Spring Half Term

Business as usual for Greenwich Bouncers  during the school holiday week –  we had a poor turnout for some sessions, and a very good turnout for others.  Our Monday Bounce Your Way to Fitness session is in the second week, and already the participants are being challenged by Chanelle and enjoying the different ways that trampolining can be used to increase fitness levels, including back bounces.  I am participating in this whole programme, as well of joining in the end of the Saturday sessions.  My goal is to improve my upper body strength, which is pathetically weak!

 We have started the third round of Saturday Bounce programme.  Two of our ladies, Sarah and Tina, have been on all three programmes and have really been enjoying it.  The pace has stepped up a bit for them and most of their exercises are done in 40 rep cycles, plus they say that the run round the field is getting easier.  Tina is really chuffed that she is able to do the crab – something she was unable to do at the beginning of the programme, and Sarah is almost there as well!

I was at Bishops Challenor School in Shadwell, East London, for the whole week on their school holiday programme (http://www.bishop-learningvillage.towerhamlets.sch.uk/).    The days were divided up into the smaller children in the morning and the older children in the evening.  Some of them were participating in the Tower Hamlets Summer University programme (http://www.summeruni.org/pages/help_us/tutors.mhtml).  All of them learnt the warm-up routine after the first couple of days, mostly without prompting.  We had fun playing some games and having races.  All attendees learnt moves that would take them up to award 4 of the British Gymnastics Award and Certificate scheme.

Chanelle joined me for a couple of the days and we had four trampolines out!  We spent some of the time teaching progressions for somersaulting, including hands and knees turnovers, working alongside Mr Henry, the PE teacher.

Chanelle also spent a couple of days at the Danson Youth Centre holiday programme (http://www.dansonyouth.org.uk/) where she coached the regulars.

The highlight of the week for me was seeing some old friends, including Peri Shakes-Drayton at the school – she looks great!  She is going to visit us at the Club soon.  I met and had fun with streetdance tutor, Katie, who had a go at trampolining and loved it.  On Friday I saw Danni again – we worked together last year on this same programme – she is also a streetdance tutor.  She has her own business – you can check out her website:  http://dancewithdanni.com/index.html.

Hope you have a good week,

Anne-Sonia & Chanelle
www.greenwichbouncers.co.uk

 

 

Valentine week

Hello fellow Bouncers

We started the week with a new ‘Bounce your way to fitness’ programme which started on Monday with a very good turnout, although a couple of people did not show up.  Nevertheless, we had a good session – starting with a run around the playing field, followed by some skipping, stretching and having a go at hula hooping!  It was an all-women session, some of them not having been on the trampoline before or not in a good few years (since school in a couple of cases).  We ended with a health and safety segment on putting away the trampoline before ending with some breathing exercises.

Our Wednesday session started with a good turnout, and ended with a Circus flourish!  We had some acrobats that trained with the circus attend our adult session as well as a newcomer to trampolining!  We had great fun trying out some new skills and trying to perfect others.  This was our biggest turnout to-date for our adult session at 9pm.  Naturally, Chanelle and I had a great time!

Saturday’s session was very disappointing in terms of numbers – maybe everyone was preparing for their big night out for Valentines Day!

As only one member attended the 9am session we made him work very hard! The next session only produced one more person, but it meant that we all had more turns.  I was able to finally! Perform a cat-twist – a move I have been working on for months!  It consists of a backdrop, full twist to backdrop.  I have found it very hard-going, but was ecstatic when I was able to do it several times consistently.  Still need more practice, but feel much more confident. 

As we were light on participants, Chanelle invited us to join the final week of the 6-week Bounce Your Way to Fitness programme.  We completed the final run around the playing fields.  I brought up the rear, huffing and puffing, but I managed to do it without stopping.  The two leaders, C and S, ended up racing to the finish!

This was followed by the usual stretches, hula hooping, skipping, etc but we all managed to maintain a hand stand against the wall – a feat we all struggled with a couple of weeks ago!  We used the trampoline for our upper body strengthening exercises, which was great fun, we all felt like we were in the playground again!  Great for our inner child!

Take care, and have a good week,

 Anne-Sonia & Chanelle
www.greenwichbouncers.co.uk

Snow slowed us, did not stop us

Hi! What a week!  It was a slow start, with a flourish of a finish -  a real Dundee spirit.  Snow stopped ourBounce Your Way to Fitness programme on Monday.  There were no buses and reduced trains  and the roads were impassable in some areas.  We were worried about cancelling Monday because it was our first Monday session, and the last time we tried we didnt have enough people to run the session.  However, we postponed it til tomorrow – I shall update you as to how it goes!

Our Saturday ‘Bounce…’ programme went well.  We worked on core strength, an intensive session – it is the 5th week of 6 and we are coming to the end and uping the intensity of the sessions.

Despite the weather, we had a good turnout on Wednesday. Mostly regulars, but some new people too.  We are preparing some members for the London Youth Games in the summer and we are making good progress.  Saturday was quite quiet, but one of our members had a birthday – she was 4.  We gave her the bumps and she really enjoyed herself.

We have had some enquiries about younger children – the under 3′s.  If we get a big enough response, we are considering a mother/toddler session which would be in the morning – a half hour session.  If you are interested, drop us an email and we are thinking about starting in March/April

Great week all told.  Will keep you updated.

Good health

Anne-Sonia King
www.greenwichbouncers.co.uk

Hello world!

Hi! my name is Anne-Sonia king and I have several passions: my daughters, personal development, helping others develop themselves and…. trampolining!

 I have managed to combine all four of them by setting up my own trampoline club – Greenwich Bouncers trampoline academy - which I run with my youngest daughter, Chanelle.

I am starting this blog today as SNOW STOPPED PLAY!  I, like most people, I have been stopped in my tracks by the snow… I coach a group of students from Blackheath Bluecoats, Thomas Tallis, Plumstead Manor and Eltham Hill after school clubs throughout the week – today has been cancelled because Bluecoats was closed, hoping schools open for the rest of the week.  Additionally, Chanelle and I were supposed to start a new ‘Bounce Your Way to Fitness’ programme which we had to postpone till next week.

I started Greenwich Bouncers last September with Chanelle and we have faced many challenges associated with setting up a new business, but we are going from strength to strength.

I shall be sharing my experiences with you about the club – our ups and downs and if you, like me, share a passion for trampolining or even for health and fitness or can benefit from our mistakes and successes of running a small business, then this blog is for you!