The number of moves that can be executed on a trampoline is truly fantastic, and I wouldn't claim to know them all. However, trampoline lessons in my youngest years and a persistant enthusiasm for the one in my garden has taught me many moves of varying difficulty. For your general entertainment, here is a list of those that I can actually execute myself:
Tuck jump
Ahh, the old classic. I believe that this was the first move I ever learnt, at the ripe young age of five. It simply involves getting up a bit of height, then bringing your legs up underneath you with a bend of the knees. The more thorough among you may wish to clasp your hands underneath your legs as well, although I'm not sure if this would be condoned by The Powers That Be.
Half-turn
There's a lot to be said for self-explanatory moves. You just... turn around, 180 degrees. There's a full turn too, and more, but they need little in the way of explanation. These are not very tricky and, appropriately, not very impressive. But fun.
Seat drop
Dropping onto your backside in a sitting position. This ever-popular move is often sloppily performed, so I shall go into considerable detail as to how it should be done:
- When you land on the trampoline, your legs should be straight and at right angles to your body, and your feet together.
- Wrists should be by your side and hands pointing backwards.
- Your head, if you have one, should ideally be attached to your neck and facing straight forwards.
I hope I remembered that right.
Swivel hips
An extension to the seat drop in which, after a first seat drop, the hips are swung 180 degrees and another seat drop is landed in an opposite direction to the first. This is a little more tricky than a simple seat-drop, especially to do it gracefully, but it looks slick if you do it properly.
Pike jump
This is harder than it sounds, actually. The pike jump requires you to jump and raise your legs to right angles with your body, then reach forward with your hands and grab somewhere around your knees. Landing back on your feet again is tricky, as is raising your legs sufficently high. This also doesn't look that exciting, but there's a challenge if you need one.
Forwards flip
Playing with the big boys now, forwards flips are surprisingly tricky to land. The flip, in which the body stays fairly rigid, is different from the somersault, where the body is brought up into a tuck. The former is easier, because there's no need to time the unfolding in order to land. Either way, painful practice is the only method for improvement.
Back flip
Surprisingly, I've always found these to be easier than forwards flips, and more impressive too. The hardest part is over-coming the psychological barrier about throwing the head over first, but so long as you gain sufficient height, the worst that can happen is landing on your front again, as I did many times when first learning. With furthur practice, it's possible to do several flips one after another; my record is five continuously. I fell off at the end, though.
This is certainly not every move that is officially recognised, but they are the ones that I can remember offhand. Happy bouncing.