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A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes.
The fabric that users bounce on (commonly known as the "bounce mat" or "trampoline bed") is not elastic itself; the elasticity is provided by the springs that connect it to the frame, which store potential energy.
The 19th-century poster for Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal refers to performance on trampoline. The device is thought to have been more like a springboard than the fabric-and-coiled-springs apparatus presently in use.
These may not be the true antecedents of the modern sport of trampolining, but indicate that the concept of bouncing off a fabric surface has been around for some time. In the early years of the 20th century, some acrobats used a "bouncing bed" on the stage to amuse audiences. The bouncing bed was a form of small trampoline covered by bedclothes, on which acrobats performed mostly comedy routines.
According to circus folklore, the trampoline was supposedly first developed by an artiste named du Trampolin, who saw the possibility of using the trapeze safety net as a form of propulsion and landing device and experimented with different systems of suspension, eventually reducing the net to a practical size for separate performance. While trampoline-like devices were used for shows and in the circus, the story of du Trampolin is almost certainly apocryphal. No documentary evidence has been found to support it.
William Daly Paley of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. filmed blanket tossing initiation of a new recruit in Company F, 1st Ohio Volunteers in 1898.
In 1942, Griswold and Nissen created the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company, and began making trampolines commercially in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The generic term for the trademarked trampoline was a rebound tumbler and the sport began as rebound tumbling. It has since lost its trademark and has become a generic trademark.
Early in their development Nissen anticipated trampolines being used in a number of recreational areas, including those involving more than one participant on the same trampoline. One such game was Spaceballa game of two teams of two, or played between two individuals, on a single trampoline with specially constructed end "walls" and a middle "wall" through which a ball could be propelled to hit a target on the other side's end wall. Spaceball was created by Nissen together with Scott Carpenter and was used in space training at NASA.
One of the earliest pioneers of trampoline as a competitive sport was Jeff Hennessy, a coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Hennessy also coached the United States trampoline team, producing more world champions than any other person. Among his world champions was his daughter, Leigh Hennessy. Both Jeff and Leigh Hennessy are in the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
The competitive gymnastic sport of trampolining has been part of the Olympic Games since 2000. On a modern competitive trampoline, a skilled athlete can bounce to a height of up to , performing multiple and twists. Trampolines also feature in the competitive sport of Slamball, a variant of basketball, and Bossaball, a variant of volleyball.
In the early 21st century, indoor commercial trampoline parks have made a comeback, with a number of franchises operating across the United States and Canada. ABC News has reported that in 2014 there were at least 345 trampoline parks operating in the United States. Similar parks have more recently been opened in other countries. "Businessman turning former studios into a trampoline palace" , Herald Tribune, March 20, 2013 The International Association of Trampoline Parks (IATP) estimated that park numbers had grown from 35–40 parks in 2011 to around 280 in 2014. The following year, IATP estimated that 345 parks were open by the end of 2014, and that another 115 would open by the end of 2015 in North America. IATP also estimated that at the end of 2014 there were 40 parks outside of North America, and that by the end of 2015 there would be at least 100 indoor trampoline parks open internationally. As of March 2019, CircusTrix (and its subsidiary Sky Zone) is the largest operator of trampoline parks in the U.S. and in the world, with 319 parks operating under their brands.
These commercial parks are located indoors, and have wall-to wall-trampolines to prevent people falling off the trampolines on to hard surfaces. Padded or spring walls protect people from impact injuries. Despite these precautions, there has been at least one death recorded due to a head-first landing at a trampoline park. In March 2012, New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain seriously injured his ankle while jumping at a commercial jump centre in Tampa with his son. "Joba’s a pitcher of calm on 911 tape" , New York Daily News In 2018, a man died in a British Columbia trampoline park, which prompted calls for more safety regulations for these popular activities.
Due to the much larger numbers involved and lower safety standards, the majority of injuries occur on privately owned home trampolines or in commercial trampoline facilities rather than organized gyms. "Doctors warn of trampoline injury risks" , CBC News – Health, September 24, 2012, retrieved August 2, 2016
CBC Television's Marketplace discovered that the trampoline park industry is unregulated in Canada, with different standards for padding and foam pit depth, self-inspections and repairs, and not being required to report injuries. It was also noted that there were generally too few staff to enforce rules, and that promotional advertisements often showed participants engaging in somersaults even though this was extremely dangerous without proper training. All trampoline parks rely upon liability waivers, where the signee assumes the risk of the activity including when injuries result from the establishment's own negligence or poorly maintained equipment, rather than beefing up safety standards and supervision.
Bouncing off a trampoline can result in a fall of from the peak of a bounce to the ground or a fall into the suspension springs and frame. Some medical organizations have suggested that the devices be banned from home use.
Authorities recommend that only one person should be allowed to jump at a time to avoid collisions and people being catapulted in an unexpected direction or higher than they expect. One of the most common sources of injury is when multiple users are bouncing on the trampoline at one time. Often, this situation leads to users bouncing into one another and thus becoming injured; many suffer broken bones as a result of landing badly after knocking into another user.
Another of the most common sources of serious injury is an attempt to perform without proper training. In some cases, people land on their neck or head, which can cause paralysis or even death. In an infamous incident in the 1960s, pole-vaulting champion Brian Sternberg became paralyzed from the neck down in a trampoline accident.
Danger can be reduced by burying the trampoline so the bed is closer to the surrounding surface to lessen falling distance, and padding that surrounding area. Pads over the spring and frame reduce the severity of impact injuries. Keeping the springs covered also reduces the risk of a limb falling between the gaps in the springs and the rest of the body falling off the trampoline.
Kits are available for home trampolines that provide a retaining net around the trampoline and prevent users from bouncing over the edge. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that there is no epidemiological evidence that these improve safety. The nets do prevent jumpers falling off the trampoline onto the ground, but these falls are not the most common source of injury. Multiple users bouncing in a netted trampoline can still be injured. Safety net enclosures have a larger benefit for safeguarding solo trampolinists, so long as they avoid falling on their head or neck.
Having some training in a gym may be beneficial in alerting people to possible hazards and provide techniques to avoid bad falls. Trampoline Safety , Consumer Affairs
Family-oriented commercial areas in North America, such as shopping centres, carnivals, and so on, often include closed inflatable trampolines (CITs) as a children's attraction. These have safety nets on the sides to prevent injuries.
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