Shell's Trampolining Pages

	Trampolining and Me
	Early Years \| Milton Keynes \| Nationals \| My Routines \| New Skills \| Timeline

Hi, my name is Michelle Matthews and Trampolining is my sport of choice. I have been "bouncing" since the age of seven (1981) and find it a great way of keeping fit and getting a natural high :o) I reached Level 6 in Australia and Intermediate Silver in the UK (so i'm fairly average!) and I am now a Level 2 coach. If you have any great ideas about promoting the sport in WA, please email them to me! shell@trampolinewa.info
DISCLAIMER: This is a personal website, and as such the views and opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the WA Trampoline Community.
The Early Years
Me aged about 8 learning a front somersault (I think!) at Sussex Martlets Trampoline Club (Worthing UK), with coach Jerry Munday. Check out the chunky Nissen end decks!

Trampolining at Milton Keynes
Whilst living in Milton Keynes in 2001/2002 I thought i'd see if there was a trampoline club in the area, where I could go casually to keep fit. To my delight, I found Kingston Kites Trampoline Club run by the late Paul Luxon. The facilities were excellent, the coaching was outstanding and the people were friendly. Hello to Trevor, Russ, Emma, Michelle and Irene! I had such a great time I nearly didn't want to come back to Perth :)
Trampolines at Milton Keynes, UK		Me: Piked Barani
Me: Straight Back Somersault	Me: Crash Dive	Me: Rudi into the foam pit

Nationals 2002
I went to Nationals in Gosford NSW. Results can be found in the Events and Results section on the Gymnastics Australia website. I competed in the 17+ Womens Individual Trampoline event. WA, SA and TAS got together for the first time and formed the United Trampoline Alliance (UTA) which we used for all team scores to compete with the huge teams from QLD, NSW, and VIC. Here are some pics of people and places:
Venue: CCYC Niagra Park	Sports Hall Setup	WA Team
WA Team: Adelina, Michelle F, Me, Pam (Coach)	Go UTA! Me, Adelle (SA), Michelle F, Adelina	Scott Finlayson (NSW Coach)
Ben (Tas)	Ben Wilden (SA), Michelle F, Chris Wareham (VIC)	Sean (NSW) and Dan (QLD)

My Own Trampoline
In 2003 I fulfilled a childhood dream and purchased my very own trampoline for my backyard. I ordered it from Action Sports, and it took 6 weeks to arrive. When it did arrive, it didn't look like it bolted together properly, and the legs looked like they were angled inwards slightly. I was told this was normal, and so far it has only made the usual amount of groans and squeaks when i'm on it... :)
Tramp Assembly: Springs, bed & pads.		Tramp Assembly: Unwrapping the frame.
Frame assembled, now for the mat & springs.		All assembled. Waiting for the judges :)
Making sure it doesn't collapse!		Landing

My Routines	(a bit redundant now I have given up)
	Set/Compulsory Lazy back Cody Straddle Back somersault (S) Barani (S) Back somersault (P) Barani (P) 1 1/4 back somersault (T) Back pullover Back somersault (T)	Voluntary (Tariff 5.0) Back somersault (S) Barani (S) Back somersault (P) Barani (P) Back somersault (T) Barani (T) 1 1/4 back somersault (T) Back pullover Pike Front somersault (P)
Video	some video of a Fun Synchro Comp (right click, save as)
	Set/Compulsory	Voluntary

New Skills
	New skills I have been casually learning for the past errr 10 years... Rudi (1 and 1/2 twisting straight front somersault) Full (full twisting straight back somersault) Doubleback (double back somersault) One and three (1 and 3/4 front somersault landing on your back)

Timeline

1981: Start trampolining at Sussex Martlets Trampoline Club in Worthing UK.
1983: Hermasetas Trampoline World Cup held in Worthing, I held a country banner in the march-on! I got my programme signed by Liz Jensen, Sue Shotton and Andrea Holmes.
1988: Got bored and gave up, started coaching beginners.
1989: Started back again for a year at SMTC, in addition to coaching beginners.
1990: Moved to Australia.
1992: Started bouncing at Scarborough PCYC with Hugh Cowan and Kim Batten. Won State Age comp. Got bored due to lack of advanced coaches, average equipment (Action tramps) and low profile of the sport in WA, and gave up again.
1997: Started bouncing again, this time at Subiaco PCYC with Kieran Sutton. Gave up again 6 months later because roof was too low, coaches were not as good as I was used to in the UK, and the sport was so small in WA compared to the UK there wasn't enough competition.
1998: Moved to London, UK for work.
1999: Found a club in South London at Elephant and Castle. Bounced casually for 6 months until work commitments meant I couldn't make it to training.
2001: Moved to Milton Keynes, UK. Found a club in MK run by Paul Luxon. Bounced casually for 6 months until I moved back to Oz. Absolutely loved it - the facilities were excellent and the coaches were fantastic.
2002: Moved back to Perth. Started bouncing at Armadale PCYC, 1hr drive from home. Competed at State Age comp (2nd) and State Level comp (5th). Competed at Australian Nationals in NSW (11th). Retired from competition because my body was complaining, and the drive was too far. Did a coaching course. Started coaching new tramp sessions at gym club High Flyers in Wangara.
2003: Appointed as Participation & Communication Officer for Gymnastics WA - Trampoline Sports. Stopped coaching at High Flyers due to lack of proper equipment and general lack of support from the owners. Became Accredited Level 1 Coach and Level 1 Judge.
2004: Re-appointed as Participation & Communication Officer for Gymnastics WA - Trampoline Sports. Started coaching at Scarborough PCYC with Dean Batten.
2005: Appointed general committee member for Gymnastics WA - Trampoline Sports. Temporarily coaching at Spirit Subiaco with Phil until Joondalup started up. Part way through studying for Level 2 Coach.
2006: Started coaching at High Flyers Trampoline Academy in Wangara with Tony Burton!
2008: Became a Level 2 Coach! Only the second in WA at the time! (after Tony)

Other Non-Tramp Stuff
	Thanks to Lasse for doing the new image/logo on the starting page. All the rest I did on my very own (well, it's what I do for a living, so you'd hope I knew what I was doing by now!). I'm an IT Project Manager, which pays well but has its challenges, and have just recently (Dec 2007) qualified as a Primary School Teacher. I'm not ready for teaching just yet, but it will be ideal when I have kids of my own! Other than tramp, my other hobby is singing/songwriting, and I have recorded a few of my own tracks. If you're curious and want to hear some of my stuff, go to www.miss-shell.com and have a chuckle :o)

Go Jump!
Get High! (No drugs required!)