Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Trampolining Club bounce their way to new heights in preparation for Varsity 2019

In conversation with the Trampolining Club’s Secretary, Olivia Tonkin, I set out to discover what she thought the Club was most looking forward to at Varsity this year; competitions are a great way to socialize with multiple universities, and Olivia mentioned that Surrey University attend all of the same competitions as them throughout the year, which will make for a fun and friendly environment at Varsity. Especially as a lot of the members joining Trampolining Club “start from absolute novice level”, says Olivia, “it’s exciting to see them compete for the first time at Varsity – it’s a lot smaller than the Southern regional competitions that we usually attend, so there is a lot less pressure”.

When I asked Olivia whether she felt optimistic about the Club’s chances of winning at Varsity this year, she reminded me that last year the Club only had 9 members competing and were still only beaten by a whisker; but with an increase of 15 new people and, a few of those moving up in categories of competition, there is a much higher chance of winning this year. But, Olivia is sure to remind me that “it’s the taking part that counts” that remains as the Club motto, especially for first time competitors.

With what sounds like a positive and exciting influx of member participation, I wondered how the Club accommodated to extra members during training for Varsity and how the club maintained steady progression? Olivia notified me that during this academic year, the Club has acquired two new trampolines, meaning they now have five in total. This means that training for Varsity has improved because it increases the chances for members to have an equal amount of time on the trampoline over their two-hour training sessions. Since the beginning of the year, there have been five competitions in total, and Olivia mentioned that a lot more people have participated in those competitions in comparison to the previous year: this sounds promising for Varsity.

It was really great to hear about Olivia’s confidence in the Club becoming a more prominent sport on campus. She stated that “a lot of people say to us that they didn’t know trampolining even existed and ‘is it just jumping up and down?’ But with the growing number of members and our even bigger collection of equipment, we are definitely becoming more noticeable. Not only because we’re just a fab bunch of people but because trampolining is something so different and fun!”.

As Varsity is one of the biggest sporting events of the year for universities, I wondered what the Trampolining Club will be working towards post-Varsity? If you are aware of the Trampolining Club, you will be familiar with their notorious Scrunchie Sales for charity on campus, which there has been two of so far, collectively raising £400. So if you have missed out on these sales so far, be sure to come across a few more over the next coming months! Olivia also mentioned that “we intend to take part in the Windsor Race for life to raise money for breast cancer awareness and we are currently planning a sponsored walk from Founders to potentially, Buckingham Palace!”.

Orbital wishes the Trampolining Club the best of luck at Varsity, and we look forward to seeing more of your great charitable work.