Mr Bounce Says – Trampolines and Trampolining Specialist

It’s been a great summer in Britain for growing grass. Usually there’s a family member who likes to keep the lawn looking neat and tidy. A trampoline makes his or her job a little more interesting. Do I leave it where it is and strim around and under it or move it, mow and put it back? If moving it be aware that there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Lawns are very rarely completely smooth. Invariably there are a few bumps and dips that will cause increased resistance if you just push or pull the trampoline across the grass. The danger with doing this is that the sideways force exerted on the point where the leg joins the top rail becomes too much and causes a bend or breakage at this point. The solution is to spin the whole trampoline as you move it so that the leg bases act like sledge runners and there is surprisingly little resistance. Moving your trampoline this way is easier than you might think and avoids another potential hazard. Often in the course of moving it people lift the trampoline off the ground. This can cause the slot together frame to come apart. With a properly designed and well made trampoline this should not happen. However, if it does and a leg assembly drops away from the top frame and swings inwards under the trampoline a very dangerous situation has just been created. So remember that spinning it is easier and safer than pulling, shoving or lifting it.

‘Not suitable for Children under 6′. You may have come across this phrase printed in trampoline instruction booklets or on trampoline cartons. Where did it originate and why?  Every day thousands of very young children bounce happily on trampolines without harming themselves. They love it and parents feel they are benefiting from the exercise whilst developing balance, coordination and spatial awareness.  So who is trying to spoil their fun and deprive them of healthy exercise? Answer: A few lawyers in the USA. I’m sure that they are not really killjoys but their actions in relation to ’strict liability’ tend to have a knock on effect. Manufacturers are cautious by nature so they play safe and add this little warning. It is easy for a toddler to fall off a trampoline and a 3 foot fall when you are only 2 foot high is a long way down.  But a netting enclosure or setting the trampoline in the ground solves the problem. Statistically, it easy to prove that children under 6 are more likely to be hurt on a trampoline, because when other children and even adults bounce together on a trampoline it is invariably the smallest bouncer that is most likely to get hurt. So please don’t deprive the under sixes, but please, please look after them and make sure they bounce on their own or only with little people of their own size.

It’s tempting to experiment with different moves on your trampoline. But what ever you want to do whilst airborne it is vital that you plan ahead for your landing. Whilst a trampoline bed is relatively soft and bouncy it is not so soft that you can never hurt yourself when landing incorrectly. It is interesting to note that recent studies in medical circles indicate that the majority of trampoline injuries actually happen on the trampoline bed. There are only four parts of your body that you should plan to land on. They are:

1. Your two Feet at the same time. As in a Basic straight bounce.

2. Your Bottom. As in a Seat Drop.

3. Your Front. As in a Front Drop.

4. Your Back. As in a Back Drop

Always take off from the middle of the bed and plan to land in the middle of the bed.

It is of course possible to land on other parts of your body. However, many decades of experience have shown that it is not advisable and can invariably lead to injuries. Even landing on your keees, though easy enough to do, can lead to back injuries or an involuntary dive towards the edge of the trampoline.

When doing a seat drop your body should be vertical and your legs horizontal. So that you form an ‘L’ shape. Land with hands on the bed for additional support with fingers pointing towards your feet.

Front and Back drops, though simple once mastered, should be taught by a qualified trampoline coach.

When we were kids we knew darn well that adults were generally a bunch of spoil sports. Perhaps with the exception of Uncle Harry. But then all the grown ups said he was a bad influence and the Black Sheep of the family. But it has to be said that our parents were generally just trying to protect us from undue harm. It’s for this reason that your trampoline is delivered with a set of rules and may even have these rules printed on the frame pads. These rules are based on past experiences – often very painful and damaging for those involved. Please read these rules and make sure that all your family both understand them and uphold them. Especially when their friends are bouncing too. Nearly all garden trampolining accidents happen because one or more off these rules have been broken. If you are buying a trampoline do make sure that the rules are clearly printed on the frame pads or netting. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) are committed to a realistic approach to safety in the home environment. They are most certainly not a bunch of killjoys. Some of their senior staff enjoy extreme sports when off duty. Do please check out their trampoline advice at http://www.rospa.com/leisuresafety/information/trampoline_safety.htm

So you think that you would like to set your trampoline into the ground. There is no doubt that a trampoline set into the ground can look really neat. There are advantages too. It’ll be really easy to get on and off and if anyone falls off, there is no big drop beyond the edge of the trampoline. Probably most important is the effect it will have on the way your garden looks. Let’s face it a trampoline is hardly an object of great beauty. But before you start on this project there are a few vital things to consider. Firstly soil type and the water table. Is it easy digging or might you need special equipment or even dynamite? Will you be creating a pond or a good dry hole in well drained soil? What will you do with all the soil you have removed? How will you control access onto this now very accessible trampoline? Here is something to consider: Rather than creating an expensive vertical sided hole with concrete block sides to the full operating depth of the trampoline and removing all the soil from your site, why not create a depression with sides sloping inwards at 45 degrees to 70% of the full depth. Spread all the removed soil in a 2 foot wide donut sloping outwards away from the trampoline(effectively raising ground level at the edge of the trampoline by the missing 30%). Seed with grass and plant with spring bulbs. Result: An invisible trampoline surrounded by a free draining slope away from the trampoline that will look fantastic in the spring. The real plus with this idea is that should you sell up or remove the trampoline at some future date the soil is still on site, full of bulbs, ready to be pushed back to fill up the hole in the ground.

You could be forgiven for thinking that all trampolines are round. After all this is what you see in everyone’s garden. Would it surprise you to know that prior to 1990 there was no such thing as a big round outdoor trampoline? There were a few octagonal ones about. Otherwise they were all rectangular. So why did they start making round trampolines? Like many new ideas this came from the New World. The USA to be exact. With the advent of recreational trampolining and the concept of the garden trampoline came the awareness that factors such as cost and safety were probably more important than all out performance which of course is what rectangular trampolines were originally designed to deliver. Because all the springs on your round trampoline work at the same rate the bounce is slower, less powerful and easier to control. Because of the inherent strength of the circular frame with all the springs exerting an equal force against it lighter steel can be used. Another benefit is the compact way in which a round trampoline can be packed and shipped. The end result is a trampoline that is cheaper and safer and believe it or not, even without a netting enclosure, harder to fall off than a rectangular trampoline.

What is it about bouncing that makes everyone happy? Be it a bouncy castle, trampoline or even Mum’s bed. It seems that children just cannot get enough bouncing. We all know how children can so easily get bored and move on to another activity. This is rarely the case when it comes to bouncing. Parents invariably make the assumption that their children’s new garden trampoline will all too soon become neglected and remain unused until they have to finally take it down and sell it on ebay. After all this is what happens to most of their other toys and games. But no, this very rarely happens. Instead the trampoline becomes the centre of play activity and is used year in and year out. It seems that children just cannot get enough of this bouncing up and down. It seems to make them content and more settled too. Strange. Even stranger is the fact that adults once they have overcome their innate fear of ‘looking stupid’ react in the same way.

Whilst there is little doubt that defying gravity and being propelled effortlessly upwards before effecting a relatively gentle landing is a novel experience. Surely wouldn’t the usual reaction be to mentally ‘tick the box’ and say ‘I’ve done that now what’s next?’

It seems that bouncing makes us humans happy. Does it also make us feel more secure and content? It certainly gets lungs and heart going and gives the bouncer a bit of a natural high.

Now you probably won’t remember that long, long ago before you were born you led a simple and contented existence in a secure and comforting place where you were gently bounced around as your mother walked. Is there a possible connection here? Is there someone out there who might want to make this the subject of their Master’s degree thesis?

Have you ever noticed how sales people always dwell on the positive aspects of their product. Their products never have any weaknesses and are always the best buy. Clever and experienced copy writers caught onto this years ago. Now they specialise in turning weaknesses into strengths. Thus it is often the most trumpeted feature of a product that is in fact it’s weakest attribute..it’s a great way to camouflage those less acceptable features.

Of course to those of us who are simply amazed by the variety of products on the market it just seems as if there’s always someone out there busy trying to re invent the wheel.

Call it a spring, a bungy, a stretch band, a glass fibre rod or even air pressure in the case of a bouncy castle. But as always you need to carefully analyse all the sales jargon used by those keen to convert you to their product. So to help you make up your mind which is the best for you here is some handy information from someone who has tried them all:

Steel springs. These are fitted to 99% of sports trampolines and probably well over 95% of recreational trampolines. They are easy to fit, easy to replace and deliver the best performance. It’s best to ensure they are covered by good frame pads as landing on uncovered springs can be a sobering experience. Definitely my favourite. But try to avoid trampolines 12 foot and more in diameter that use short tightly coiled springs less than 200mm (8 inches). These will give a hard and unyielding bounce. On a recreational trampoline you want a soft landing just in case you land the wrong way The greater the total length of working wire the better the bounce.

Bungies or Cables. Before coverall frame pads came into widespread use these were often favoured as a compromise between performance and softer landings in amongst the bungies. They don’t last as long outdoors and cost much the same as steel springs. Again the greater the volume of rubber the better the bounce. It is the total volume of rubber that dictates the quality of the bounce.

Elasticated stretch bands. These are trumpeted as ‘giving a superior controlled bounce’. Now if that was the case every sports hall trampoline would be fitted with stretch bands instead of steel springs. The stretch band trampoline that I tested had a very hard bounce with the bed reaching maximum depression with a gentle seat drop that proved a particularly unpleasant experience as the stretch bands reached full stretch and I stopped dead. No extra performance. No added safety.

Fibre glass rods. As found on the Springfree trampoline. This is a gallant attempt to come up with a safer trampoline for which the makers should be applauded. Whilst the jury is still out on the safety side, I liked the idea of there being no solid edge around the outside of the bed. However, I was not impressed with either the cost, the powder coated frame finish or the bounce. It’s a compromise that might suit some buyers

Bouncy castles. A good user friendly bouncing environment that is not actually as safe as the ‘padded cell’ it appears to be. Not very bouncy but a soft landing is more or less guaranteed as long as as you remain in the structure and do not make contact with another user. For this reason bouncy castles should always be properly supervised. Get them wet in the rain and drying them out properly afterwards is essential.

Now you might think that there is a European Standard for garden trampolines. Many trampolines sport the German TUV and GS marks. However, this is more an indication of successful German marketing than a signal that the trampoline is necessarily safe for family use. The TUV testing houses have adapted the EN 13219 Gymnastic trampoline standard to suit their purposes. This particular standard was written for sports rectangular trampolines that are used in a controlled environment aimed at maximum gymnastic performance where bouncers can fly up to 7 metres above the trampoline. There is nothing in the standard or the adapted TUV versions of the standard that stipulates how soft the landing should be and how far the bed should depress. Some garden trampolines sold today with either short stiff springs or elasticated stretch bands have remarkably little give in them. The recreational trampolinist is not a trained expert. Moves will be misjudged . Awkward landings will happen. So when buying a trampoline please think about the bounce. Consider youtr family’s safety. It’s the size and number of springs that make the difference. For a 12 foot or larger trampoline where bigger kids will be more adventurous choose a trampoline with 215mm (8.5 inch) springs. Then they’ll usually come up smiling.

OK. It’s obvious isn’t it: trampolines are best fitted with an enclosure because it makes them safer.

Whilst not absolutely everyone will agree with this sentiment it is a reasonable generalisation. But exactly how does an enclosure make your trampoline safer? Quite obviously it should stop a user from falling off the trampoline. Even better with smaller bouncers it keeps them on the trampoline and Mum knows where they are! That is the obvious bit. That is probably all that most people think of. Just imagine for a moment a trampoline without a safety net enclosure. Which is the scariest bit of the trampoline that you really want to avoid at all costs? Think carefully. It’s the outer solid steel frame of the trampoline. That is bone breaking territory. It might be covered with an inch or so of padding but you would be better to take your chances and come right off the trampoline than land there. Now put a net all around the trampoline. If that netting goes around the outside of the frame pads there is no escape from being directed right onto the outer trampoline frame. That quite simply is why a well designed enclosure will be suspended inside its support poles enclosing just the trampoline bed and not the whole trampoline. Another small plus is that it helps to keep bouncers off the frame pads and the springs. Prolonging the life of those components.