WAG Trampoline parks

[profmom]

I had a friend who was almost 30, a great gymnast, who had a serious neck injury at a trampoline park. Apparently he and a friend were doing some kind of trick where they were doing saltos over each other. The guy saw that they were going to run into each other, so he stalled out and landed on his neck. He was in a neck brace for a good long time - I think he's OK now. Just goes to show you don't have to be young or untrained to do dumb stuff and get hurt.

A good general rule is "do not do anything that would cause your coach to have a heart attack or want to kill you."

 

[chalkbowl]

One of the biggest safety concerns to me is that it seems like at many trampoline parks, you are allowed or even encouraged to jump on the same trampoline as others. So people just bounce around. While that's fun if you're just bouncing, if you're trying to do tricks, any unexpected interference could be really unsafe. I've been to a trampoline park where each trampoline was sectioned off and you were supposed to stay in your own area - that seems a lot safer to me.

AHHHH two people should NEVER EVER be bouncing on the same trampoline as each other!!! That's how many compound leg fractures happen at these places :-/

 

[Dahlia]

We have a coach who actively advocates against them. I never thought of the dangers, but some googling definitely comes up with some horror stories. My kids have gone, but I'll definitely rethink it in the future.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We don't ban them, of course how do yiu police that. You just e courage kids to sneak around and not tell their coach what they have been up to. You also would get lots of those "I'll decide what is best for my own kid outside of the gym" parents, and it does not help the trust and relationship as many of them don't want to know about the dangers.

But there is no way I would ever reccomend them. I do tell the competitive kids that it is not them we don't trust, we do teach them to know their limits and the dangers of jumping outside their skill level without coach supervision. It is the other patrons, you have no control over what they do, and even if the staff have strict rules, a kid has to break those rules before they are enforced and by then it can be too late.

Our physios have said that since the trampoline parks started to pop up, their business has significantly increased.

The "toddler areas" are also a huge concern. Toddlers should not be jumping on trampolines at all. Their neck muscles have not yet developed the stability needed and their head can whip back, causing a severe injury. Their bones and the muscles around the, are not yet developed enough for the impact of jumping on trampolines. But trampoline parks see them as a source of income, during school hours while their older patrons are at school. Somtheynsell ideas like "if yiu can walk you can jump". Putting making money ahead of child safety.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our coaches (myself included) discourage our gymnasts from going to them but don't forbid it. I have let my own DD go once to a Bday party, but it made me very uncomfortable and I haven't allowed her to go again. Lax supervision (by parents and personnel), no separation of ages or abilities, no discouraging running around and across getting in peoples way (who are already tumbling)... nope, it was a nightmare for this coach/parent to witness. Terrifying. No thanks!

 

[kitkat]

My experience is that coaches don't like it. We use to have a trampoline at home and I sold it - even though I knew dd wouldn't do anything silly on it. But I didn't want to hear that voice saying "I told you so".
We have had a couple of our own gymnast working in the gym on the tramps or tramp bar go down wrong and break an ankle. So it can happen anywhere but I would hate to be that parent where her dd breaks it at home.

 

[twinmomma]

Our coach (T&T) does not hate them. He prefers you not go during season LOL. But the one in the same parking lot as our gym has a one per trampoline rule, a separate spot for the littles, and rules about flipping, etc... Artistic coaches have always discouraged it actively, as they have also backyard trampolines.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

In short, I despise their very existence

 

[CoachMeg]

They are horrible horrible horrible places. Please consider your child's safety before taking them there. We just had one open about 2 weeks ago literally within walking distance of our gym. We have been very up front to the parents on the dangers of these places and how much we despise them. Hopefully they make the right choice and don't go. But at the end of the day, we can't "force" anything. But....if anyone goes and breaks their leg....I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[Sasha]

We have had a mixed experience depending on the park. Some have been decent with safety education and enforcement, with the key differentiator being "only 1 person per trampoline." The monitor also stopped anyone running across tramps. That was our first experience, and so we thought the parks were overall an all-right choice to release some energy (of course with my lecturing and oversight added in...).

Then we went to another, and I was watching a group of kids (age 8-12ish) run wild across all the trampolines while people, including my kids, were jumping on them. I immediately went up to the monitor person and said, "Hey there are some kids running across the tramps that people are on..." Monitor told me multiple people on a tramp are OK and it's fine for kids to run across - "you just have to look out for other people" (which these clueless kids were clearly not doing. at all.)

So we pick and choose which parks are at least trying to exercise good reasoning in their rules and enforcement, and which to avoid. As others said, we aim for non-peak hours, and my kids know not to do any flipping if they are there at a more crowded time. We have been quite a few times either with just us, or with a group of teammates. Having the group of gymnasts is nice because they tend to surround a few tramps to watch out for each other, and keep wild children/teens away.

Always a risk to anything, but mitigating life's risks rather than avoiding them entirely is usually our motto.

 

[Sasha]

I also have to admit that, on times I choose to jump as well, that when I see kids running around approaching my trampoline, I make my jump appear extra big and wild, and toward their direction to kinda 'scare' them into thinking maybe that isn't a good idea. Usually they abort selecting my trampoline to cross

 

[Deleted member D3987]

What does your gym say about trampoline parks? Are you not allowed to go there, or is it up to you?

NO ONE should be going to a tramp park. 11 deaths. the most recent Ric Swezey 6 weeks ago. please don't get me started.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I always thought that as a former gymnast that I, as well as my own gymnasts, were smart enough and had enough air sense to not get injured. However, I was recently informed that many (all?) trampoline parks have tramps that are essentially tied together. Two trampolines next to one-another use one railing for their springs. Meaning that if a person jumps on the left trampoline, they are fully capable of double bouncing the person on the right trampoline...as all the trampolines are interconnected. Basically everyone is capable of double bouncing one-another within the park even if they are on separate trampolines. I will definitely be doing a lot more research before stepping onto a trampoline in a trampoline park myself.

yes. and the steel stanchions supporting the entire structure are IN THE FIELD OF PLAY. UNDER THOSE PADS YOU CAN'T SEE.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Our gym actually was just recently invited to one of our local trampoline parks to be featured in a news segment! They wanted to ask a gym so they could show kids with more talent rather than kids just bouncing around. It was so cool!
Our gym is obviously ok with them, just as long as the kids are safe and responsible about it.

It is the FOX trying to infiltrate the hen house. cool??? you know nothing about these places. and i mean that respectfully.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I let my gymnasts go. We occasionally go all together and book the whole place for us only. That way they can benefit from the amazing trampolines and pits more and it's also safer for everyone. I've asked them to be careful when they go alone.

again, you know nothing about the design. amazing? pits?? they are in violation of EVERY standard that we have had in gymnastics for over 50 years.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Every tramp park we've been to has a completely separate area for little ones- is that not the case everywhere? My kids would definitely not use a tramp anywhere near a toddler.

ask the mom in Tampa how she feels that her 3 year old suffered an open fractured femur...and almost died. so much for the kiddie area...

 

[Deleted member D3987]

our trampolinepark gives a lot of safety instructions and also sits kids out if they don't follow those rules. It was a lot of fun and there actually were more gymnasts (not from my club). One of my teammates works there, so that was fun too. Our gym doesn't have a policy, so I was wondering what other gyms think of it.

safety instructions=oxymoron.

 

[MILgymFAM]

ask the mom in Tampa how she feels that her 3 year old suffered an open fractured femur...and almost died. so much for the kiddie area...

Cars and planes and all kinds of things leave families devastated every day/month/year. It's awful and can be terrifying for a parent to dwell on, but I don't stop my girls from walking/driving/flying either. Always be as careful as possible (without becoming afraid of everything) and then live life. If I were that concerned with safety they wouldn't even be gymnasts.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Don McPherson
July 25 at 9:17am ·
Their "Olympic Pit" whatever the hell that means. If I put up all the ones I have (spinal cord injuries) there are 44. Not all but several were from going in to their version of a loose foam pit.


Teen breaks neck at local trampoline park
A Sherwood Park teen is in recovery after breaking his neck at a local indoor trampoline facility.
sherwoodparknews.com

 

[Deleted member D3987]

July 22 at 10:53am ·


Don McPherson added 2 new photos.
July 22 at 2:56am ·

Every single trampoline park has an inherent defect in the design of the/their structures. There are actually 2 as you will see. And as I've repeated ad nauseum to whoever will listen AND in a legal setting under oath...and which you can't see...and neither can the public because the defects are under the seam padding...where looking on top appears to be a series of individual and stand alone beds/mats. All of the trampoline beds are interconnected...whereby making them all including the structure and all components interdependent wherein causing the entire structure to be ONE BIG *** TRAMPOLINE! This means that even if only one person is on even only ONE of the beds that energy created by that one bouncer is being transferred from bed to bed...horizontally, vertically AND diagonally. Gymnastics coaches know about the wave effect. The reverberation. The 'note' that sounds when a bed is hit and how that 'note moves thru the bed'. This is why prudent coaches do not allow more than one person at a time on a trampoline. It's referred to as 'double jumping", "double bouncing", "spiking", "rocket launching", etc; and you understand so on and so forth with other trampoline terminology. Additionally, gymnastics coaches know just how precarious it can be to hand spot an athlete on a trampoline bed. I'm near 62 and still do it. I learned from the best. But you will find many today that won't do it. Please enlarge the photo. This is a grid diagram of what is used in some iteration in ALL the tramp parks. Pay close attention to #22 as it is a 4X4 STEEL STANCHION that supports all the beds you see. Moreover, these steel stanchions are in THE FIELD OF PLAY directly under all those pads you see...well...oxymoron in regards to those pads. They do nothing if you land directly over/on the stanchion and are the direct (not casual) cause for why anyone that does so instantly suffers an open (they used to call compound) fracture of the tibia and fibula. In the female and due to their anatomy ("Q" angle) the open fracture goes directly thru the malleolus. Depending on whether the foot position is varus or valgus will determine which way those 2 bones leave the body and additionally find pieces of the talus bone shot out with it and find those pieces spread to different areas of the bed they are on. In males and because of our anatomy the open fracture occurs 4-6 inches above the malleolus mid shaft. Here now is the grid and one photo of what I have just explained.