Times sure have been interesting, discouraging, upsetting … I am sure it is different for everyone. In Trampoline Land and for Airborne Trampoline KW things have been, let’s say, a lot more interesting since Trampoline Parks (an example of a “park” would be Sky Zone) started entering the market.

The first Airborne Trampoline opened in Woodbridge over 20 years ago by my husband’s mom in 1994! Back then trampoline popularity was quite poor. It took a while to get that club going, but people loved it and word spread, and then trampoline became an Olympic sport. More Airborne Trampolines were opened. Unfortunately, we, Airborne Trampoline KW, are the last of the Airbornes standing today. Why is that?

There are a variety of reasons, but here are a few of them:

1) Trampoline parks, which jam a lot of smaller trampolines into a space side-by-side, came into the scene. Though they do not teach trampoline or have certified trampoline coaches, but they were considered to be “cooler” by many. I can understand the appeal. Some of the things Airborne did well, like birthday parties and public jump, declined when trampoline parks starting opening.

2) Injuries in trampoline parks, as you can imagine, started happening at a much higher rate and there were some serious ones that were well publicized. This led to insurance companies backing out of trampoline related businesses, and the ones remaining greatly increasing their costs. Not only that, insurance companies will not differentiate between a gymnastics trampoline club such as Airborne and a trampoline park. Airborne Trampoline has Olympic trampolines; professionally trained trampoline coaches, and we teach customers how to jump and land safely. Trampoline parks don’t generally have or do those things. Yet, the insurance industry continues to lump us all in the same bucket. Even though Airborne has had a relatively good record, we are not treated any differently than a trampoline park, sadly. Our insurance continues to be on a thin thread based on what happens around the country and internationally with trampoline in general. We are glad to say we have never once had a catastrophic injury at our facility. We have had some injuries but many were also flukes… i.e. an ankle landing and twisting the wrong way. It is also important that you as the customer make sure you don’t have any conditions that would make it unsafe for you to jump. You would know what those were if you had them. I.e. previous injuries or surgeries which weaken the joints or body, unstable knees or ankles, hyperextension issues which alter the alignment or your legs or arms to unsafe angles, bone degeneration disease which weakens your bone structure and makes you prone to easy injury.

3) As you are well aware, everything continues to increase! Wages, costs of goods, rents, and on and on. If one cannot pay oneself any longer, what is the point. It is hard to keep the program prices in alignment with all the increases around us, which are affecting so many. In the last year we have also been dealing with shut-down after shut-down. Recreational activities are not considering essential. We are so thankful for the government subsidies, but we are losing our long fought for customers and could only hope they come back in the future.

Well, with all that being said, Airborne Trampoline KW still has an amazing base of customers and staff that will be coming back when we re-open. We are fortunate and we want to stay in business. We are thinking of some new services like Super Hero and themed parties. In fact, you can help us! If you can think of an idea to grow our business – whether it be a way to advertise; a program change; or even a big influencer doing a stunt for us – whatever it is, if we implement it, we will reward you will 10 Public Jump Passes.

I hope this was not too negative. I will keep jumping to release endorphins and happiness. 😊 In the near future, Airborne Trampoline KW will be running our safely and structured competitive, recreational, and special needs’ classes; day camp; birthday parties, groups, and public jumps. Hope to see you then!