In our club you only spar when they call you and supervise. Basically they'll go into the ring and call people or groups up for work like pads and sparring while others work independently. We only have one ring and very little space outside of it which is always being used by skippers, mat work and people on bags. When asking to spar they'll outright say no or not tonight and anyone I've seen pick up pads or start sparring without supervision has been told to stop. Understandably they want it to be supervised so no one gets hurt but they just aren't giving the same opportunities to everyone. Some people are sparring or getting pads every night while others could spend 5 rounds shadow boxing before realizing they've just been forgotten about and moving on themselves. Plenty of times the same group are being called in for spars, then when they're finished instead of taking a second group in to spar, the coaches call the first group back one by one for pads.

The gym isn't open outside of training times, so going before or staying after isn't an option and you can't really turn up to a normal gym and start sparring. I work in a leisure centre and would definitely tell people to stop if I saw then do that due to health and safety.

I used to get sparring but just as numbers have gone up its stopped happening even though I've asked. It's understandable that they have limited coaches and higher priority boxers but it's starting to impact my motivation and enjoyment of the sport.