After an emotional Olympic silver medal win for Team GB’s Bryony Page in Rio last year, the popularity of trampolining has shot sky high in the UK. As a discipline trampolining has been growing it’s professional presence and ability standard at record speed, helped by ever evolving technology. However, it is still an obscure sport with an interesting history of which many don’t understand.
So if you’d like to get your head around what’s what and learn the lingo, you’ve come to the right place. From basic skills like a tuck jump and seat landing, all the way to Olympic standard Millers and Triffs, here is your guide to start your high flying journey.
Choose your Discipline:
Individual Trampoline
The OG, two elegant and graceful 10-bounce routines, comprised of acrobatic skills, scored by a panel of judges. They look at execution (how good it looks), horizontal displacement (how much the athlete travels around the bed), difficulty (keep track of what skills are being performed and their numerical difficulty rating) and time of flight (how high they bounce).
All managed by a chair judge to make sure they’re all doing their jobs correctly. The aim of the game is to bounce as high as possible, as neatly as possible, whilst landing on the cross between every skill.
Synchronised Trampoline
Exactly the same requirements as individual, however two gymnasts compete the same routine on individual trampolines side-by-side in unison. The judging panel looks the same, with the addition of synchronisation judges who do exactly what it says on the tin and judge how in time the athletes are with one another.
Tumbling
Ever seen floor routines in Gymnastics where they run, flick and tumble from one corner to the other? Well that’s called tumbling. There is an entire competition system run alongside trampoline competitions within which athletes run, flick and somersault their way down a tumble track to eventually perform their biggest skill at the end and attempt to stick their landing in the landing area.
Double-Mini Trampoline
The hybrid of the disciplines, a mix of individual and tumbling. Athletes run down the runway towards the double-mini, jump on as one would on a springboard, perform two skills, with the second attempting to sick the landing on a large landing area.
Two Trick
A bit of informal fun at the end of a long competitive day. Competitors perform their two best and craziest tricks as a combination on a trampoline. There are no official rules for this other than it has to be a two bounce combination and as crazy as possible.
Where to get started:
Trampoline parks are all the range at the moment, popping up all over the world, bringing springy fun to all. However regardless of any safety rules the parks have put in place, there are high levels of injuries occurring due to poor practice. So before you head over, book yourself, or your child, into a beginners class to get professional advice on how to keep your bod safe and maybe learn some impressive tricks to show off into the foam pits.
If you get the bug for bouncing then take a wander over to your national governing body’s website, they will have a search tool for you to find your closest club. For example the UK have British Gymnastics, Canada have Gymnastics Canada and Australia have Gymnastics Australia. A quick tickle of the keyboard and you’ll easily be able to find yourself a session to attend. Not all clubs will offer all the disciplines mentioned, so make sure you give them a bell to ask.
If you'd like to learn about other sports, check out our other blog posts such as Beginners Guide to Snowboarding or The Best Yoga Positions for Beginners.