We are a USA Gymnastics (USAG) member club, and we compete in USAG sanctioned Trampoline & Tumbling (TT) events in Region 6, which includes Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and in the USAG TT National Meet.  We specialize in Trampoline and Double Mini-Trampoline.  We also have some interest in Power Tumbling, but we are not yet equipped to train on that event at above an intermediate level.  We train at the KMC Dance and Gymnastics center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. 

History

Competitive trampoline is not new.  NCAA had varsity trampoline competition until 1969 as part of gymnastics.  Starting in the early 1970s, it fell out of favor in the US, and remained exiled for a couple of decades, although high-schools in a few states (e.g. Illinois, Minnesota, Texas) kept it a while longer.  Meanwhile, Europe kept the competition going, developed sensible competition rules and learned a lot about technique.  Trampoline made a resurgence in the US in the 1990s, under the auspices of the International Trampoline Federation (FIT) and the American Trampoline and Tumbling Association (ATTA).  Events were power tumbling, double mini-trampoline, and trampoline.  Trampoline became an Olympic sport in 2000.  (Australia added it).  As part of that move, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) absorbed the FIT, and USAG absorbed the ATTA.

What's Trampoline Competition Like?

Trampoline is unusual in that it puts girls and boys on an equal footing.  They compete using the same rules and same compulsory routines, often in the same meets.  Technically, boys will only be competing with other boys, same for girls, but it really wouldn't make that much difference if they did compete with each other.  Brute strength doesn't get you much.  For development and competition purposes, there are 10 levels, just like girl's and boy's artistic gymnastics, although nobody competes less than level 4.  Most kids start at level 5.  Up through level 7, it is all compulsory routines.  Levels 8, 9, and 10 do optionals and compulsories, and get a combined score.  All routines have 10 skills, and the higher the level, the more rotating you will see.  Level 5 compulsory routine has only two rotation skills, while the level 10 compulsory has nearly all rotation skills.  Scoring in trampoline accentuates the effect of form and technique over difficulty.  More often than not, the athlete who does simpler skills with precision will beat the one who adds difficulty but looks bad.

Training is not as brutal as artistic gymnastics.  Men don't go past their 20s in artistic gymnastics (internationally), but men in their 40s have made the trampoline national team (and it did not look far-fetched). 

There is a week-long national meet in June, and Trampoline is exceptional in USAG in that it has national competition for the lower levels.  The first 3 days of Nationals are for the optional levels 8-10, and the last 3 days are for the compulsory only levels 5-7.  It does make sense.  The numbers are still small regionally, and some combinations of age group and level are very small.  The kid who has been winning in his or her age-group by default most of the year finally gets some competition at regionals and nationals.

What Does KMC Offer?

This is the 16th year for KMC Trampoline.  KMC had a very good trampoline team for its first 11 years, with its share of national champions, under the direction of Don Furrer.  Don had to give up the team in 2007 because of other pressing needs in the gym.  Paul Wileyto took over, and tried running it as a class, but he soon realized that competition provided the motivation to improve.  And so, the KMC trampoline team was reborn in 2008.  The parents group pulled itself back together with mostly new people, and we ran one of the best meets of the season at home through sheer will, and the help of a lady who knows how to organize stuff (Super-Mom Beverly K.).  In June of 2009, we took 6 of our kids to Nationals in San Jose, including 3 boys who were in their first year of trampoline competition. 

In 2010, the National Championship was in our own backyard (Virginia Beach).  Our goal was to get everyone qualified to go.  We succeeded in qualifying every one of our athletes, and came back from nationals with a couple of National Champions.  Special congratulations go to Joseph Kozlowski, National Champion on Trampoline, level 10, boys, age 11-12, and to Max Boddorff, National Champion on Double-Mini Trampoline, level 7, boys age 15+.  We had a number of other kids place high, and overall, our team got more than its share of time on the awards stand.  

Watch Joe's Championship Performance here.

We began the 2010-2011 season as big as we have ever been, with 21 athletes on the team.  The great performance from the prior year repeated itself, and we qualified every one of our athletes for Nationals at the state meet.   In 2011, we also had our second ever elite trampolinist, Joseph Kozlowski (The first was Steve Kydd, under Don's direction).  As of the 2011-2012, Joe is competing for the Ultratwisters in NJ, because he has to go to a completely different set of meets than we do, but he still trains with us through the week and inspires us in the gym.  
 

Another source for those technique articles

The Physics of Twisting

The Stick Figure Trampoline Game

Footage of Paul Luxon, first to use straight arm twisting, and other expressions of modern technique

Technique Video "Miller Time"

2007 Worlds Training Session (Good for watching technique)

Trampoline routines at various levels

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7 (It's really hard to find a good one)

Level 8 Compulsory

Level 8 Optional

Level 9 Optional

Elite Optionals (Finals, Flower Cup in Holland)

Alas, Jason's video has been banned due to unauthorized music content.  Elite Optional (Jason Burnett, Toronto, Highest Difficulty on Record)

  KMC Dance & Gymnastics
912 W. Cypress St.
Kennett Square, PA
19383

www.
kmcgymnastics
.org


(610) 444-4464

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