Kate O’Neill and Paul Scully | Trampoline Correspondents
UCD’s Sports Centre was the venue for the annual trampolining Colours competition, as two fierce rivals met once again to do battle.
Trinity’s record at the competition was unfortunately not great, having only won three times in the competition’s nine years of running; nonetheless all the competitors arrived with enthusiasm and the hope that this year, the 10th anniversary, would be our year.
A trampolining competition runs similarly to that of gymnastics, with competitors completing two routines consisting of ten moves. Each routine is scored out of ten and designed to show off both form and difficulty, with the first being dictated by the competition organisers, while the second can be designed by the competitor. Trampolinists compete in five different levels beginning at novice, with no somersaults, up to elite where some top performers complete ten somersault routines. Elite is the top level available at student competitions and this year the club was lucky to have five elite competitors, a highly unusual occurrence.
The whole club had been training hard for the Colours competition, as it feels more personal and important than some other competitions, and winning the shield is a matter of college pride.
The competition began with novice men and women, a category in which we had a number of freshers competing. The novice men category was made up purely of Trinity competitors, which meant an early confidence boost knowing that the medals for this category were in the bag. The competition then ran through intermediate, inter-vanced, advanced and elite with almost all of our competitors landing all twenty moves, a great achievement in the pressurised environment of a competition.
Many achieved excellent scores with certain members receiving scores of 8.0 and above from some of the judges, which in trampolining is about the highest scores you are likely to see at competitions. After receiving scores like this, confidence grew and all members were inspired and motivated by the scores of previous competitors to perform extremely well in their own categories.
David O’Driscoll won gold in the Men’s Elite Category with his fine routine.
Once the individual competition was over, the voluntary synchronised competition began. This portion of the day is always more light hearted with pairs from different levels and clubs coming together to attempt to complete routines as synchronised possible, which is a challenge when competitors are on two different trampolines and cannot directly see one another. There were only two levels, lower and higher meaning some people had to learn their routines in the warm-ups if they were paired with someone of a different level. Almost everyone decided to compete in this part of the competition as well, and it meant everyone finished the day in high spirits, ready to go home for a rest before the medal ceremony in the evening.
The squads reconvened later on that evening for the medal ceremony and the tension was palpable. Knowing there had been some very high scores throughout all levels of the competition from Trinity’s competitors meant there was an atmosphere of hopefulness and expectation, as people wondered if they had done enough to win a medal, or indeed win the shield.
The medal ceremony began and with it, Trinity’s triumph. Overall the team won gold in novice ladies; gold, silver and bronze (the triple) in novice men; gold and silver in intermediate ladies; gold in intermediate men, gold and silver in inter-vanced ladies; gold in inter-vanced men; the triple in advanced ladies, and gold and silver in elite men. Even in synchronised events Trinity dominated with members of the team part of the gold and silver pairs in the lower category, and three Trinity pairs winning the triple in the higher category. With each new announcement the elation amongst the entire team grew, as everyone congratulated each other with each medal registered, and hopes of finally winning the shield were raised. When it came to the winner of the shield, the room was silent in anticipation, and erupted in cheers on the announcement that Trinity had beaten UCD by nine whole points. This was a great achievement, considering that the difference between winning gold or silver in a category can be as little as 0.1, a margin of nine in trampolining is massive. The rest of the night was spent taking photos with the shield, and celebrating in true Trinity style.
UCD Trampoline Club are undoubtedly proud of themselves for hosting such a well organised and fun competition, and were fine athletes and good sports throughout the tournament. DU Trampoline will surely look forward to competing against them, and others, in the last few competitions of the season.
Photos: Cliodhna O’Donoghue
