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Trampolinists at Aspire Springers are aiming high

All Areas > Sport > Trampolining

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Tuesday, 25th February 2020, 09:00

Bentham Domes Bentham Domes

You’d expect trampolinists to have a spring in their step and that’s certainly the case at Aspire Springers.

That’s because there is a real feelgood factor at a club that was formed back in 2004, and these days based at Bentham Domes.

The club have some 220 members and cater for people of all ages and abilities.

Aspire Springers is run by Dawn Lawson, the club’s head coach and founder, who pours her heart and soul into all things trampolining.

She’s at Bentham six days a week and leaves no stone unturned in her desire to make sure that everyone has a good time.

“It’s fun, the kids have a laugh and it’s good exercise,” said Dawn, who has been a trampoline coach since 1994. “We meet every day apart from Friday and I coach every day apart from Friday.”

And the great thing about Aspire Springers is that they really do offer something for everyone.

“We have special needs children jumping at the same time as everyone else,” said Dawn who works at Milestone School in Gloucester, a school for children with special needs.

“We’ve also got a high-performance squad who compete regionally and nationally and a development squad for those that have moved up from the weekly recreational sessions, so there is a pathway into developing the participants further.

“We start at the age of three and our oldest performer is about 21.”

The club also have close links with the University of Gloucestershire and Dawn is hoping that more adults will take up the sport in the weeks, months and years to come.

The high-performance squad has about 30 members with many of these performers qualifying to compete for the South West team during the 2019 season.

Others have also gone on to compete nationally at the English and British championships with three of them – Billy Keenan, his younger brother James, and Mia Bedwell – being selected to represent England.

“They’re going to Sweden in May,” said Dawn, with understandable pride.

But while every club likes to see their own doing well, that is certainly not the be-all and end-all for Dawn.

“We’re not medal hunters,” she said. “If they do well, fantastic. If they win a medal that’s a bonus. Our ethos is not about winning medals, it’s about doing well. Everybody supports each other.”

If you’re “doing well” there’s every chance that the medals will follow, of course. The very best trampolinists in the country can jump up to 10 metres, so what makes a good trampolinist?

“You’ve got to have stamina and you can’t really have any fear,” said Dawn. “If you have fear nothing much will happen.

“You must have confidence and belief and trust the coaches; trust is a big thing.”

Dawn is one of 11 coaches at the club – she also coaches Great Britain’s disability team – although she has never competed as a trampolinist herself.

Not that that is proving a problem.

“It’s all in the vision and the biomechanics,” she said. “I can see why something is not working.”

And she clearly can if last year’s performances are anything to go by.

“Following a transition to our new venue, we achieved a lot of great performances,” she said. “We won 110 medals in 2019. I was so chuffed; it’s the highest medal haul we’ve ever had.”

Other Images

Aspire Springers have enjoyed great success

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