loan and £5,500 grant to help cash flow and salary costs to employ a new person.

Jack says: “It’s been like a lifeline for us. It had been a challenging year because we had money due to us but it wasn’t being paid on time. So, I was on the verge of scaling it all the way back to me just being on my own again. Key Fund supported us through that period, so we were able to employ people. It was strange going from one extreme to the other, but if it wasn’t for Key Fund, we wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Jack says many in the community would feel ‘lost’ without it: “It’s like a family.”

Jack has big ambitions.

“The barrier now is size. If I can find a bigger premises, I’d like to be a community hub. Boxing would be at the core, but as an organisation we’d have more going on, like a café, a youth area, rooms that local businesses could hire out, like meeting rooms.”

He explains: “We do our own boxing shows and boxing events and have to hire venues out, which cost a lot of money – but if we had a space big enough, we could host it ourselves, so it would be all profit. I’ve spoken to Key Fund, and they said they can definitely help if a building came up.”
He adds: “Key Fund has been absolutely brilliant through the whole process, from applying to getting the money and support after.”

Training Cave transforms lives, such as Ben’s, who is autistic and started aged 15 in their special needs class. Initially, he couldn’t cope with public transport and relied on his mum to drive him. Now, Ben comes as a regular gym member.

Jack explains: “Now, Ben is 19, he’s got an apprenticeship as a civil engineer, and public transport isn’t an issue anymore. Whether it was boxing, or the gym, or the people he met here, he’s just developed the confidence and now he’s just like a proper confident young man. He was in a shell when he first came. He’s one of our big success stories that I love to bits.”

Noah Elden Nicholls, 17: Apprentice

Noah has a two-year apprenticeship at the Training Cave.
Noah says: “My dad had a unit next to the gym; he saw Jack setting it up. He asked what he was doing, and said, I’m going to bring my lad down as he’s had a few issues at school. He thought it might benefit me.”

He explains: “So, I’ve been going to the gym since I was nine, and the day it opened. I was getting in a lot of trouble, getting picked on, getting bullied and getting into a fight pretty much every day in primary school. I had no confidence. I wouldn’t even look my parents in the eye when they spoke to me. I nearly got expelled from school but got suspended instead.”

“The first session,” he says, “I was really nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. But I was gladly welcomed in by Jack. Since then, I’ve got my confidence. I can speak to anyone. I’m well mannered. I’m not shy. I didn’t get in trouble at all in high school.”

“Jack taught me discipline and basic life skills, as well as how to box. He said I could be a really good boxer, so I just kept coming, because he was the first person to really believe in me. He pushed me on, pushed me forwards.”

Noah says: “I’ve had about nearly 30 fights now, I’m Yorkshire champion. I’ve done a speech in front of the local MP. Jack has given me a lot of benefits – basic life skills, manners, discipline, confidence, and things like that. I’m not that naughty kid; I’m something better than that.”

He says: “I passed all my GCSEs which I thought I never would be able to. Then went straight to the apprenticeship because I didn’t want to go to college. I didn’t really enjoy school, so thought this is the best thing for me.”

He explains: “My role here is working with schools and special needs schools, as well as being an amateur boxer. Personally, I had struggles with mental health. I had to go to therapy. But the best thing for it was going to the gym and staying active. At the gym, you can’t go on your phone. I think a big impact on mental health is social media. But at the gym, all you have to worry about is what you’re doing in the moment. I’ve seen a massive difference in people’s confidence, and anxiety. For lads, it’s more hidden away as they don’t want to talk about it. It’s that stigma, lads can’t talk. I’ve learnt to realise; you have to speak to people.”

He adds: “Jack said when I come back there’s always a job for me here, so I want to carry on with the boxing coach side of things. Without this gym, I’d either be in juvie if I’m honest, or causing trouble on the street, as I was heading down the wrong path. I wasn’t doing drugs or anything, I was just a naughty kid who didn’t listen and had anger issues but coming here it’s changed my life completely. I can’t stress enough how much it’s made a difference to my life. I’d have been overweight, probably depressed. I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for this gym.”