For Nanaimo’s trampolinists, things are looking up. And up. And up again.
Three local youths won gold at this month’s Western Canada Cup trampoline and tumbling championships at Port Moody.
Abbi Richardson and Chamberlan Teghtmeyer both won Western championships in Level 2 double mini trampoline, Emily Mould won gold in Level 3 tumbling and Richardson took a silver in tumbling.
“We represented Nanaimo so well,” said Mould.
Trampoline and tumbling have some things in common with other kinds of gymnastics, but they require some specialized training. Mould only recently took up the discipline so she could help the Nanaimo Gymnastics School field a team for provincials.
“I thought maybe I knew [what to expect], but it’s not the same; it’s so much different,” she said.
A tumbling line covers a longer distance than a diagonal of a floor routine, and it requires a springier surface. Gymnasts used to incorporating three ‘skills’ into a floor routine line might have to get eight into a tumbling line.
The format of a trampoline and tumbling – T and T – competition is an adjustment, too.
“It’s about three seconds and then you’re done, and then you have to wait,” Mould said.
Megan Conway, coach at Nanaimo Gymnastics School, said the club added T and T to make its programming more flexible.
“We added it to give another option,” she said. “Especially to our boys – the artistic boys’ program requires a lot of training … whereas trampoline and tumbling they can do quite well with between six and 12 ho
urs a week. So it gives them options if they want to do other sports.”
And the boys and girls who take to the trampoline and tumbling have a chance to excel, as the club proved at Westerns.
“They’re liking it because they get to do both sports at the same time,” Conway said. “They’re having a little bit more success and they’re happy and positive and enjoying it.”
sports@nanaimobulletin.com