Mr Bounce Says – Trampolines and Trampolining Specialist

It was only as recently as 2000 that trampolining became an Olympic Sport. To date Britain has never won an Olympic trampolining medal. This is about to change. Laura Gallagher from Somerset is totally committed to becoming the first Britain to win trampolining gold at the 2012 London Olympics. Seeing her train at Cheddar and meeting her to chat about her experiences, plans and ambitions was a humbling experience. I was so impressed that I managed to persuade my fellow directors at Super Tramp that we should sponsor her so that she can spend more time training and less time earning.

Laura recently entered a British Airways competition to win some flights to Canada to aid progressions in her trampoline training. She has chosen Canada because there are many top World Class trampolinists there as well as fantastic facilities that are not available in the UK.

Laura is one of eight sports people to be short listed into the final round. The winner of the final round is voted for by the public. So to get the flights to Canada to help with her training, she really really needs as many votes as possible! Voting finishes on the 29th March.

I would really appreciate your help and if there is any way you could spread the word please do.

To vote for Laura, visit her profile by clicking on the link below!! Read her profile so you know what you’re voting for and if you have time check out the video on the page too!

http://www.greatbritons.ba.com/users/36661

Please vote for Laura before 29^th March 2010.

If the little charmers have got this far into the holidays without uttering the above well worn phrase then you have either acquired selective hearing or you are an organisational genius. Whilst your garden trampoline is sure to have been well used over the past 4 weeks, the home team could well be running out of fresh ideas. If you do not already know the game try introducing them to ‘Add on’. Ideal for 2 to 5 or more players who take it in turn to have their go. First player does a trampoline move then gets off the trampoline. The second player must copy the first move and add another move. The second player gets off the trampoline and the third player strings together the first 2 moves and adds their own. Now you can see that this is becoming a test of memory skills as well as trampolining ability. The fourth player should aim to carry out the first 3 moves in the correct order and add their own. Thus the game continues. Any player who fails to carry out the sequence of moves competently and in the right order drops out of the game until the winner is the only one left in the game. This game is demonstrated on the Super Tramp ‘Trampolining’ DVD.

In recession hit Britain your holiday expectations just might have been adjusted to include a less expensive ’stay at home holiday’ this summer. Sounds pretty gloomy? Well it needn’t be. It will be as good as you make it. Plan it properly and you might even try it again. Plan activities and local outings for dry days and wet days. For stay at home days introduce new games and activities as well as a few old favourites. Also encourage your children to entertain themselves constructively.

The best outdoor garden activity that I know of is a trampoline. Something children never seem to tire of. Years ago my daughters and their friends used to bounce on ours every dry day. Often for more than an hour at a time. Consider also various outdoor garden games like Giant Jenga, Giant Connect 4, Hopscotch, Croquet, Cricket, Badminton, Chess, Boules and Table tennis. For something new and different how about a Slackline for just £49.00.

I am not advocating that you spend a fortune on holiday garden activities. In today’s market many of these items are surprisingly good value. But if you do a ‘time and motion’ study you will almost certainly find that ten minutes on the trampoline will work out far and away the best value and the cheapest per minute’s use by a long way.

From the American Society of Paediatrics to individual parents who will not let their children use a garden trampoline. Individual phobias are alive and kicking and here to stay. Sometimes they creep into the ethos of an organisation, especially where there is a culture of seeking financial gain for virtually any injury. Is there any chance that we can to take a balanced view? Will we ever be able to remove the ‘Dangerous’ label from the garden trampoline? The explosive growth in trampoline sales over the past decade has led to millions of children bouncing on garden trampolines. Thus it would be totally unrealistic to assume that no injuries would occur. Did you know that playing football in the UK results in 250,000 visits to casualty each year. That is an average of 685 per day? That compares with just 170 children per day in the whole of the US being seen in casualty for trampoline related injuries. Whilst a whopping 914 dog bites are treated in US emergency departments each day. Death or Paralysis from trampolining is thankfully very rare. But all too common with horse riding, cycling and swimming. Yet there is little talk of excluding children from these activities. I leave you with the thought that only a ‘bear of very little brain’ would label a trampoline as dangerous for it is an inanimate object. It’s the way in which it is used that makes all the difference. That’s the challenge for our big human brains.