Trampoline History

The USA Tramp Scene in Late 40s

Trampoline competitions were at least partially a matter of endurance. Stunts could be, and were, repeated without penalty. It was considered better to be able to (swing) your whole routine (going from one stunt directly into the next with a (free) jump in between), and judges were called upon to evaluate not so much the form, but difficulty. This unfortunately led performers to attempt extremely (for those days) difficult tricks with little attention paid to form.

Many early judges did not really know what they were looking at, and the whole competition was fairly subjective. There was no such thing as (judging clinics) and often the performer who came from the same school or club as the judge received the highest score insofar as that judge was concerned.

The trampoline was also included as an event within college gymnastics, except that the trampolinists themselves seldom participated on other apparatus, except perhaps in tumbling, particularly since 'tumbling' is not apparatus. Actually, trampolinists had more in common with springboard divers than with competitors on the classical gymnastic apparatus, such as P-bar, H-bar, rings and side horse.

Following the war (1939-1945) trampolining became part of the US Collegiate and AAU gymnastic competition, with the champion usually being the person who did not fall off, or collapse through exhaustion bouncing up and down, for three minutes, on a solid canvas bed, usually repeating 3 or 4 stunts he knew ad infinitum, whilst simultaneously scaring hell out of the audience (both of them) and judges alike.

This is no exaggeration. I remember competing in my first National AAU championships in Cobo Hall, Detroit when one of the rules was 'your routine terminated at the moment you hit the floor'. I misjudged one stunt, but managed to grab the end rail in flight...swing under the bed...then back up again...without touching the floor, and finished the (routine). Everyone else, except one, fell off and I was awarded second place. Edsel Buchanan of Amarillo, Texas, had beaten me again!

But then came one Kurt Baechler to the Nissen Corporation in Cedar Rapids, who brought the discipline of European gymnastics to what had been the American sport and trampolining, and who introduced gymnastics form judging into competitions, whilst at the same time reducing the routine to 10 bounces. It was also Kurt who introduced such (innovations) as coaching and judging clinics.

(The following article by Frank LaDue appeared in the FIT News, April 1994)