Trampoline Safety

I would like to cover the subject of trampoline safety. A number of our students currently have their own personal trampolines at home, and since we have two trampolines here at my gym I thought that I could share some valuable saftey tips.

Trampoline are a very usefull tool for us to help train our athletes, It allows greater air time for them to learn new skills. However it can be a dangerous apparatus if used incorrectly.

We all know how our children love to jump, heck its fun for me as well. But with injuries on the rise we all need to be carfull and follow some very simple safety rules. The rules outlined are the same as our rules in the gym.

The most important rule is ONLY ONE PERSON ALLOWED ON THE TRAMPOLINE AT ANY TIME. This is also the rule most children violate. When you have multible people using a trampoline, or just one jumping and the rest sitting, collisions are guarenteed to happen. When two people use the trampoline, the person weighing less is 5 times more likely to be injured than the heavier person.

Do not jump off the trampoline to another surface, If the trampoline is elevated then the height will be much greater. Make sure you have addiquate padding around the trampoline as well.

Spotters are a must, if a child gets too close to the edge a spotter may be necessary to prevent a serious collision or fall.

Proper training is necessary if a child wishes to learn flips and complex skills.

Here are a couple of links that also provide similar information on trampoline safety.

University of Michigan Medical Dept.

Safe Kids

US Goverment Consumer Safety Alert

At Coach Patty's School of Gymnastics we do enforce these rules. Remember it only takes a split second for a serious accident, so enforcing safe rules is a must.

Coach Patty
www.coachpattyusa.com