Fun With Jumping Up and Down
By Kyle Grabowski
Look in your back yard. What do you see? Trees, rocks, some water and perhaps a device that brings some of the simplest entertainment imaginable: the trampoline. The earliest evidence of a trampoline comes from the Inuit tribe. They would often toss each other into the air with whale skins and create an effect similar to that of firemen when catching people jumping out of buildings. If you believe in circus folklore, the trampoline was invented by Du Trampolin. He attached the trapeze safety net to varying forms of suspension, eventually settling on springs as a method of propulsion. Unfortunately, no evidence has been found to support this story and most circus people are considered crazy. The trampoline as we know it was invented by George Nissen and Larry Griswold. They saw trapeze artists using the nets to add entertainment value to routines and eventually added an iron frame and springs. During 1942 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa , the pair created the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company to produce trampolines commercially. In 2000, trampolining was added as an Olympic sport. A typical trampolining routine includes both gymnastics and aerobatics maneuvers while bouncing up and down. When taking off and landing there are four acceptable positions when in competition: feet, seat, front, and back. These refer to obviously your feet, sitting down, landing on the chest, and landing on the trampoline while looking towards the sky. A routine must both start and end on the feet. The first trampolining world championships were held in London in 1964 and the International Trampoline Federation was formally recognized as a governing body in 1965. Early championships were dominated by Americans, but the Soviets soon gained a foothold in the sport after many top Americans stopped competing due to injuries and lawsuits. In 1999 the International Trampoline Federation joined with Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. If you don’t like jumping up and down by yourself, synchronized trampolining involves two people performing the exact same routine at the exact same time. The next time you look outside and see that heap of metal and canvas see not just a trampoline, but a launching device into a promising professional career.
