Feature: Trampoline Parks


outdoors and do your urban sports. Also gymnasts, ladies and boys, are comfortable jumping into a soft pit or big air bags to practise their skills. It has a cool look and feel, there is a huge potential for teenagers to express themselves on trampolines.” Sidijk’s varied background bring


benefits to their customers, working since 1978 in sport, leisure and industry. The company has trampoline park installations all over the world, including ten countries in Europe alone.


“All sports in a niche market – skateboarding, freestyling, that kind of thing – can add to a trampoline park. Ninja Warrior is extremely popular. Trampoline parks are becoming much more about activities, with all kinds of things for families to do. It’s not just about jumping around now – there is dodgeball, basketball, a bash beam over a foam pit, twist ladders, slacklining, cageball, aeroball… We do many things.” Eli Play’s René van de Ven is in tune with this philosophy too, as his company has a similar approach. He tells Global Amusements & Play: “People are looking for diversity, you can see all kinds of combinations. In the Middle East you will see family entertainment centres with trampoline parks and high rope courses, in Europe it’s a smaller site but might be combined with laser games, or bowling centres so you will still see combinations in order to provide a total concept for family entertainment.” Ruud van der Ark’s Jump XL parks abide by the same credo. He says: “[they] have a complete food and beverage offering, but it’s not just trampolines; there is a Ninja Warrior course, climbing, dodgeball, all sorts of activities. You can also play dodgeball on the trampolines which is great fun! We also have a walk wall for freerunners, so they can practise with us too.”


In Europe, it seems that customers and operators have embraced the idea of a place that’s simply for multiple kinds of activity and expending energy. Eli Play started in the field in 2008,


but it was not the same as the multi- faceted leisure proposition you see today. René adds: “We did our first park in 2008, but it wasn’t the concept


16 www.globalamusementsandplay.com


you would see today; the trampoline side of the business picked up then late in 2013, and last year we worked on 40 trampoline parks so it has really grown.” It’s a trend that apparently started in the US, was adopted by the UK, and has gradually spread from the UK into mainland Europe, with explosive growth that shows no signs of slowing. Of course, another driver of this growth, apart from bored youth, is domestic trampolining. The readily affordable home trampoline has seen incredible growth from almost nothing and is a staple in garden the length and breadth of Britain. It’s also one of the leading causes of injury in under-14s, but more on that later. The trampolines you will find in a good park are quite different to the garden variety, with vastly superior construction, springs and safety


features, says Klaas: “They are absolutely massively different, not only in the steel structure itself but in the type of spring you use, the fabric you use, the airflow though the fabric… The trampoline that you have in your backyard allows you to jump, but not very freely and with not so much ‘pop’; they’re just not the same thing!” René van de Ven agrees, adding: “What you buy at home is basically a low durability, low impact trampoline, not for use that frequently. But our trampolines can be used constantly during the day so they have to be very durable, so we use heavy steel constructions, special connections for the springs, and we have added elements in there for safety. For example, you cannot slip under it and damage your feet on the springs. If you look at something we installed even three years ago, you would not see wear and tear on it even now.” Addressing the issue of safety, Klaas


Siderius, owner of Dutch firm Sidijk, says: “It is really important that jumpers stay within their ability and in some cases, it is hard for an operator to see when somebody is going to jump or do something they do not already have the skill to do. Then accidents do happen, and it’s unfortunate. But the number of accidents is not high, while the severity could be higher than going to an indoor playground or riding a bicycle. What you see is people over- reaching, that’s when there is risk and


June/July 2017


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