AirHop is one of Britain’s first trampoline parks and has recently opened in central Guildford, located in Midleton Industrial Estate near the Guildford Business Park. Now ‘trampoline park’ is a term that you may not be familiar with, but essentially means a warehouse that houses bouncy trampolines as flooring instead of boring old concrete. AirHop gives you the chance to experience the exhilaration of flying through the air, with both families and thrill seekers able to enjoy themselves with something different on offer for everyone. The incredible facilities allow you to work on the latest parkour flips and tricks or spend quality time with your friends and family, messing around and having a more relaxed bounce in the park.
Getting Started
There are a few house rules and guidelines that you must follow to make sure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience, which is to be expected. Everyone must sign a waiver before they begin and any under 16′s must have theirs signed by a parent or guardian- so bare this in mind before you arrive. Once you have the comfortable and breathable jumping socks on, which are necessary for both gripping purposes as well as hygiene reasons, you are ready to go!
Free Jump Area
The Free Jump area takes up almost half of the warehouse and has over 50 interconnected trampolines that go across the floor and up the walls! Dotted around the edges and among the trampolines are padded yellow platforms that give bouncers the chance to take a running and elevated leap to achieve as high a bounce as possible. This is the place to learn, to improve and just to freestyle some new moves if you’re feeling adventurous.
Dodgeball Area
A field of trampolines with angled trampoline walls (perfect for bouncing the dodge balls off), where two teams face off against each other and use foam balls to knock the opposition out of the game. Though fast paced and highly energetic, the foam balls and well-padded edges ensure that it is a safe area even for little ones. And some of the youngsters will even have a chance of knocking larger, more cumbersome grown-ups out of the game!
The Foam Pit
Across the walkway from the Dodgeball area is the Foam Pit; a part of the park that is sure to excite everyone from nine to 90 as you can use it to get some big air or perfect your aerial moves! There are three trampolines leading up to a pit filled with about 5,000 foam cubes with another trampoline lying beneath, so that even the deepest of cannonballs is guaranteed a safe landing. Staff are on hand with rope to assist those who struggle to free themselves from the pit, although enthusiastic bouncers suggest that the struggle to get out at the end is half of the giddy fun!
Slam Dunk Basketball Area
Upon entering the arena, visitors first bypass the Basketball Slam Dunk area; two lanes of trampolines with basketball hoops at the end where guests are offered the chance to live their own LeBron James moment of glory with a soaring slam dunk. If you never had the height or spring to make a slam dunk on the court, then this is your time!
Safety
Certainly worthy of note is the great care that the staff of AirHop take over ensuring that those that come to bounce have both a safe and fun experience. With the simple rules clearly on display, friendly and happy staff always within easy reach and the precautions taken to pad out any potentially hard surface, parent’s minds can be at ease. While their children bounce excitedly around, they can grab a coffee and watch on from the viewing gallery, safe in the knowledge that their won’t be any cuts and grazes today!
Health & Exercise
On a trampoline, you have the potential to burn up to 1,000 calories in one hour and just 10 minutes of bouncing on a trampoline burns as many calories as 30 minutes jogging! Having a bounce is a low impact activity that provides you with high impact results and as it is an Aerobic exercise, it greatly improves your circulation and encourages your heart to get stronger. Not to mention that ‘feel good’ factor that releases endorphins which will reduce stress hormones in the body! Olympic athlete Katie Gaskill was recently at the park with the British Gymnastics team demonstrating breath-taking leaps, flips and tucks. Having tested the facilities herself, she had high praise for AirHop, remarking on the importance of places like this for the health of Britain’s youth. So AirHop really is the ideal way to get yourself and your children off the sofa and into the air without a passport.
All in all, AirHop has proved itself to be a different, modern and exciting way for both children and adults to exercise in a fun and whimsical way, but also a fantastic way to introduce the current youth to trampolining as a serious sport and career. Visit their website and book your own trampolining adventure HERE or follow their Facebook group for updates.
Charli Aisha Harris