Telford Twisters Trampoline Club

Yes, you did read it right! This forty-something has started having trampolining lessons at Phoenix on Sunday mornings. So what was my motivation? I’ve sat and watched trampolinists training for a couple of years now and would quite like to get into coaching in the not too distant future, so I thought to myself ‘how much better would I be as a coach if I was actually trampolining myself? I’d better understand the difficulties and effort required of a trampolinist and be better able to relate to what they are trying to do’. So I turned up expecting lots of laughter from the other parents but actually got quite a bit of support which was very nice, although one parent (you know who you are) did threaten to video me and put it on Youtube. Anyway onto the session. It was quite amusing doing the warm-up with a group of very small children ably led by Sarah. It must have been very comical watching a 6’5” bloke skipping around the sports hall! I had two other brave adults who joined me in the session. Sorry I didn’t get your names but you know who you are! Vinny and Becky took us through the basics, which I managed to negotiate without too much pain or too many falls. Then Nigel took over! I’ve watched him coach many times but being on the receiving end of it was a new experience. It really gave me an appreciation of the strength, balance, timing and co-ordination required to do the moves correctly. By the end of the session I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel tired but that was much less relevant than the feeling of enjoyment on having achieved a small target. I know some of you seasoned trampolinists reading this are probably thinking ‘what’s he going on about? All he did was a few seat drops, twists and basic moves’ but to me it was a great start and I’m looking forward to all the future sessions despite feeling the aches and pains that Nigel warned me about. My last word on the subject goes out to any adults reading this who’ve even got a slight feeling inside them that they’d quite like to do trampolining. Give it a go you won’t regret it! Thanks to Nigel, Becky and Vinny for their patience.

Peter (Sammy’s dad)