Co-founder of Hollow Rocks Sports and Social Club, together with Anthony Klein. Hollow Rocks is the only 'multi-sport' club in central London - giving its members access to a whole range of different sports, as well as fitness classes, a cafe and a range of social events.
EVERYBODY’S WELCOME
The goal for Hollow Rocks is to offer people of any level or background in sport the opportunity to participate in a range of different ways depending on their interests; whether that’s wanting to play a sport they already enjoy, to try a new sport they’ve never played before, or just to use sports training and drills as a fun way to stay fit. In addition to our regular adult programme we also run classes for kids, older adults and local community groups.
HOLLOW ROCKS ISLINGTON
Hollow Rocks opened its first club in March 2024 in Angel, Islington. The sports on offer at the club include gymnastics, athletics and boxing, as well as core skills training classes for tennis, basketball and football. In additional to the club’s on-site training programme we offer pitch-based and court-based training classes and matches. These take place at partner facilities, close to the club.
Alongside the sports training and matches we also run more general fitness training classes in endurance, core strength and mobility. These are designed to help members work on aspects of general all-round fitness required to play all sports well, as well as offer those less interested in playing the sports the opportunity to use sports-style training and drills as a fun way to stay fit.
The club has a cafe for its members that is open every day offering coffees, juices, smoothies, salads, pizzas and toasties. We also run post-match social events and host regular get togethers around the big sporting occasions in the calendar.
Membership to Hollow Rocks is free and gives members access to the social events calendar, as well as a weekly walking and running club – the model is designed to make a base-level of participation available to everyone in the community regardless of income or fitness level. Those that want to participate more fully in the whole Hollow Rocks offer can then buy the classes on a pay as you go basis, or in packs to gain a discount.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
The Hollow Rocks product is inherently flexible in its design which means we can put together different class formats and create bespoke events that are customised to the needs and interests of a wide range of different audiences.
We have specifically designed classes for adults, older adults (60+) as well as five different age categories for kids and teenagers. All our classes can be adapted for different fitness levels, abilities or amount of experience someone has in that sport. We put together bespoke classes for community groups with specific needs, we design holiday camps for schools and we create event formats for a range of different reasons and occasions such as kids birthday parties that are themed around the sports the child is interested in and their favourite sporting icons are a particular favourite.
BUILDING A BRAND
The Hollow Rocks brand has been designed to capture the spirit of fun, play, having a good time together with friends: born out of the inherent joy of grassroots sports participation. Its identity has notes of nostalgia with a nod back to school, reminiscent of a time when multi-sport participation was normal….we didn’t think about it from a fitness and wellbeing point of view, we just wanted to play. The sports we played changed each season – some we were good at, some less so. It kind of mattered, but it also kind of didn’t, the point really was to participate, and to be doing it with your friends. That’s the spirit of Hollow Rocks.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Hollow Rocks as an operating platform has been designed to work anywhere in the UK across as a range of different types of sites. Typical buildings might be an old gym hall, a warehouse or an industrial unit with flexible open space. It can work in the ground floor of a new residential development, or be part of an under-utilised council’s sports centre.
The proposition requires relatively low set-up costs and we have designed flexible ways to work with us as a partner with a view to making lots of different physical spaces and types of relationships viable. If you think you might be interested in working together, get in touch.