1 /5 Christian Gervasi: I recently moved to Melbourne from London, where I’ve been working as a boxing coach and personal trainer for several years. I was looking for a club where I could do some solo training — skipping, bag work, and shadow boxing.
When I arrived at Box Prestige, I knocked on the door and the coach who was running a class asked me, “What are you after?” I replied, “I’m just looking for a club where I can train on my own.” His answer was simply, “We don’t really do these things here.”
That was it — no further questions, no interest in what I was looking for, or even a quick conversation to see if there might be a way to train there. I completely understand that he was in the middle of a class, but the interaction felt very dismissive and unwelcoming.
Honestly, I got really bad vibes from the coach — as a coach myself, I believe you should always make people feel invited, supported, and welcomed into your gym. He did exactly the opposite.
As someone who’s been involved in the sport for years, I was honestly surprised by that attitude. A simple bit of curiosity or courtesy would have made a big difference. First impressions matter, and unfortunately this one wasn’t great.
