Best Trampoline for Cheerleading (Helpful Guide and Tips)
Cheerleaders are fun to watch. They do great maneuvers, have fantastic routines and impress everyone with their agility and athletic moves. Some of their routines incorporate trampolines. This helps them get the best height for their complicated moves.
What is the Best Trampoline for Cheerleading? There are a lot of good trampolines out there that can help cheerleaders cheer. In examining the different sizes and shapes, we would go with the small round trampolines. They are more versatile and easy to move out of the way when not needed.
To find out how we came to this conclusion and get the information you need to know, just continue to read our article Inside is a lot of information that will help you find the right trampoline for cheerleading.
Cheerleading Trampoline 101
Tip #1: it is all in the bounce. You want a trampoline that is durable but also comes with a soft bounce to protect your joints and back
Best Type of Home Trampoline for Cheerleader
Because cheer leading involves complicated gymnastic moves, you want to go with a large sized rectangle trampoline. Not only do they have stronger springs and a better bounce, you get a lot more room to make those great cheer leading moves.
The size of the rectangle trampoline should be 14 by 8 feet as a minimum and the Olympic size as a maximum. The latter gives you roughly 111 square feet of jumping room and that is what you want. Lots of room to do all your maneuvers. Check our rectangle trampolines recommendations here >>
Round trampolines may give you a little room but they are designed for recreation and not serious activities like cheerleading or gymnastics.
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Tip #2: to help you do cheerleading on a trampoline, make sure you stretch thoroughly. Get all your muscles loosened up and ready for action
Will a Trampoline Help With Cheer Jumps
Yes it will. The reason that it will is that the trampoline can safely target your leg and calf muscles. There are a lot of exercises you can do that will strengthen your your lower body muscles.
Also, with the right type of bounce, your joints are protected and this helps you jump better. As you practice you are not causing any damage to your joints or other parts of your body keeping you healthy to do those routines.
Tip #3: a large trampoline is best. You can learn all your cheerleading jumps and twists without hurting yourself. Then you do not have to be afraid to make a mistake, as you have a soft place to land
Cheerleading Stunts and Tricks on a Trampoline
The good thing about using a trampoline to learn your different cheer leading stunts and tricks is that if you mess up, you shouldn’t hurt yourself when you land. A trampoline not only protects your joints, it will protect the rest of your body from serious injury if you land wrong.
The subsequent bounce will give you time to turn your body , land properly and then get ready to try again Here are some drills you can do to get you ready for your cheerleading performance:
Toe touches - jump, move to a sitting position, and try to touch your toes
Forearm lifts - you need a partner for this drill. Your partner holds their arms out in front of them and you grab their arms and jump
Lifts - you need a partner again and they hold onto your waist while you assist their lift by jumping
V lifts - jump up and keep your arms straight, ,lift your legs till you are in a v formation, then put your legs down for the landing
Regular jumps - but add ankle weights to make it tougher for your legs to get you off the trampoline mat
Keep in mind that these drills, stunts, and tricks will dehydrate you. Make sure that you have plenty of water or other healthy fluids on hand to take a drink or two during and after your workouts.
Tip #4: Always stretch and practice the drills even if they get boring. They help you remain flexible and make more complicated drills easier to do
Cheerleading Routine on Trampoline
These are not hard to perfect when you use a good trampoline. The key of course is to have the trampoline large enough to make sure you can land and jump, twist, turn and more, easily.
A short or thin trampoline is not going to give you the room you need to maneuver. Once you get the right size of trampoline, you should be able to do kicks, kick doubles, spins, transitions, pyramids with ease.
Also, you van practice your switch kicks, full baskets and standing fulls without too much difficulty. After you master the individual cheerleading moves, you still have enough room to put those moves into a small cheerleading routine.
On top of all that, you can use the trampoline to be both creative and innovative. Make up your own moves and perfect them as you practice. You can include tumbling, dance, double downs, twisting baskets and a lot more.
The options you have are almost unlimited and can be a lot of fun.
How to do Cheerleading Moves on a Trampoline
One of the first things to learn about doing cheerleading moves on a trampoline is not to get over confident. Being over confident can lead to major mistakes when doing the same routines on solid ground and possible injury.
Here are some tips on how to do cheerleading moves on a trampoline:
Stretching - no matter how good yo get, you will always need to stretch before performing any cheerleading move on a trampoline
Get to know the trampoline - to be safe and do your maneuvers well, you need to know your equipment and how it will respond. Not knowing your equipment can lead yo to make judgment errors and you could hurt yourself
Get warmed up - you should start slow and do a few jumps to get your body warmed up and ready for more difficult moves
Add in some tumbling - learn how to roll, how hard to land and so on by practicing good tumbling moves. As you do this, add in some different moves and branch out. Come out of your simple tumble and move right into a jump, cartwheel and so on
After tumbling - you can do cartwheels, flips, twists and soon until you are confident enough to move those maneuvers to the floor.
Tip #5: Place a tumbling mat over your trampoline. The mat should not be thicker than 1 1/2 inches thick. This will make you work harder to get the bounce & height you need and it will provide extra protection if you mess up and fall on your face or back.
Cheerleading on Trampoline Safety Rules
Cheerleading may seem like a very safe extra curricular activity to participate in. It is not as rough or as dangerous as football, hockey, or even rugby. But cheerleading has its dangers as well.
One of the reasons cheerleading has become a lot more dangerous to participate in is the rise in competitiveness. To win tournaments, etc., and be known as the top cheerleading squad in the nation requires very intricate, complicated and very risky moves.
Then when you try to move some of those moves to a trampoline, you are adding to your risk of injury. The following safety ideas are not mandatory yet, it is still a good idea to have safety rules to keep you from harm:
- Have someone spot you at all times when you are on the trampoline
- Do not go past your skill level and try maneuvers you are not ready to do
- Do strength and conditioning exercises with the help of a coach to get your body ready
- Make sure you have thick pads surrounding your trampoline
- Make sure the trampoline remains dry at all times
- Have qualified coaches work with you and help develop your skills
- Always have a safety net around your trampoline when practicing at home
- Use a no-gap spring protecting pad on your trampoline
- Keep the trampolines large enough to protect you when something goes wrong
- Do not wear jewelry or fashion hair clips when practicing
Tip #6: Having a good set of safety rules can spare you the agony of an injury. Good rules will not get in the way of your developing your cheerleading skills.
Mini Trampoline for Cheerleaders
Not just any mini trampoline will do when you go into your regular cheerleading routine. Basically, all cheerleading routines are done from the floor and do not include regular sized trampolines, you do need a small trampoline to help you get the height you need for your vault or jump.
While those mini trampolines made for home exercise are out, there still is a good mini trampoline available that works well with cheerleading. It is called a vault trampoline.
These trampoline models are designed to handle the tough pressure a jump puts on it. They are heavy duty and made to have a better bounce than normal home mini trampolines. They also can be set at a variety of angles,, so you can get the trajectory you need to complete your stunt.
There is a word of caution that comes with the use of a vault trampoline. While they can be more expensive to purchase, that is not what this warning is all about. You need to learn how to use these trampolines correctly.
They are not like those mini home trampolines and can cause sever injury if you are not careful and fully trained to use one. Take the time to learn how to use a vault trampoline correctly so you can make your cheerleading routines better.
Related Questions
What is the cost of a good vault trampoline?
One model is priced at over $1200 but it comes with an approx. 30 by 26 inch jump surface, 40 springs and 1 1/2 inch steel tubing for a frame and legs. The legs are adjustable as well.
You may have to shop around to find one that will be top quality and still fit your budget.
Are cheerleading moves, tricks, and stunts hard to do on a trampoline?
When you first begin and start to learn what you can and cannot do on a trampoline those moves may seem difficult at first. But once you learn about your equipment and your boundaries, those maneuvers get easier to do
Your body will have to get used to the different surface and the moves as well.
How old should my daughter be to get her started in cheerleading and using a trampoline?
There are classes for kids as young as 4 years old but we recommend that you wait a couple of years, til they are 6, to get them started in doing those routines. These classes will teach the proper techniques and safety behavior for both cheerleading and trampolines
What size of trampoline should I get for my cheerleading child?
When your children are small and under the age of ten, then you should be able to get by with a smaller trampoline. But stick to the rectangular models as they provide the best room for those activities.
You can always upgrade and get a larger trampoline when your child gets older and taller
Some Final Comments
Cheerleading is fun to watch. The skill of the cheerleaders is impressive as are their jumps, tricks, and other maneuvers. It can be exciting to see cheerleaders perform.
To help them reach that high performance level, a good trampoline for cheerleaders is a necessity. The best one to use is a good sized rectangular trampoline. The other shapes just do not provide the room you need to perform all the moves you need to make to be a good cheerleader.
Also, the other shapes the trampolines come in are not designed to handle cheerleading moves. They have a different purpose. The size of the rectangular trampoline can depend on the age and size of your children.
The other key to using a cheerleading trampoline is to have the right safety rules and enforce them. Keeping your children safe as they learn is vital to their becoming a good cheerleader.
Looking For a Trampoline? Don't Buy Something You'll Hate
Here is a list of our buying guides to help you find the best for your needs:
