trampoline news 2 - Gillingham Jumpers Trampoline and Gymnastics

BRITISH GYMNASTICS: Trampoline Technical Committee 

TRAMPOLINE NEWS No 32 June 2005 

Editor: John D Beeton: john@jbeeton.wanadoo.co.uk 

Dear all, 

EDITORIAL 

Martin Laws 

Welcome to this June edition of TRAMPOLINE NEWS 2005. 

My thanks to John Beeton the editor, for all his efforts to keep 

you all informed, and all those who have contributed to this 

important Newsletter. Please circulate this latest edition as 

widely as possible. 

Cathy Page is already working on the National Technical 

Assembly 06 with speakers in a Trampoline specific program 

to supplement the comprehensive general program. Please 

make sure she is aware of sessions you feel are important. So 

far we have a session booked in the main programme to 

introduce DMT to the wider gymnastics disciplines, and Mike 

Phillipson is planning a judging update/conference. 

Since the release of the Trampoline Strategic Plan, many 

have been active in pursuing its aims and objective across the 

UK. However if you have not yet downloaded this from the BG 

website (we are up to version 3 now) and discussed the issues 

with your region, please ensure you don’t get left behind! 

As we said in the last edition work has already commenced on 

issues within the plan and indeed in the whole world of our 

sport. Many changes are underway or in discussion for a 

myriad of reasons. 

Already we have seen changes to: 

FIG Judging rules and process 

NTTC committee structure and reporting process. 

BG structures and process 

World Class targets, funding and programmes. 

Regional/Home Nation Development officers structure and 

priorities 

We said in the January issue that Trampoline competitions in 

2004 had an increase of participants from 2003, with in excess 

of 9000 members registered as trampoline competitors. Well 

2005 is well on the way to increasing again and is on target to 

gain the 2% increase required each year of the plan. 

Despite many coaches voicing concerns over the increases in 

BG membership and also the splitting into recreational and 

competitive membership, still our figures are rising and again on 

target to achieve the 2% increase for 2005. 

With the budget cuts from World Class and internally, it is 

obvious that BG will have to source more income from its 

members. We can all speculate that membership will need to rise 

again to cover the £3m loss, however it would be a huge hike to 

gain that amount from 100k members. In order to reduce costs 

BG has gone through the normal rationalising of 

staff/budgets/business etc but we need to raise much more to 

cover these substantial losses. One sound way is to raise funds 

from those not yet involved in the organisation. Sales of 

merchandise are thankfully on the increase, but nothing like 

enough to cover the amounts required. We can ALL help this 

cause, which eventually helps us directly in limited increases in 

membership. Please sell the concepts, bring in new member 

organisations and welcome as many new members as possible to 

the Gymnastics family. 

JUDGING 

Mike Phillipson 

Since the last report, three of our judges attended the FIG 

Intercontinental Judges Course in Prague CZE to gain the 

latest information and knowledge by the experts of the FIG on 

the alterations to the Code of Points and Technical Regulations, 

and of course, practice our judging. 

Claire Thompson was upgraded to Cat 2 TRA and remains at 

Cat 3 for DMT. Peter Heames was upgraded to Cat 2 DMT and 

remains at Cat 2 for TRA. Mike Phillipson remains Cat 2 for 

DMT and Cat 3 for TRA. 

All three candidates from Great Britain felt the course itself was 

much better than four years ago in Bratislava. The presentation 

of the Code of Points and Technical Regulations was much 

better, especially as we were able to download the paperwork 

well in advance of the course. 

The venue in Prague was also much better (although rather cold). 

Vladimir Zemen and his team are to be congratulated on their 

organisation in Prague. The FIG Technical Committee was 

extremely helpful throughout the course, and it was good to see 

two new faces involved in the work of the FIG. 

Trampoline News is an official TTC publication for British Gymnastics only 

?: 01569 766074 Email: john@jbeeton.wanadoo.co.uk

The International Brevet Course for Great Britain took place at 

Gillingham last weekend, with John Beeton GBR and 

Vladimir Zemen CZE as tutors. We were extremely lucky to 

receive the services of these FIG experts at this time, as the 

current TC members’ programme is complete full until the end 

of the current year, what with courses and international events. 

A further report on the course is given elsewhere in this edition 

of Trampoline News. 

Judge Course: we are holding courses at Gillingham (09-10 

July) for County, Regional, Zonal and National level, hopefully 

to move people up the judging scheme, if they are 

appropriately experienced, and pass the course. It will also be 

an opportunity to look at judge tutoring as well. Most courses 

have about 7-8 applicants so far. 

WANTED 

Organiser/s to host the following planned international 

matches, on behalf of British Gymnastics during 2006: 

4 x Nations Annual Match 

GBR v DEN v CZE v GER 

9-11 Jun 2006 

plus 

Under 15s International Match 

GBR v SWE v POR 

6-8 Oct 2006 

Funding will be available for both events, but organiser/s are 

also expected to obtain local sponsorship, to cover hall hire, 

reduced accommodation costs, small reception / entertainment 

etc., to help offset costs. 

Note: dates can be negotiated somewhat. 

All enquiries to myself in the first instance. Ed. 

A BRAVE STEP FORWARDS 

UK Sport has made it abundantly clear that it expects medals at 

the Olympic Games in order to get funding, Sport England has 

followed suit. However this concept can all change if we get 

the Olympics in London 2012, who will be the winners and 

losers of such intense focus. We are faced with stark choices 

and some gymnastics disciplines are already facing no funding 

at all. 

I do however want to remind everyone that under the BTF, that’s 

exactly what we had, no funding. We didn’t collapse as a sport 

and indeed we were very successful. However our newer squad 

members and families won’t remember the days of fund raising 

just to get a club member in the GB team to a World or European 

Championships. In those days I remember looking at sports such 

as Athletics and wondering why we were excluded, today of 

course we are very much the “chosen ones”, but how do we 

maintain this position? 

The first course of action I believe is to understand just what is 

involved. If you bought a trampoline from a manufacturer, you 

wouldn’t be happy if they deliver a springboard 4 years late! 

That’s what we have actually been doing (metaphorically of 

course)! Funding Agencies fund for a reason, they effectively 

buy something, if we say we are going to provide medals, then 

that’s what we should be doing. Currently we won’t get funding 

unless we are medal prospects and the ONLY medal of interest is 

an Olympic one. 

I would firstly like to congratulate all of our squad members, 

personal and squad coaches for keeping Great Britain at the 

forefront of the international scene. Trampolining has faired well 

under these heavy cuts in funding, however the pressure is now 

on from all funding agencies to become even sharper and bring 

home even more medals, with the ultimate of a medal in Beijing 

as a clear target. The prospect of failure simply cannot be 

considered if we are to remain funded at all! This has left us 

however with some major rethinking to ensure efficiencies and 

delivery is maximised in all high performance areas. This isn’t 

all doom and gloom, we simply have to keep doing well what 

works and improve those areas that are holding us back. 

I do believe we are capable of achieving, but we must ALL share 

targets, we must ALL share the responsibility if we are ALL to 

share the glory! 

For the members of squad the implications are obvious, they 

must spend the money on the right things, funding is about 

training and events and both are key to improving. Through the 

last year various consultation stages were undertaken and this 

resulted in a list of issues to tackle: 

• Fully centralised, not supported 

• Personal coaches not sufficiently involved & recognised 

• Global targets never cascaded and personal goals don’t 

match up with WC goals 

• Consistent support 

• APAs for trampolinists, not value for money 

• We have good enough coaches to deliver 

• The most important aspect is coach education 

• Sports science support in the trampolinists location 

• Two HPCs doesn’t cover the country 

Carried forward to Page 6 



2nd DMT Trial for World Championships 

and FIG International Age Groups 

Competitions (FIG IAGCs) 

Nick Earle 

The second of three trials for these competitions was held in 

conjunction with the DMT & Synchro Mid-Season 

Competition in Cardiff on Sunday 17th April. 

This was the largest Grade 1/2 DMT competition held in the 

UK with 54 Grade 1 competitors and 60 Grade 2 competitors. 

After some very careful measuring by Steve Grist we managed 

to squeeze 2 synchro panels with 4 trampolines and 2 DMT's 

into the main arena, with one DMT being used for warm-up 

and 2 panels judging the competitors on the second DMT. 

What's more the competition started on time, ran like 

clockwork, and finished exactly on time. 

My thanks go to all the judges and marshals, but especially to 

Martin Laws and Rosie Bascombe, for keeping everything 

running so smoothly. For many people this was the first time 

they had experienced two panels judging one DMT and it does 

take a little getting used to. 

I think that everyone would agree that the standard of the 

competition was very high and I would like to thank all the 

Coaches and Athletes for the time and effort that much have 

gone into preparing for this competition. 

The highest form score of 29.4 set by Andrew Freeman (Top 

Flight) at the 1st trial remains unbeaten, with both Dominic 

Swaffer (Jumpers) and Tom Jones (Birkenhead) scoring 29.1. 

However, Michael Scott-Beaulieu (Jumpers) matched the 

highest difficulty pass of 8.0 set by Philip Dodson (Salto), and 

has set a new highest score for a pass with 36.6. I'm looking 

forward to the 3rd trial to see if we can set some more records 

for British competitors. 

An additional 11 competitors met the minimum criteria for FIG 

IAGCs and Matthew Swaffer (Jumpers) joins Philip Dodson as 

the only competitors to meet the criteria for the Senior Team. 

Full results and the current ranking are available from 

http://www.bg-coaches.org/results 

The next trial will be held at the Jumpers Rebound Centre in 

Gillingham on Sunday 19th June. 

World Games 

Great Britain will now also be represented at the World Games in 

Duisburg GER in DMT, which received a wild card in the ladies 

event. TRA / DMT Competitions are scheduled for 13-18 Jul 05. 

COMPETITION REPORT 

Craig Bellis 

We are now more than half way through the competitive season 

in terms of the number of events. National Level competitions 

are still enjoying growing entry figures, especially in the higher 

grades. The Mid-season DMT event had another large entry and 

was a great success. There were two panels of judges judging on 

one piece of equipment. With the provision of separate apparatus 

for warm up this made the competition run very efficiently. This 

system was arranged by Nick Earle and Steve Grist, and is 

likely to be used for future DMT events. 

It was extremely sad, yet again, to see such low numbers in the 

Synchro event. It is acknowledged that without the DMT events 

running concurrently, the Synchro event would most likely be 

economically unviable. It is hoped that the British Synchro 

Championships will see larger figures. The event has been 

moved from June to November, and is no longer at a time of year 

when people may be preparing for individual British 

Championships or exams. I do strongly feel that there is little 

incentive for clubs to excel at Synchro., as there are few 

opportunities internationally for established Synchro pairs, unless 

they are already being selected individually. 

Grade 1 competitions have facilitated two selection events for 

World Championships and IAGGS (trampoline); two for World 

Championships and IAGGS (DMT) and one for World Cup 

Synchro. There are two further selection events, a Grade 1 on 

14 th May and the British Championships (trampoline). 

The new rules for the senior groups, particularly the two -thirds 

finalists and zero finals rules have caused some confusion; this 

has lead to an incorrect number of finalists being allowed to 

compete on two occasions. On one occasion at a selection event, 

it would have been possible for someone who was not entitled to 

take part in the final round to have taken maximum points. 

Luckily this did not happen. The minimum tariff requirement has 

also caused some confusion in its application where incomplete 

routines are involved. The rule has not been applied precisely as 

written at events so far this year; although it was applied in the 

manner it was intended. A note to the effect of how the rule 

should be applied will be distributed at the forthcoming Grade 1 

event. 

The next meeting of NTTC is scheduled for 04 Sep 05 in 

London. If you have items that you would wish the Technical 

Committee to discuss, please contact any of its’ members. All 

items must be received by 16 Aug 05 at the very latest. Ed 



The organisation of the British Champ ionships is reasonably 

advanced. There has been interest from outside parties for a 

sponsorship deal for this event for a substantial sum of money. 

I am trying to ascertain whether this lead will become reality, 

although I am now somewhat sceptical. I am currently in the 

process of securing television coverage for this event. 

The entry figures for the second Grade 1 in Macclesfield on 

17 th March were very low due to a clash with the Flower Cup. 

The event in Holland is attended by a large number of British 

Clubs and also a British Gymnastics delegation. As a result, the 

Macclesfield entry was reduced by approximately one third. 

This almost made the event run at a loss, however due to some 

radical cost cutting this event should just break even. Reports 

from people who attended the event said that it lacked any 

atmosphere mostly attributed to the low entry. I will take 

further consideration with the timing of National Grade events 

in conjunction with the International calendar having seen the 

effect it’s had on the event both as a competition and 

financially. 

Coach Education 

Cathy Page 

Trampoline Coach Education 

UK Coaching Certificate – a syllabus is being prepared 

including the Assistant Coach and there will then be a need to 

rewrite /write resources. Some have already volunteered to help 

with this. Anyone interested in helping with this please email me. 

IPC assessment - requirements for IPC exam spelt out and 

circulated to all candidates. Possible exam date 23 or 24 July. 

Prospective IPC candidates - there is an IPC Common Core 

theory module at Lilleshall on 23/24 th July. CV should be sent to 

Lloyd Reedhead. 

HPC - the next HPC course is July 25-29 th see separate advert 

for details. 

Practical exam moves - a list of moves to be examined 

practically at Coach and Club Coach have been prepared and are 

almost ready for circulation to all examiners. At Senior Club and 

HPC there are certain criteria laid down. This will standardise the 

examination across the country. 

New tutors - Rosie Bascombe DMT; Tony Burton – club 

coach examiner; Richard Ollerenshaw to become mentor; 

Roland Portsmouth is producing guidelines for mentoring 

potential tutors. 

Tutors/examiners seminar - 3/4th September at Loughborough. 

Mechanics – new terminology and explanations of mechanics 

has been introduced to Coach Award – and resources have been 

rewritten for the coach resource and Coach exam. Thanks to 

Richard Ollerenshaw and Jake Bailey for their work with this. 

They are now tackling the Club Coach Award. 

Award for Sports Centre Attendants - on trampoline 

equipment to be put together as there is a demand from local 

authorities for this type of course. 

Cathy Page ( cathyathome@tcp.org.uk) 

Trampoline HPC course 

Gillingham 25-29 th July 

Attendance at all days essential. Cost £250 

Coaches are invited to attend with their own pupils 

who should be able to do ½ outs, double backs, 1 ¾ fronts 

and single twisting somersaults confidently 

Application forms available from cathyathome@tcp.org.uk 



FIG RETAINS ITS HUMOUR 

Having endeavoured to purchase a supply of FIG Polo Shirts 

over the years, I decided to send an email to the new Secretary 

General of the FIG. 

“Dear Andre 

1. I have been endeavouring to persuade the FIG 

Shop to obtain a supply of XL and even XXL Polo 

shirts for sale – especially for TRA. Despite 

promises over the “years” nothing has happened. 

Would it be possible for you to give a small 

reminder to your staff that not everyone in 

Gymnastics takes a S, M or L! 

Many thanks 

Your XXL friend 

Readers will be a mused at the reply from Andre. 

“Dear Mr. XXL, 

2. We have not only ran out of X; XL AND XXL but of 

almost all our Polo-Shirts and articles for sale. 

Stèphanie is, at this moment in time, buying and 

creating a new collection and I can assure you that 

YOUR SIZE will be available !!! 

Your Swiss friend (X only) 

Four Countries Competition 

Saturday April 9 th 2005 

Judges report - Peter Heames Chair of Judges 

Competition Jury 

Execution: 

Bruce Craig GBR 

Aquilino Martins POR 

Sally Slinger GBR 

Heike Rath GER 

Cyril Cloud FRA 

Difficulty 

Bert Scales/Steve Grist GBR 

This was the first international held in Great Britain under the 

new FIG Code of Points for cycle 11 (2005-2008). The judges 

from POR, GER and FRA had all attended post 

Intercontinental (Prague CZE Feb 2005) courses and were 

aware of the new requirements particularly in relation to 

execution. 

The judges and support officials were able to meet together to 

make our introductions. This was I felt, a very useful opp ortunity 

and allowed all to feel part of the “team”. It was also a useful 

opportunity to go through the way in which the competition was 

to be run. A number of variations to the COP would feature. 

Most interesting was that the seniors would nominate the two 

moves for difficulty but would not have these counted as part of 

the first routine total! 

I used this opportunity to share with all the judges the new 

expectations regarding execution judging. 

• An expectation that the whole range of deductions 

would be used with really poor elements receiving 

0.4/0.5 It will be much harder to score in excess of 9.0 

• Take-offs – amplitude 

• Shapes – quality, depth and flexibility 

• Twists to be completed before final half of somersault 

– especially in singles 

• Exits – at the vertical, straight and held the end of the 

move. 

I reminded the judges that we are not judges for our country and 

that it is essential that our marks reflect the performance 

independent of the competitor who is competing. 

We were then able to go to the competition hall for some practice 

though, as usual, we generally were only able to assess parts of 

routines. Even so this did provide a good opportunity to compare 

judgments and settle nerves. 

Throughout the competition the judging was remarkably 

consistent with only a small number of rogue spreads. Only three 

routines made it to around 27.0 which was entirely appropriate. 

Conversely there were a number of routines that justly received 

sub 21.0 totals for execution, especially in second and final 

routines. 

As Chair there were quite a number of decisions to make 

regarding incomplete routines, crashes, mat touches etc which 

kept me on my toes! 

The difficulty judging was very secure with only a few queries 

that were dealt with very efficiently. I was aware of the need to 

give them enough time to calculate/check routines so that ALL 

the judges were able to show their scores simultaneously. The 

competition ran very smoothly and almost exactly to time was 

pleasing. 

Overall I felt that as a team, including the recorders (Pam 

Driscoll – computer and Linda Tee – manual) had worked very 

well together. 

A very satisfying afternoon from a Chair’s perspective. 

An even better afternoon when Great Britain won the event! Ed. 



These issues were forefront as the new system was developed. 

The new system will have two managers Jack Kelly for the 

Beijing 2008 squad and John Beer for the development and 

2012 squad. These roles will be underpinned by a full time 

analyst and administration support. 

Personal coaches/clubs will operate in cluster groups, where 

hopefully no Trampolinists will have to travel more than 1.5 

hours to reach a squad session. However it is acknowledged 

that those areas where performance numbers are low, may not 

be able to achieve this immediately. These cluster groups will 

come together once a month and personal programs will be set 

by the managers in discussion with the personal coaches and 

the Trampolinist themselves. The next month, the targets will 

be tested and progress analysed and so on. Four times a year 

all the cluster groups will combine for National squad’s 

selections and team building will be the prime objectives. 

Trampolinists, Coaches and Clubs will now share the 

responsibility to achieve stricter targets and will be rewarded 

for success. Where areas of deficiency are identified there will 

be support programs devised by the managers to correct the 

problem. Finally there is intended to be financial rewards 

particularly to the Trampolinist to achieve that all-important 

medal. 

So where does everyone else come in this scheme? For those 

not involved in the WC schemes, coach education is viewed as 

the key component to improve the whole competitive base. 

Information and analysis, advice and programs will be 

provided to those in coach education to disseminate out to the 

whole membership. Whether you are recreational or 

competitive, it is vital that we introduce our new members to 

the sport in an effective and fun way. Therefore a long-term 

athlete development plan is being produced to give everyone a 

head start. 

Finally if we can make our sport stand out in every corner of 

the UK then further funding will be available via sources such 

as Regional/County Sports Boards etc for the community work 

that we all undertake. 

There is clearly much more to come and a great deal of work to 

be done, but I am confident we are laying good foundations for 

the future of our sport. 

F.I.G Age Group Games 2005 

Eindhoven, 18 th to 24 th September 

Under 13 Girls 

Trampoline Team Selection 

Under 13 Boys 

Sophie Burr 

Lucy Ryall 

Zoe Brookes 

Megan Lillington ** 

Nicole Short – Reserve 1 

Benham – Reserve 

Emma Britton – Reserve 2 

Nathan Bailey 

Jordan George 

Fletcher Perry 

Alex Watson 

Mitchell 

**Megan Lillington to prove fitness at National Championships 

to secure selection. 


Katy Ianson 

Lani Dacey 

Claire Stapenhill 

Williams 

Emma Scanlon 

Foreman 

Katherine Kane – Reserve 


Yasmin Gumbs 

Laura Gallagher 

Laura Williams 

Danielle Pietruszka ** 

Wright 

Cara Jaimeson – Reserve 

Under 15 Boys 

Joe McAdam 

Liam Abrahams 

Steven 

Thomas 

Nick Davies – Reserve 

Under 17 Boys 

Tom Lewis 

Chris Hall 

Luke Rendell 

Matthew 

Michael Freeman – Reserve 

** Danielle Pietruszka selected as ‘Wild Card’ on scores 

achieved and international success and experience. 

U19 Girls 

Stacey Dann 

Hannah Lewis 

Hannah Davies 

Lisa Blackburn 

Katie Woodgate – Reserve 

Officials 

Sharon Wood 

Sue Bramble 

Bill Leach 

Tony Hull 

Rosie Bascombe 

Head of Delegation 

Team Manager 

Lead Coach 

Coach 

Coach 

U19 Boys 

Nick Joyce 

Danny Creedon 

Jason Harvey 

Michael Wood 

All officials were selected on experience and qualification. 

Any coaches who wish to be part of the delegation in the role of 

chaperones to the teams should contact Sharon Wood.

trampoline news 2 - Gillingham Jumpers Trampoline and Gymnastics

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