Having a flippin’ good time
Front and back flips thirty feet in the air with combinations of tucks, pikes and twists. Although these may sound like complicated stunts the announcers in the Olympics would be explaining, several USU students are learning and practicing these tricks in the aerials trampolining and gymnastics class offered at the Sports Academy.
Many of the students enrolled in the class said they have little or no experience in aerials, but are excited and sometimes a little nervous to be trying new things on and off the trampolines.
“You have to jump way high and do things you’ve never done,” said Tessa Goodall, junior in exercise science. “It’s totally scary.”
The class is taught by Thomas Pheobald, gymnastics program director at High Point Gymnastics located at the Sports Academy.
The class began last fall semester with only three students enrolled and has grown to just shy of 60 students last semester, Pheobald said. There are no prerequisites or gymnastics experience required, and he hopes the class continues to grow.
“We’ll take everybody,” Pheobald said. “As many people as would like to come.”
The trampolines used for the class are not the same as backyard trampolines bought at Costco or Wal-Mart. Pheobald said the trampolines can’t even be purchased in the United States but have to be imported from Germany.
Pheobald said the trampolines have a strong string bed that won’t stretch, helping athletes jump higher.
“On your backyard tramp, people average five or six feet of air at best,” said Pheobald. “On these tramps 30 feet is not out of the question.”
Because trampolines can be dangerous, Pheobald said he teaches basic safety techniques the first week of class, like how to jump safely and learning to land on your back, stomach, hands and knees. The trampolines are also equipped with padding on all sides, so a small mistake doesn’t turn into a big injury.
Bill Munns, senior in agricultural education, is one student taking the class.
“My favorite part is being able to push your own limits and not being scared to hurt yourself,” he said.
Munns, who said he was the most inacrobatic person there could possibly be, was safely landing the high front flip by the end of the third class.
Besides being a lot of fun, the class can also help students practice stunts for other sports.
Kinyon Martin, freshman in international agribusiness, said he planned to use the trampoline training on the slopes.
“I am excited to learn more control for snowboarding flips,” Martin said.
Pheobald said he plans to teach ski and snowboard tricks as well as circus skills after basic trampoline flips are learned.
Watching other students attempt the stunts can be entertaining, too. The class members laugh and joke when other students goof on a flip or stunt, but clap and cheer supportively when someone lands a high-flying flip they’ve been working on.
“It’s a lot of fun just to watch the others,” said Martin.
Of the eleven members of the class, all but two are guys. Goodall said she thinks it’s cool there are so many guys enrolled in the class.
“When most people think of gymnastics they just think of girls,” Goodall said. “It’s cool that guys would want to come out and do new things.”
Pheobald said that besides trampolining, he hopes to expose the students to a range of gymnastic events similar to those seen in the Beijing Olympics this summer.
“I make the guys get up and do the beam and I make the girls get up and do the rings,” said Pheobald.
The students said they enjoy Pheobald as a teacher.
“He is way cool,” said undeclared freshman Jordan Stuart. “He knows what he is doing.”
Pheobald has about 11 years of teaching experience at the Sports Academy. This past summer he took a girl he is training to the Junior Olympic Gymnastic Trials in Kansas.
Trampolining is an Olympic sport and just finished its second run in the Beijing Olympics. However, Pheobald said the sport has been around for about 20 years and continues to grow.
–karlie.brand@aggiemail.usu.edu