Kids Gymnastics & Trampoline

A Quick History

Kids gymnastics has been around for decades. Ever since kids learned how to tumble around on the floor without hurting themselves, gymnastics has been an in demand sport for children who just learned how to walk, and wanna be future stuntmen looking to learn how to jump and fall like their favorite action stars do in the movies. With the inclusion of trampolining into the Olympics back in 2000, gymnastics took on a whole new life as trampolining quickly boomed in popularity. But many people don’t know that trampolining is even part of kids gymnastics programs. Many kids gymnastics clubs only have a small trampoline tucked away in the corner of the building. It was never heavily advertised as a big part of kids gymnastics programs. Yet, like other facets of the ever growing sport of gymnastics, trampolining has now been recognized as a staple of gymnastics and trampoline clubs across Canada.

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Where did it start?

The history of gymnastics begins back in ancient Greece where gymnastics was originally intended as a form of military training.  The Greeks viewed it as an incredible asset to soldiers on the battlefield and integrated gymnastics into their advanced combat training. Fast forward to the late 18th century Germany where three pioneer physical educators created exercises for boys on various newly designed apparatuses. This was the dawn of modern day gymnastics. By the late 19th century, gymnastics saw the birth of the FIG or Federation of International Gymnastics which today’s modern day kids gymnastics system is based on. By the end of the century, the FIG had popularized the sport enough to be included for the first time in the modern day Olympics. Gymnastics made its debut in the 1896 Summer Olympic Games hosted, fittingly, in Athens Greece. This boys only version of gymnastics would look much different to you and I and what we are used to today. The 1896 version included some strange events such as rope climbing, horizontal ladder, and synchronized team floor calisthenics. It was not until the 1928 Olympic games hosted in Amsterdam that women were able to participate, albeit in a much reduced version of the sport which limited them to synchronized team floor calisthenics and running events. The first Olympics which included both men and women, modernized Gymnastics (not including trampoline), and standardized scoring was officially introduced in 1954 and is generally what we are all used to seeing today.

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What about Trampolining?

Trampolining had a bit of a late start onto the field. Like gymnastics before it, trampolines initiation into the Olympics consists only of four elements. Individual trampolining, synchronized trampolining, double mini trampolining, and tumbling. Canadians have performed particularly well in these events. Led by Karen Cockburn, Matt Turgeon, Rosie Maclennan, and Jason Burnett Canada has pretty well dominated the competitive trampoline scene in both Olympics and World Championships. With many new athletes coming up through the ranks, Canada seems poised to continue our fantastic record of competitive trampoline. Much credit goes to the great structures in place to promote the sport of kids gymnastics at the grass roots level.

If you’re interested in starting your kids into a kids gymnastics or trampoline program, check out Airborne Trampoline Woodbridge and Airborne Trampoline World in Newmarket. Airborne’s Trampoline Classes and Lessons are a fun way to introduce kids at a young age to their potential in the sport of trampolining. Jump over to Airborne Trampoline today and get airborne!

Until next time! Thanks for reading.