Who better to officially open the new Bounce Indoor Trampoline Park in Bretton than Olympic gymnast Louis Smith?
The Olympian and TV star from Peterborough did the honours and put the kit to the test trying out everything from the trampolines to the obstacles and even doing battle in the gladiator pit as dozens of kids gathered for selfies with our local hero.
Louis told ESP that as a hyperactive child he would’ve loved something like Bounce, “This is definitely right up my street – obviously when I was younger I was literally bouncing off the walls. My mum took me to every kind of after school club and different thing and this is exactly the sort of thing that would’ve challenged my mind, kept me focused while having tons of fun at the same time. It’s exactly the type of thing I’d love – the type of thing I still love!
“There’s been a real buzz around this Bounce so I think it’s incredible, it’s exactly what we needed. The last time I ever saw anything like this was Activity World and Big Sky – this is new, it’s fresh and vibrant, it’s incredible.”
The new trampoline park in Wedgwood Way consists of a main arena with wall-to-wall interconnected trampolines, as well as a dodgeball court, a world-standard foam pit, slam dunk hoops, a gladiator pit, fitness challenge zone, gymnastics runways, and specialist softplay zone for children 2 to 5 years-old. Bounce has created the revolutionary Reboot Fitness programme, a bootcamp style exercise class incorporating drills only possible on trampolines.
For the kids though, Louis believes it’s a great way to foster their interest in sport and fitness – “Even for kids that do gymnastics and then realise it’s not quite what they want to do full time they can come here at weekends and still carry on what they love about the sport without taking it as seriously. It’s brilliant.
“If sport is something you’ve never really done then as you start to get older it almost becomes more important and if it’s alien to you it’s that much harder to do. If you’ve been an active kid I think you’re going to find it easier to keep that active balanced lifestyle as you get older.”
Everyone was certainly enjoying it at the opening and it looks the ideal place to wear the kids out or even to hold a kids’ party but adults can also enjoy it. It looks great for team building, fitness or even a hen do!
Now it’s fingers crossed that Louis makes it through to the Rio Olympics so we’ll keep you posted!
For more on Bounce visit www.bouncegb.com
Photos: Emma Bothamley for ESP Magazine. Louis is pictured with Bounce owner Gary Knill, Heart breakfast radio presenter Kev Lawrence and youngsters from Spirals Gymnastics.