Trampolining

‘You're upside down, twenty feet in the air, experiencing a moment of weightlessness. For an instant, time seems to stand still. You peer down at the faces far below you, reach out to touch the sky and think to yourself: so this is how it feels to fly.’

(British Gymnastics)


Lots of you will have trampolines in your back garden or perhaps you have been to a party at a trampoline centre?

Well, did you know that trampolining is another sport featuring in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?

The qualifying rounds have recently been televised (in November) on BBC red button and website as well as at the start of this month on 1st December.

If you enjoy trampolining for fun, but want to learn some new skills, British Gymnastics have kindly let us share some great skills videos with you. 

The first is from GB Trampoline Gymnast Isabelle Songhurst.

  • Born: 1999-01-16 (Age 20)

  • Birthplace:

  • Lives: Broadstone

  • Club: OLGA Poole

  • Career Highlights: 2014 World Championships 15-16 individual champion, 2017 World Championships team bronze

 

With thanks to British Gymnastics for the use of this video.

 

The next is from GB Trampoline Gymnast Kat Driscoll. Kat and Luke Strong have recently taken the British men’s and women’s trampoline titles on the opening day of the 2019 Trampoline, Tumbling & DMT British Championships at Arena Birmingham. This was Kat’s fourth individual British title and the fifth for Luke. Congratulations!

 
tramploline 2.png
 

  • Born: 1986-03-13 (Age 33)

  • Birthplace: Chatham, Kent

  • Lives: Houghton-le-Spring

  • Club: Apollo

  • Coach: Gary Short

 

With thanks to British Gymnastics for the use of this video.

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Luke Strong

  • Born: 1993-12-07 (Age 25)

  • Birthplace: Liverpool

  • Lives: Liverpool

  • Club: City of Liverpool

  • Coach: Jay Scouler

  • Career Highlights: 2014 European Championships bronze, five-time British champion, 2017 World Championships synchronized silver

Have a look at this video of Kat competing.

 

With thanks to British Gymnastics for the use of this video.

 

If that’s inspired you to try Trampoline Gymnastics.....

Visit https://www.british-gymnastics.org/discover/trampoline where you will find a club finder box to type in your postcode for a trampolining centre near you.

British Gymnastics have kindly shared an interview with Andrew Stamp.

 

With thanks to British Gymnastics for the use of this video.

 

If you’re thinking of competing it’s helpful to know how trampoline gymnastics is scored....

British Gymnastics sent us this quick guide to help you understand.

There is a difficulty score, execution score and time of flight score;

The difficulty - Two judges work out the “degree of difficulty” (DD or tariff) of the routines. Each skill has a prescribed rating according to the code of points. For example a single somersault in the tucked position earns 0.5 points while a triple somersault tucked with a half twist is valued at 1.7. Each routine is recorded on video to confirm the DD score.

The execution - Five judges assess the gymnast's “form.” For example whether the legs are together, the body line straight, shapes clearly defined and placement is near the centre of the bed. The execution scores from the five judges are calculated by eliminating the highest and the lowest before adding together the middle three.

The time of flight - This is measured electronically and produces a record of the actual time spent in the air, excluding any time spent in contact with the trampoline bed. A routine timed by stopwatch would include bed contact time and be approximately three seconds longer than one assessed on the “Time of Flight” machine.

St Faith’s Prep School Cambridge

We heard that St Faith’s have a Trampoline Team so we decided to find out about trampolining at their school and asked their coach and a few pupils some questions...

 
 

St Faith’s Trampolining Facts:

‘Trampolining has become one of the most popular options in our PE programme in years 6, 7 and 8 as their gymnastic option. There are two qualified coaches in school and both are responsible for the development of gymnastics in general throughout school.

We have gymnasts who have started trampolining at school and enjoyed it so much that they have looked to join local clubs.

Some of our pupils have also represented the school at National IAPS Trampolining finals. We took U9 U11 and U13 boys and girls teams last year and enjoyed great success in these events. Our U9 , U11 and U13 Boys became National Champions and we had two individual National winners in Harry and Max. In the Girls events our U13 girls came 2nd and our U9 girls came 3rd. We have won the U13 Boys team event for the last three years which is hugely encouraging and all of our teams are far more competitive after 5 years of attending. 

We were proud to take approximately 40 children to the Nationals and give them the opportunity to perform at the highest level whether they were in our A B or C teams. Watching them overcome the nerves in such a challenging environment was hugely rewarding. 

We are committed to delivering an exciting and challenging programme in trampolining and continue to support our gymnasts of all levels.’

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TrampoliningLisa KingDecember 2019