BOUNCE.Inc |
Sports, Leisure & Society LSS 3003
Mr. Hedley Butterfield
Rashed Mohamed Al Zaabi
H00252542
CJD
Sports should be one of the main
activities that people should be taking part of in their leisure lives. Sports
have a wide variety of activities; each individual finds excitement in one or
more activity. Bounce INC is a founding member of the ATPA (Australian
Trampoline Parks Association) and it is a subdivision of the AALARA (Australian
Amusement Leisure And Recreation Association). The ATPA is a business
organization made to put rules and regulations regarding safety procedures
within trampoline parks. It was founded by Simon McNamara in July, 2011, who
visited an indoor trampoline park in a trip to the United States, San Francisco
with his friend the Co-Founder Antony Morell. Although, what they had seen in
that trip was simply a place where only children played and had parties. That
is when they thought of making some research of the concept, but were
wondering; how they would attract customers during weekdays and weekends,
making it more accessible and exciting. After a year of planning and research on
the industry plan, they decided to make it attract people of the mid ages who
are at the peak of their strength in life, teenagers and young adults. Their
project worked out well and they successfully opened their first branch in
Cannington, Western Australia following another branch in Adelaide, South
Australia when they realized good investment. Besides these two branches that
were opened in Australia, a branch was opened in Queensland, three branches in
Victoria, a branch in Dubai, UAE and some other branches yet to open in the
future.
Bounce is the first and biggest trampoline park made with over 100
interconnected trampolines. There are various and interesting types of
trampolines that people could jump on. The Dubai branch has six thrilling stages
which people would constantly enjoy.
First of all, the main stage in bounce is the “free-jumping arena”,
which includes 49 interconnected trampolines; it is mostly used for people who
just want to jump one matt, jump on a series of long tumble tracks from tramp
to another; you could use the angled back wall tramps, or pull off amazing
stunts while working on your routine. Safety rules for this stage is that, each
individual should jump on a trampoline individually; running is restricted; stay
alert for other free jumpers; entering mini-bouncers area is not allowed; not
to try out tricks or stunts that are above your level; avoid injuries by
landing on your hips or both feet.
Furthermore, “The Big Bag” is basically a longer trampoline than the one
in the free-jumping arena, which gives you a higher bounce if more power is
applied, and has a huge soft landing spot for aerial endeavors. This stage is much
safer than any other stage, since it has a giant inflatable bag that sits in a
five foot deep pit. You could start off with simple jumps and a few easy tricks
to pump-up your esteem and build up confidence; jumpers in general could just
have fun as much as they please. However, jumpers who have a taste for
excitement for dangerous tricks could also perform whatever stunts they are interested
in learning, such as back, front, or side flips, and other gymnastic
combinations you have in mind. That is all thanks to the giant fluffy cloud of
air that you land into after jumping off the long trampoline. After developing
new moves you could take it to the Performance Trampolines (professional stage)
to show off what you’ve learned. Safety rules in the big bag, is that each
person jumps one at a time, and the next person waiting in line should wait
until no bouncers are in the bag zone. Also, you should be sure to land on your
back first and with both legs spread apart.
Following this further, there are but two types of ball sports
activities in bounce. One of them is Slam Dunk (bounce basketball). The nice
thing about bounce basketball is that gravity has no longer that great of an
effect to prevent you from slamming the dunk like a professional basketball
player. This area includes two expanded walls from the two sides and floor mats
surrounding the full-height ring that is located above the runway trampolines.
The Slam Dunk arena consists of soft and bouncy trampolines, thus everyone
could make their dreams of dunking a basketball like Michael Jordan with the
help of a trampoline. At first, go easy on yourself; see how high you can jump,
plan to make your dunk on the third time you jump after deciding to score. Then
you could add some extra spice to the game, and execute stunts that you see on TV;
or add some moves of your own creation. Slam dunk is one of the arenas that
attract jumpers at bounce.
On the other hand, another ball game stage in bounce that they have and
is a more interesting sport that a group could take part in is Dodgeball. This
consists of two teams facing each other in an arena; the concept of this game
is to ‘dodge the ball’ through jumping around avoiding being touched by soft
dodge balls (size of a bowling ball) that are being thrown at you. The rules
are simple; 8 players should be on each team; the art is to bounce and keep
moving in any direction, while avoiding the balls coming directly from enemy
hands. If you get hit you are out, and last one standing is the hero who wins one
for the team. You could also rebound live balls (balls coming from enemy hands)
coming at you by using a ball in your hands, or if you don’t have a ball,
catching a live ball would make the bouncer throwing the ball at you get out of
the game. After you are out, exit the stage and wait in the line for the next
game; the court referee’s call is final. You’re out of the game when you are
hit by a ball anywhere, if you throw a ball at your opponent’s head, you hold
the ball for more than ten seconds, and if you step into your foe’s zone. This arena
would be suitable for groups of people who want to share a game together, and
party or corporate members.
Finally, one of the most adrenaline-charged arenas in Bounce.Inc, for
those who seek challenging and overwhelming activities is Performance
Trampolines. This area is devoted to assisting professional individuals with
air-sports ambitions. The Performance Trampoline area is a good place to
improve your talents after you’ve grown bored of the free jumping arena. Moreover,
it is frequently used by competitors who chase after progressive enactment
around sports and could be used as an exercise for keen trampoline sports.
There are five Olympic grade trampolines in Bounce.Inc Dubai, and the height
constraint is 125cm and above.
In addition, other
performance trampolines are called The Wall which is a whole other level of
bounce worth the challenge and fun. The idea here is to throw yourself
backwards on the trampoline, legs facing the wall near you, bounce with your
back and run up the wall. Somehow it feels like as if you are skydiving
backwards while riding a bike. Wall running was originally founded by the
Cirque Du Soleil (Circus of the sun), and it requires some tips and training to
master. This is hard to imagine; it would be wiser to see the actual thing with
your own eyes or see the video attached to their webpage. Although it is much
simpler than it looks, you just have to put some effort and patience into it.
You should make sure you close your hands and legs when falling on the
trampoline and push your back towards it harder while spreading your hands and
legs to get higher up the wall. In the end you will get used to it and develop
outstanding tricks of your own that are similar to parkour.
In my opinion, I find Bounce.inc
one of the most amazing fun sports that I have ever experienced and worth the
time. I would do my best to encourage people to try it out and would wish that
it would become a bigger project in the UAE. So that it would improve our
health through sports and leisure in a fun way. For people seeking exciting and
dangerous activities I would greatly advise them to go and try out The Wall
after they have gotten used to the free jumping arena.
References
Here are some photos viewing the
types of stages Bounce.inc:
1- Free Jumping Arena:
2- The Big Bag:
3- Slam Dunk:
4-Dodge Ball:
5- Performance Trampolines & The Wall:
