Traploining and Tumbling

Trampolining is a variation of gymnastics in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple moves such as jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of twists and forward or backward somersaults.There are three related competitive rebound sports: synchronized trampoline, tumbling and double mini-trampoline.

Jason Burnett at the 2008
Canadian National Championships

            In the early 1930s, George Nissen saw a trapeze artiste perform tricks when he bounced off the safety net. He made the first modern trampoline in his garage to reproduce this on a smaller scale and to help with his diving and tumbling activities. He formed a company to build trampolines for sale and used a variant of the Spanish word trampolin (diving board) as a trademarked name. He used the trampoline to entertain audiences and also let them participate in his demonstrations as part of his marketing strategy. These were the beginnings of a new type of gymnastics.
            In America, trampolining was soon introduced into school physical education programs and was also used in private entertainment centers. However, following a number of injuries and law suits caused by  inadequate training and insufficient supervision, trampolining is now mostly conducted in specialist gyms with certified trainers. This caused a large reduction in the number of competitive athletes in the United States and a consequent decline from the American prominence in the sport. Elsewhere in the world the sport was most strongly embraced in Europe and Russia. Since trampolining became an Olympic sport in 2000, many more countries have started developing programs and countries such as China and Japan are already producing very competitive gymnasts.
            Routines are performed on standard 14 foot by 7 foot sized trampolines with 5 millimeter by 4 millimeter threads and central markers. Each routine consists of the athlete performing ten different skills starting and finishing on the feet. The routine is marked out of 10 by five judges with deductions for incomplete moves, moving too far from the center mark or poor form. Usually the highest and lowest scores are discarded. Additional points can be added depending on the difficulty of the skills being performed. The degree of difficulty (tariff) is calculated by adding a factor for each half twist or quarter somersault. Difficulty is important in a routine, however, there are differences in opinion between various coaches whether it is better to focus on increasing the difficulty of routines given that this usually results in a reduced form score or to focus on improving execution scores by displaying better form in an easier routine. A new development in senior level competitions in 2010 is to add a "Time of Flight" score to the overall score benefiting athletes who can maintain greater height during their routines.