Take a big gymnasium and fill it with padding and trampolines, throw some people in the mix and what do you get? Well it turns out to be the best fun I’ve had in a long time and a damned good workout too. As a kid, I loved visiting one mate’s place in particular, just because he had a trampoline. We’d spend hours bouncing and slam dunking off it like we were in Space Jam with Michael Jordan. These days you don’t really see the old metal trampolines with the massive, limb eating springs anymore, they’re all massive monstrosities designed to keep little kiddies safe while they bounce. Unfortunately, all that extra safety takes up a lot of room and costs the parents an arm and a leg instead. For these reasons and more, you don’t really see the humble trampoline in many yards these days. Lucky for us kids at heart, and the little ones of course, The Big Boing exists!

The Big Boing is a massive indoor trampoline ‘park’ offering boundless fun for everyone – with classes and parties on offer for anyone fit and game enough to give it a go. I went, because of a kid’s birthday party. The birthday boy was a friend of my youngest and so I was to chaperone. When I first heard about this place, my old man groan could be heard for miles. I pictured essentially a massive jumping castle with small children strewn across the floor, being knocked down and bounced on by bigger kids, and the inevitable spew following too much bouncing and candy. Luckily I was pleasantly surprised. The room was well laid out, not to mention massive. Safety was obviously top priority with weapons grade padding surrounding every hard surface that you could bounce off at mac-10 and not even blink. Several parents and I even joined in on the fun – never thought I’d see the head of the PTA complete a double back-flip in a single bounce, although I don’t think I really ever wanted to…

At the end of the party I stuck around and grabbed some pamphlets. Turns out they don’t just do parties, but offer some awesome classes and regular activity groups for both young kids and teenagers – from trick skill clinics to dodge ball leagues. When I got home my oldest immediately signed up when he saw ‘The Five A’s of Trampoline Dodge Ball: Air, Adrenaline, Aim, Avoid and AIR!’. He loves it. He and his friends play as often as they can and always come home battered, but with massive smiles on their faces, not to mention completely exhausted from their workout.

For more information on the classes, clinics, safety policies, and bookings visit The Big Boing website – it’s outrageous amounts of fun.