Competitions Guide

Competition Guide

Cangaroos encourages participation at all levels of the sport. We want our trampoline gymnasts to enjoy the sport for what it is, and part of that is providing the opportunity for all to compete - whether it is just in our annual club competition, held each year towards the end of the Autumn term (along with our ever-popular Christmas stalls) or whether it is taking part in the numerous other competitions held regionally, nationally and potentially internationally.

We realise that competitions can appear to be quite daunting when you first look at entering one but we hope that this guide will make it as easy and clear as possible, so you can arrive on the day and have a clear understanding of what it is you need to do, whether you’re the gymnast, the parent or a willing volunteer official

At any competition, If you are ever unsure of what to do or where to go simply ask a Cangaroos coach or committee member. Hopefully they will be obvious as they will be wearing a Club T-Shirt or tracksuit. Parent helpers are often nominated as a point of contact at many of the competitions we attend. This person will be identified ahead of a competition, so you know who to look or ask for.

Types of competitions

Most children will enter the club competition and then a couple of NDP competitions.

Grades and Competition Groups

All competitions are broken down into grades. Grades reflect the difficulty and ability of the moves the gymnasts will perform. Your coach should be able to tell you the appropriate grade that is suitable for you/your child. Competition groups may then also be divided further by gender and age depending on the number of total entries.

Entering a competition

To enter a competition, you need to inform your / your childs coach and ensure you both have an understanding of which grade you will be entering. If you are both agreed upon which competition and grade you are entering, then please enter through our BookWhen portal (the same place you pay session fees). Please include your BG number and be clear on the grade you are entering. If you are unsure of your grade, you can check out the grades page or consult with your coach.

Please note; this is now the only way you can enter a competition, please do not email the Competition secretary with your entries as they will just point you back at the portal. Once you have entered a competition via the form, you will receive a confirmatory email and the entry fee will be added to your next invoice. You will receive a timetable and running order approximately 1 week before the competition which will indicate bounce times and who else has entered.

What to do before the competition

Please check the timetable you will be sent before the competition to ensure you / your child are in the correct group. Please also take the time to familiarise yourself with the location of the competition. This can be found at the competitions page. You need to arrive at least 60 minutes before your scheduled start time as competitions may run early, so if they get ahead so please allow ample time. Please be aware that most medal ceremonies take place at either the lunch break for morning competitions or at the end of the competition. Therefore, please ensure you have left sufficient time in your day to attend the medal ceremonies either to cheer on Cangaroos gymnasts who have been successful or, hopefully to collect your own medal. If you are not there to collect medals you have one it reflects badly on the club.

Clothing to be worn

All competitors must be wearing the appropriate clothing. Failure to do so may result in a penalty deduction. The clothing requirements are as follows:

If you wish to buy appropriate kit for competition, please contact kit@cangaroos.org. The club maintains a stock of standard sizes in (mens and ladies) leotards and shorts/stirrups. Occasionally we have 2nd hand kit on offer, please contact us to find out what, if anything is available.

When you arrive

Please arrive at least 60 minutes early - do not be late! Once in the hall look for one of the Cangaroos coaches usually in blue tracksuits with the Cangaroos logo on the back or a white/blue club T-shirt or polo shirt. Let them know you are here and then find a seat by the panel on which you are competing. The panel can be found in the timetable or the coach should be able to tell you. In the hall the panel numbers will be on the walls or on the side of the trampolines. Please listen for announcements made by the organisers as they will call groups out for warm-up and at this point you should make your way to the panel along with a coach to begin your warm-up.

If you wish to take photos / video please remember to turn your camera flash off, as these present a danger to performers. The same applies if using a mobile phone to take pictures or video.

At Start Time

When it is your turn to warm up please make your way to the panel along with your coach - parents will need to stay in the spectator seats. There will usually be a marshal holding a clipboard ticking off all the bouncers who are present so be sure to let them know you are present. Your warm up is a chance to try out the trampolines on your panel and pick which you would like to compete on. Each go you are only expected to complete a few moves or one run of your routine. As warm-ups are time based and are dependent on the numbers of competitors in your flight, you will usually get 3-4 turns and possibly a one-touch warm-up. A one-touch is the final opportunity to practice before you compete but please do not wear yourself out before you compete. Please queue politely and wait for your go, allowing other competitors their turn to warm-up.

After the warm-up concludes the marshal will call all competitors over to sit down and prepare for competition. Here you will be called out in the order of the program to compete your first routine. When it is your turn climb onto the trampoline and wait to be told to start by the Chair of Judges who will walk over and check who you are. Present to the panel of judges and begin your routine, at the end, make sure you STOP and hold for 3 seconds (count them in your head), present once more and carefully leave the trampoline. After everyone has all done one routine you will then all perform a second routine in the same order. Remember competitions are only relevant to you - so celebrate what you achieve and do not focus on what others around you score, oh and SMILE. Your coach may have set you specific goals to achieve, they will never be where you place in the competition. but only on the quality of your own performance, ie what your form score was, or your Horizontal Displacement score or maybe just completing the two routines successfully. Competitions are about testing your skills and expertise against others and NOT about placing.

Flexibility and Conditioning Exercises

In NDP competitions, qualifying gymnasts may be asked to perform a range-and-conditioning routine. As well as achieving the required trampolining qualifying score, you will also need to score 70/100 in this exercise to be able to proceed to the finals.

These routines will be assessed after your competition group has completed on the trampoline in a prepared area in the competition hall. These will be judged by qualified gymnastic judges who are following the relevant code as defined by BG. You can download the judging code for this routine from the BG website here.

Helper Roles

As part of entering any competition at Cangaroos a nominated helper must be provided. This helper may or may not be chosen but it is agreed that should they be they offer assistance on the day for an agreed period of time. This is to ensure the club can provide an adequate number of officials to support their entry. The helper roles are as follows:

The more people who help the less each person needs to do and the more smoothly competitions can run.

What can I do to help?

Competitions can only run with the help of a large number of volunteers from qualified coaches and judges to warm-up marshals, recorders and runners. Every club has to provide a number of qualified and unqualified volunteers to support its entry. Without these volunteers the club is not allowed to enter the competition.

If you want to get involved (even if you have no prior knowledge of trampolining) we are always grateful for the extra support. On the competition entry form you will see that when you, or your child enters a competition, you must now state what job you are prepared to do to support the competition entry. This does not mean you will be called on to do that job, but we do hope to use all our volunteers throughout the season to spread the load. The club can offer training for the un-qualified positions and/or support you in gaining judging qualifications.

If you still have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@cangaroos.org