Trampoline Competitions – Then and Now

The first ever National Championship for trampolining was held in England in the year 1958, before that trampoline competitions were only a part of college and school sports in the USA, In Europe, the first World Championships was held in the year 1964. Kurt Baechler of Switzerland and Ted Blake of England were the European pioneers for Trampolining.

In Frankfurt, the inaugural meeting of prominent trampolinists was organized to form a Federation which was further recognized in the year 1965 as an International governing body for the sport.

By the year 1969, first European Championship was held in Paris and Paul Luxon of London won when he was at the age of 18. In the ladies championships, Ute Czech from Germany won the championship. Since then the European and World championships are taking place every alternate years.

Americans used to dominate the world Championships, but some lawsuits made the trampolining less allowed in schools, thereby making the Americans performance go down in World Championships. Slowly and Gradually, Europeans and athletes from the former Soviet Union started emerging as the leader and dominated the sport.

Other strong nations are Germany and France, the first four rankings being held by USSR, France, Britain and Germany. Although trampolining started at the same time in other nations but they were not able to emerge as a strong contender of these titles.

In USA, it was realized that the Trampolines has various physical benefits to offer so it was introduced into the school’s physical education programs. There were people who found that the sport is dangerous and reduces the strength of legs as the springs assist jumping, However the threshold of the skill was found so low that almost anyone could do it and enjoyed something which is fun, exhilarating, aerobically effective, and caters the highest level of skill and daring which some are capable of.

It is highly popular in kids, who really enjoy something much better than their parent’s bed to jump on.