TSNY Trampoline classes

Trampoline classes at a trapeze school sounded like THE BEST THING EVER to me. I love trampolines. And I love flying trapeze. So when I had a work trip to an area with a TSNY, after I booked my flight the first thing I did was book a trampoline class. (And trapeze class second.)

I didn't know quite what to expect in this trampoline class, but given my history with trampolines—well I was just hoping it was fun.

The day of, I met the instructor. I told him my goal was to have fun, that I'd never even been on one of these fancy Olympic trampolines before but that I'd spent a lot of time at the trampoline park. I don't think he was expecting much from me.

My class was three people. Me. A girl who had done trampoline as her college PE (that sounds amazing) but was out of practice and a lady who was an instructor at TSNY and was working on cool flips.

Since there's only one trampoline, we all took turns.

The warm-up was to bounce up and down and stay in the middle. And the trampoline was a lot bouncier than I'm used to so this took some calibration. I also use my arms to balance me and the teacher was standing to my side, so he had to move before I could do this. Once I got the hang of that (and staying in the middle, not bouncing off to the side), we practice straddles, pikes, seat drops and back drops. I think the teacher was surprised I could fearlessly do a backdrop.

We tried cradles—back to front. And I'd never been taught the right way to do a lot of these things, so he had to show me where my hands should go etc. But I got back to front and front drops—he was pulling a mattress in front of me.

And then he decided I should work on backflips.

I have never been brave enough to do a backflip. Ever. But I was feeling brave. So we decided to go for it.

And Rich is the best spotter ever.

He would jump with me, count to three, and then I'd try to jump back so my shoulder would land on his shoulder, with my back and butt in a straight line with my shoulder.

After a few rounds of that, I'd try to get up and over. And he'd kind of push me so I'd get in the right—back and over.

And I had the same problem as with my front flips. Not waiting. And rotating too fast. My flips were all rotation. No height.

But I started getting them. And I was so SO CLOSE. I was pumped.

I went back to the hotel and sent the video to my adult gymnastics instructor. And I was high as a kite on adrenaline for a few hours.

Almost doing a backflip when you've been terrified for years is amazing. And that was some amazing spotting.

I ended up taking THREE trampoline classes in three days while I was in D.C.

I came back the next day and took a class with a gymnast. I wanted to get my back flip. Only the second teacher couldn't spot that. I was so disappointed. She had me working on front drops and cradles. And I am not good at them and don't care to do them.

My last day in DC I took another trampoline class after flying trapeze. Another class with Rich. I needed to get my backflip. This class was also three people. Another girl from the flying trapeze class—who used to live in Athens and work at UGA. And there was another lady who worked at TSNY in NY.

The instructor was working on cradles, which is a back drop, and you go up like for a front drop but rotate over so you land on your back again. I can't do the rotation. I think it's all about waiting and getting enough height in the air. I have enough power in my drop but can't.

The other girl really wanted to learn net tricks for flying trapeze. She was working on back drops. They are so scary and hard to learn.

I wanted to work on my backflip.

(Thanks Nadia for the video) 

I didn't quite get it. Either it wasn't as good as a few days ago (or I was tougher on myself. The first time I was so thrilled just to be making progress, so not as tough on myself.) And then I worked on front flips. I don't know how to land them. I was trying to stick the landing. Like on a mat. But with a trampoline you just bounce. Haha. That's what I learned.

I love these classes and wish I could find one in Georgia. I found a gym that does have trampoline classes—but more for kids. I messaged them and they told me about their open gym. Not interested.

Verdict: Trampoline classes—LOVED. Need in my town.