Whitworth student bounces to podium position in national final

Jacob Hall celebrates his podium place in the British School’s Trampoline Championships

Trampolinist Jacob Hall was delighted to secure third place out of 20 competitors in the novice Years 7 and 8 national trampoline final.

Jacob, 12, who has been trampolining for five years, represented Whitworth Community High School in the British School’s Trampoline Championships at The King’s School in Macclesfield.

Jacob, from Whitworth, completed two routines; the first is a set series of moves that all competitors must perform and the second is a free routine.

After warming up, there was a delay before he could get on the trampolines for some practice and Jacob started to get nervous.

He said: “I did the set routine but I just couldn’t get the hang of doing the full twist and then I was struggling to do the back somersault which is how I start my free routine. I tried about four times, but I couldn’t get the half twist right.”

However, when it came to the actual performances, Jacob was fourth on the trampolines and everything went right.

He said: “I went with 10 members of my family and when I was performing the routine I could hear my uncle’s girlfriend shouting, ‘Go on Jacob’.

“When it was my turn to go, I got really nervous because of the problems I had with the full twist but I did it right. I then had to sit and watch another 12 other people doing their routines and I kept on looking at the scoreboard.

“I didn’t want to watch so went to the café and it seemed like forever. When I came back, they announced the results and said my name in third place, my family started cheering.

“I had thought I might be fifth or fourth but never thought I would be third.”

As one of the top three, Jacob also got to take part in a parade.

Members of Whitworth Community High School’s PE staff were also there to cheer him on. Jacob attends Fearns Trampoline Club at The Valley Leadership Academy in Bacup every week.

He hopes to be able to compete for his school again next year when he will be one of the older students in his age class.