LET’S GET JUMPING
It all started with one single borrowed trampoline. Today Preston City Trampoline Club is a successful not for profit club with a passionate head coach at the helm, writes Tracy Hargreaves
Preston City Trampoline Club is a family run club. It was started back in 2004 by Colin Robson. He’d had a passion for the sport of trampolining since the age of 14.
Within a few years he began to compete, firstly in the north west region, then onto national level and youth international – also qualifying and competing for Britain, coming 9th. He travelled around the country to train at the best trampoline clubs, alongside competitors and during this time he also gained his coaching qualifications. As a qualified coach, he has subsequently taken competitive teams to the nationals.
As a teenager, trampolining had kept Colin on the straight and narrow and he decided that he wanted to make trampolining accessible to all communities. In 2002, the Robson family moved to Preston and Colin looked for the nearest club, however there wasn’t much around, or had long waiting lists. Colin had been an engineer by trade and wanted to give something back to the community when he retired. From this the seed was sown and through hard work and determination, along with a borrowed trampoline in a school hall, Preston City Trampoline club was born.
Due to family and work commitments, trampolining took a back seat, but not for long. Changes to the sport and equipment meant that Colin needed to retake his coaching qualifications and in 2004 he became qualified as a senior club coach and in 2013 he was presented with the Lancashire Coach of the Year award in the Lancashire Sports Awards. In 2014 he was also invited to the Queens tea party at Buckingham Palace in recognition of his work with the community.
Seven years ago, the club moved to its current site on Blackpool Road, which now has 14 trampolines. They received a lottery grant of £55,000 to enable them to provide new disabled facilities including showers and toilets as well as new adult and children changing facilities, kitchen area and classroom.
Gemma Gregson is the operations manager. She said: “Throughout the day we run Stay & Play sessions for pre-schoolers, from 9am-11am. Between 10.30am-3pm we run disability trampolining sessions. To see people who are non-ambulant get onto the trampoline is so rewarding. We also cater for those with emotional and behavioural requirements so it’s a real variety of needs and it’s so rewarding to see them enjoying themselves and reaping the benefits Rebound Therapy offers.
“All the coaches we have are trained in disability awareness,” says Gemma.
“And we have qualified British Gymnastic coaches teaching trampoline and gymnastics. Because we are a community and not for profit club, we have to raise funds for everything, but we have great support from the local community. We’re always putting on events. Whilst we do get membership fees, they don’t cover things like replacing or fixing equipment. Just to replace one bed is around £2300 alone.”
“Anyone is more than welcome to come along. Just simply book a taster session to see if you like it, then if you want to carry on there is a monthly membership. Our British Gymnastic coaches are on hand to teach skills in a much safer environment, so no one gets injured and we are also regulated by British Gymnastics.”
Despite Colin now being almost 70, he is still as passionate about the club as he was from day one. “Colin will never retire,” says Gemma. “He’s down here most days coaching and mentoring, although there is now a team handling the day to day running of the club. Colin’s experience is a valuable resource for our upcoming coaches too, and over the years we have trained many coaches and volunteers and are delighted that 15 years later, some are still coaching with us.”
The club also has a long-standing relationship with its twin town in Recklinghausen in Germany. “Last July members of the club went over for a week and stayed at their venue,” says Gemma. “In 2018, the German club came over to us. We shut our club down for a week and everyone has a sleepover. There’s plenty of activities and it’s great to spend time with our German counterparts. The kids and adults love it and we can’t wait for them to visit again in July 2020!”
The club now has almost 400 members from recreational bouncers to gymnastics competing at national level and really does have the community at the heart of everything it does.
To find out more about the club visit: www.pctc.org.uk
www.facebook.com/prestoncitytrampolineclub
