The coaches

Two coaches, one corner.

Dai opened Corner Man with six bags in 2015; Kerry joined in 2019 after doing a beginners' course like ours. Between them they hold every pad, run every class and answer every text.

A small boxing gym unit on an industrial estate at dusk, its red roller door half open with warm light spilling onto wet tarmac

Head coach and founder

Dai Hopkins

Dai boxed as an amateur for a Newport club through his twenties, forty-one bouts and a nose that shows it, then spent fifteen years on building sites before he admitted the gym was where he was happiest. He qualified as a personal trainer in 2014 and opened Corner Man the year after with six bags and a borrowed roller door. He holds the pads for most of the one-to-one sessions, writes the fight-prep plans, and has a rule that nobody leaves without being told one thing they did well.

Level 3 personal trainer, boxing coach award (placeholder), first aid at work, enhanced DBS (placeholder)

Coach, classes and kids lead

Kerry Bevan

Kerry came to boxing at twenty-four through a beginners' course much like ours, after years of hating every gym she joined. She runs the classes, the fundamentals course and the kids' sessions, and is the safeguarding lead. Her classes are the loud ones, and her Saturday kids' group has a waiting list. She is the one to talk to if you are nervous about walking in, because she was.

Level 3 personal trainer, boxing coach award (placeholder), safeguarding lead, paediatric first aid, enhanced DBS (placeholder)

The paperwork

What to ask any boxing coach for.

A coaching award

A personal training qualification lets someone write your programme; a boxing coaching award means they were taught to teach the punches safely. Both coaches hold both. The award names on this demonstration site are placeholders.

First aid, current

First aid at work for both, paediatric first aid for Kerry, renewed every three years. The kit and the defibrillator are on the wall by the door, and everyone is shown where on the first visit.

Enhanced DBS checks

Both coaches hold enhanced DBS checks because we coach children. On this demonstration site the reference is a placeholder (DBS-0000-PLACEHOLDER); a live site shows the real dates, and any parent may ask to see them.

Insurance

Public liability and professional indemnity for the unit, classes, workplace sessions and the kids' groups, renewed every September. The certificate is sent with every corporate booking.

The first round is free. Twenty minutes on the pads.

Tell us what you are after and roughly when you can train, and we reply within the hour between rounds with a time: how to stand, a wrapped hand, the jab and cross, and an honest answer about where to start. No card details, and nobody hits you.

Book the free round Run the round timer