When we were young we all had that friend whose house was the coolest to go to. There were a number of competing factors that deteremined the winner; a pool, the newest gaming system, their hot big brother, or because they had a big trampoline in their backyard. I can remember going to my friend Ashley’s and jumping for hours and never getting tired, (or dizzy) doing flips, and popcorning each other. It was only after I fell off doing a backflip did I start to wonder how safe these things really were. But 10 years later, I was ready to face my fear of trampolines as we were lucky enough to be invited out to Boing! Jump Center.
Early Saturday evening we walked into the crowded building and saw tons of kids running around. “Birthday parties”- said the girl at the front desk. After weaving through children we started our Boing! adventure. To begin we had to first fill out waivers, then we signed up for an hours worth of jumping and got our wristbands. The “referees” went over the rules for us and informed us that we were able to jump either barefoot (our choice) or in special shoes they provide you. They also provide, (and require) helmets for anyone under the age 18. Once the rules were laid down and we were ready to go, we made our way over to the giant trampolines in the back of the building. The entire trampoline is actually sectioned off into tons of rectangles, and you can only have one person per rectangle to avoid popcorning. (boo)
At first we felt a little awkward, being the oldest jumpers by about 10 years, but pretty soon we were fitting right in. The kids were showing us all the cool flips they could do, and I was learning “cheer” routines with the girls. It was so nice to have all the kids interact with us and see what different moves we could do while in the air. After a little while we decided to see what else Boing! had to offer. We headed over to a game called Aeroball that is played on a trampoline sectioned off into 4 quadrants. The object is to shoot a ball into a hole that is up high on the back wall. Since only Nicholas, Ryan and I went, we needed another player. Without much effort we found a young boy that was happy to join in. The game is kind of like a stationary Slam Ball. You have the chance to make amazing blocks if you can time it correctly (which I couldn’t quite get the hang of and probably the sole reason for my losing the game)
Finally, we made our way onto the dodgeball court. They have 2 courts but were only utilizing one on Saturday. Teams of 4 entered the “arena” and once the whistle was blown- all hell broke loose. I thought it was going to be a nice little game of dodgeball but these kids were SERIOUS. I came to this conclusion right after I got nailed within the first 5 seconds. My second inkling to the fact that this was not just a friendly game was when Ryan got nailed in the face and left the game to get ice. (I swear these kids have the arms of MLB pitchers) Also, there was trash talking, kids were calling out their friends to come onto the court. It was all in good fun of course but we knew they were definitely not messing around when the game started. After 3 games that was it for us as our hour of jumping was complete.
Want to jump? Check out these specials for some great deals:
- Mon & Thurs: 5-close (Jump 2 hrs for the price of 1)
- Tues: College Night (Show your college ID and jump from 8-9:30 for only $10)
- Wed: Dodgeball Tournament
- College or Military ID: $2 off anytime
- Available for Birthdays, Corporate Events & Team Building
- For more info: Check out Boing! Jump Center on Facebook
Now that we have both our feet back on the ground, (and Ryan can see out of his right eye again) we are ready to go back. It is a great place for kids, but I have to say, I think we may have had more fun then them! We’ve also had tons of our friends express interest in jumping so it’s safe to say we’ll be returning soon!
Happy Jumping! — Allison
NHIE Guys 