Blog
Scott in Sport: Trampolining
Thursday 6th May, 8-10pm, Sports Centre
Trampolining was something I used to do at school on Monday afternoons between the ages of 11 and 14. Despite that being about a while ago (yes, I am now 23, please leave the age-related banter at the door), I had hopped onto a trampoline at the YUSU Fair way back in Freshers' Week, convinced I would be a pro. However, it didn't take me too long to realise that in the world of university trampolining, being able to do a seat drop was miles off the mark! I dutifully paid up my £12 membership and was convinced I would be along to a session in no time, especially after the coach told me he could have me somersaulting in about 4 sessions.
However, the weeks slipped into months and before I knew it we were in the Summer Term and I still hadn't been to a session. (I had some excuses, but these mainly revolved around sleepiness unfortunately.) Then on Thursday 6th May, a golden opportunity arose - I had college squash that evening so would be in the Sports Centre until 8pm, which is when trampolining starts. When I realised this, I was determined to go along and see what I could remember from Mr Wilson's (he was also my Physics teacher incidentally) coaching all those years ago.
I arrived in the Dance Studio at 8pm and was immediately made to feel welcome. Getting out the trampolines and mats requires a bit of man-power, so everyone mucks in to help get things set up. As the saying goes, many hands make light work, and it wasn't long before we had two trampolines out with mats around them and big mats at either end and between the two trampolines.
We then did a warm-up on the ground, consisting of some jogging on the spot, a bit of high knees and some stretching. Then we got handed warm-up cards for things to do on the trampoline. My card was pretty straight forward - a tuck jump, 5 straight jumps, a straddle jump, 5 straight jumps, a seat drop and 5 further straight jumps. Not too bad!
We took turns on the trampoline. There were two trampolines out at the session I was at and 4 of us round the trampoline I was on, with 5 round the other one. This was a pretty small session though and the club can get up to four trampolines out depending on how busy the session is.
There is a coach on each trampoline and our coach gave us things to do along with a bit of advice. The second time I got up (not very elegantly) onto the trampoline, he had me doing seat drops, 180 degree rotations, tuck jumps, pike jumps, straddle jumps and finishing off on a seat drop half twist to feet. The coach was really helpful reminding me of things I used to know about and also giving tips about different movements. I learnt I needed to hold my arms up straight, especially for the rotations, rather than just flinging them around like helicopter blades!
Next time up I was doing some full twists (trying to picture myself as a pencil to keep rigid and straight!), front drops then attempting some back drops. I used to be able to do them, but was very rusty and practiced landing on a mat (the coach slipped it onto the trampoline as I was in the air), but was really rather weak!
A really nice thing about doing it in quite small groups means you get made to feel so welcome straight away - there were people of varying abilities and it didn't matter if you were able to bounce so high and nearly touch the ceiling whilst doing triple-back flips or if you were going on a trampoline for the first time in your life. Between goes we would have chats around the trampoline (whilst guarding a side in case someone goes a bit off-balance). We would also watch each other. Our coach went on and went so high! At one point he tried to do something that apparently didn't go too well (although it still looked amazing!) so he just did a backwards somersault in frustration with himself. Crazy!
On my next go I worked on 'swivel hips' - a seat drop, half twist into another seat drop. This was an old nemesis of mine and the first few times I tried it I remembered why! To start with I couldn't get the full 180 degree rotation and ended up doing a very messy second seat drop. I was told to think about getting my arms up high and straight to help me and this really worked, although I did end up clapping my hands together a few times in my attempt to get them up straight and high. After a few times, I found myself questioning why this used to be such a nemesis - amazing what a bit of good coaching does!
Next up, I tried seat drop, full twist to feet. This wasn't great - I realised that I wasn't so hot on rotations! Then I was told to try a half twist to swivel hips then half twist to feet. This was okay - half twists aren't too bad compared to full twists - but I did begin to feel a little dizzy! Then I did a front drop to seat drop - this was one of my old favourites, so that was fine, but it meant that I was then given harder things to try with a front drop half twist to seat. This proved rather tricky and I definitely failed the first few times I tried it!
On my next go however, I almost got it. As soon as I was semi-successful, I was challenged to try it the other way round, so seat drop half twist to front drop. This was even worse and I seem to keep trying to do swivel-hips or else basically just land on my face! After a few attempts of this, I hopped off and had a break. There was a guy practicing break-dancing in the corner - I asked one of the trampolining girls about him and she said he often came in to use a unused corner in front of the mirror to try out his moves. It was pretty impressive stuff and a nice distraction to watch between goes!
Next time up I tried it again, but the coach suggested other things I could do to try and succeed! I tried three seat drops in a row, then twisting to front, but it still doesn't work. I get told to try and stay like a stick, rather than bending myself, but can't seem to translate this into my bouncing! I seem to want to go onto hands and knees instead of into a front drop, so next time I try three seats drops twist to hands and knees, which still isn't great. As I'm clearly getting frustrated with myself about this, the coach suggests I do a straddle, seat drop half twist to feet before the end of my go just to keep my confidence up.
In the wait before my next go, our coach and another experienced trampolinist on the other trampoline do a bit of a synchronised routine, which was incredible to watch. They both went so high and did somersaults, twists and dives I could only dream of being able to do! However, when I spoke to them afterwards, they both admitted that of course they practiced loads, but that they believed it was possible to reach their level if you were committed enough.
Next time up I tried some simple jumps. Or so I thought! I had done tuck, pike and straddle jumps since I went to the trampolining club at school, but had never learnt about getting the need to reach the highest point of the jump, before making the move. This was actually much harder than it sounds and I was told to say "Top" when I reached what I thought was the top of my jump - even doing this I seemed unable to get the point and was frequently too early.
On my penultimate go, the coach asked me to try a small routine - straddle jump, seat drop to front drop, half twist to feet. Then I concentrated on front drops for a bit - aiming to get my tummy button to land on the cross in the middle of the trampoline and to keep my legs straight behind me. After quite a few goes at this I found my knees slightly regretting the fact I wasn't wearing tracksuit bottoms!
On the last go, we just did what we wanted. I tried as many swivel hips in a row as I could, but only got about 6. I then tried as many front drops to seat drops to front drops to seat drops in a row as I could. I managed about eight before losing momentum, but felt it was a pretty good core workout!
The end of the session came and I found myself pretty tired and happily surprised about how much of a core exercise I had. We then put the trampolines away again and parted company.
The club train on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings from 8-10pm in the Dance Studio of the Sports Centre. For this term only, they also have Saturday sessions from 11am-1pm that will be running outside (weather dependent). Anyone is welcome to all sessions - there is always a coach on hand to help you and during a two hour session you get a good amount of trampoline time. Session fees are only £1.50, which is a bit of a bargain for a lot of bouncing.
Again, I have visited another club that I would be keen to return to and find myself asking why I only discovered it in the third term of my fourth year in York!
If you fancy going for a bounce, either pop along to one of the club sessions, or email trampolining@yusu.org to get added to the mailing list or have any of your questions answered!
Emily xo
