THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 163 lines
TEN-YEAR-OLD Diana Hill rocketed toward the sky. The 14-foot trampoline beneath her squeaked as her feet slammed back to the taut purple mat.
Whooosh! Her landing launched friend and neighbor Lucy Brandon, 11, into the air, both giggling.
In Diana's back yard in Chesapeake, a gaggle of schoolgirls circled the trampoline, awaiting their turns in the 90-degree heat. On the last day of elementary school, it was time for fun.
Two by two, they soared and dropped, arms and legs flailing, ponytails wagging.
``This is called popcorn,'' Diana said as another pair took a turn. One sat cross-legged in the center, bouncing effortlessly, as her friend jumped around her. Up. Down. Up. Down.
Diana will keep hopping this summer - just like thousands of kids around the country whose families are making trampolines the hot new fitness trend. At about $250 a pop, the discs are turning up in yards from California to Virginia.
The 36-inch-high mats have been popular in the Deep South and West for a couple of years - possibly because the weather is warm year-round, according to the three major manufacturers of trampolines in the United States. This past year, sales have ignited in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions, including North Carolina and Virginia.
``I see a lot of trampolines in America's back yards,'' said Ann Scharma, assistant product manager for the toy division at Roadmaster in Olney, Ill. ``I notice it much more than I did a few years ago.''
As popularity has risen, however, so have injuries. In 1978, 16,456 people were hurt using trampolines, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 1994, there were 52,892 injuries.
Those figures include only people who landed in hospital emergency rooms; they don't specify whether the injuries occurred on a home trampoline or a professional one.
Although trampoline manufacturers pack instructions and warnings - one jumper at a time, for example - enthusiastic buyers don't always recognize the risks.
``Most of the time, people don't even read the directions,'' said Aniko Tottossy, director of Chesapeake Ocean Tumblers.
Injuries range from sprained wrists and ankles to broken necks.
Deaths have been reported too.
At least seven people have been killed in trampoline-related accidents since 1986, according to the safety commission. In 1989, a 9-year-old boy in Pocatello, Idaho, died after he jumped, fell and hit the side of his head. In 1991, a 3-year-old girl in Daytona Beach, Fla., was hanged by her necklace as she dismounted, according to the commission.
Without training, Tottossy said, most adults wouldn't know how to protect a falling child.
Mark Summerell, a Virginia Beach police officer, learned the hard way when he and his three children borrowed a neighbor's trampoline to play dodge ball about two years ago.
``I read no rules, no safety precautions,'' he said. As the kids jumped, Summerell tossed the ball. But his 5-year-old son, Dane, slipped, fell backward and landed on the trampoline's metal rim - mouth first, pushing his upper front teeth into his gums.
Summerell rushed his son to a pediatric dentist, who removed the impacted baby teeth. But Dane, now 7, is still waiting for his adult teeth to come in.
When Summerell sees his son's gapped grin, or watches his son cutting corn off the cob, he winces.
``I tell everybody the story about me doing this,'' said Summerell, a 12-year police veteran who investigates fatal car accidents. ``I knew better but I became the kid.''
He occasionally lets his children play on friends' trampolines - one at a time and with adult supervision, he said. ``But we're still a little skittish of 'em.''
So, too, was Diana Hill, who broke her arm seven years ago while trying to get off a friend's trampoline. She was 3.
``She just jumped,'' said Cheryl Hall, Diana's mother. ``When she landed, she landed on her arm.''
A few months later, Diana gave the sport a second try. ``At first it was hard to get back on the trampoline because of what happened,'' she said. ``. .
When her family moved to Chesapeake's Buxton neighborhood last year, Diana and sister Jennifer, 13, got a trampoline - in lieu of an above-ground swimming pool.
``They both said they would be very careful on it,'' Cheryl Hall said.
She and husband Roy Hall reviewed the instructions, and they don't let anyone jump without an adult watching. No one has been hurt, although the kids sometimes jump in tandem.
Diana, who shed about 12 pounds in the last year, attributes her weight loss, in part, to jumping on the trampoline. ``I use it about every day,'' she said, demonstrating a flip on a particularly high jump.
The family's trampoline has turned her backyard into a neighborhood hot spot. ``It's good when you're bored,'' Diana explained.
The kids use it so often that Roy Hall installed a flood light on their backyard shed. ``They were out here at 9 o'clock at night jumpin' on it,'' he said.
Now, trampolines dot the Buxton subdivision.
``They seem to follow trends in neighborhoods,'' said Patrick Carrithers, vice president for marketing at Bollinger Industries in Irving, Texas. The company makes 12-foot, 13-foot and 14-foot trampolines under the Bollinger and Nothing but Fitness labels.
``If one kid gets one in a neighborhood,'' Carrithers said, ``then another trampoline goes up in the neighborhood.''
The major manufacturers sell their trampolines in sporting-goods stores and discount-department stores such as Roses, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.
Sales in the North are rising, said Shawn K. Devlin, marketing accounts manager for Jumpking of Garland, Texas.
The company revolutionized the backyard-trampoline industry about five years ago, Devlin said, when it started shipping its product in boxes weighing about 100 pounds, instead of in clumsy pieces.
This year, Jumpking will make about 280,000 round and rectangular trampolines for home and professional use.
Roadmaster also reports growth - ``about 50 percent since last year,'' said assistant product manager Scharma.
The company makes 13-foot and 14-foot trampolines under the Roadmaster and Flexible Flyer names. It also makes an 8-foot Junior All-Pro that's 20 inches from the ground, for young children.
Trampoline manufacturers say their products are safe, when used properly. So they pack instructions, and warnings, including:
Children should be supervised by an adult.
Limit jumping to one person at a time. Kids can bump each other, or lose their balance if one jumps while another is landing.
Don't jump in the rain or with a hose. Water makes a trampoline's surface slippery.
Don't wear shoes, which harm the mat.
Observe the 250-pound weight limit.
Never do advanced tricks, such as flips, without professional training and supervision.
In Hampton Roads, the YMCA and some other fitness centers don't use trampolines because of potential risks. Others use them cautiously.
Tottossy, of Chesapeake Ocean Tumblers, doesn't recommend them for home use. Most children, she said, ``are just not satisfied with plain jumping up and down. They're going to want to do knee drops and seat drops. . . .
``That's a dangerous toy, in our opinion.''
At Gymstrada at Hilltop in Virginia Beach, director Kevin Felts agreed. ``Kids get on them and they don't respect them,'' he said.
But used the right way, trampolines help build endurance, coordination and leg muscles. Five or six minutes of jumping is like running a mile ``if you give it all you've got,'' he said.
John and Thelma Tweed bought their a trampoline for their Kempsville home several years ago, before the recent craze. They paid about $350.
Now the Tweed children - Lorna, 17, and Robert, 21 - are on their second trampoline.
Lorna is trained in gymnastics and was Athlete of the Year at Catholic High School in Virginia Beach, where she graduated this year. Robert also is athletic. Both use the trampoline to keep fit.
Still, Thelma Tweed keeps a sharp eye out her kitchen window as her children and their friends practice flips, seat drops, knee drops and more - sometimes two at a time.
``I don't let the neighborhood children come in and use it,'' she said. ``It's for my children. We set up strict rules. There's no horseplay.''
Lorna said the workouts helped strengthen her muscles for field hockey, track and other sports. ``It's just fun to goof off on,'' she said.
And while some people think they're too old for it, others just can't resist.
``It's really been a fun thing,'' said Thelma Tweed, who admitted sneaking in a few jumps ``when no one was around.''
``It was fun. But once was enough.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
DO THE HEALTH BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE DANGERS?
Rachel Esposito, 10, left, and Diana Hill, 10, are doing exactly
what trampoline makers advise against: jumping more than one at a
time.
KEYWORDS: TRAMPOLINES SAFETY by CNB