Sky Zone came to our backyard, took one look at that lone, depressingly rusty trampoline drowning in overgrown lawn and decided Australia needed more awesomeness in its life. In the spirit of one upmanship they took a stadium, lined it with trampolines (and padding you know, for safety’s sake) and said ‘hey kids, have at it!’ and so it was … and nobody had to be told twice. The world’s first chain of indoor trampoline parks was born and to celebrate their first year in Alexandria helping big and little kids believe they can fly, they’ve partnered up with Red Bull as part of the Big Air Festival, showcasing some of the nation’s best Skaters, BMX Riders and Wall Runners.
It’s no surprise that a partnership between two organisations who are all about ‘telling the world to go jump’ and ‘giving you wings’ would result in a larger than life experience from the get go. Walking up to the venue party goers were faced with the Air Skate Showcase where the talented likes of pro skaters Mikey Mendoza, Ryder Lawson, Monster Skateparklocals Sam Fairweather and Sam Vincent, turned tricks alongside BMX bandits Jack Zammit and Cameron Wardell. Granted the ramp was mini, but the air the crew managed to generate off it was decent enough to pull off some impressive moves. The splendour of which was captured on film to relive later.
Inspired by the spectacle outside it was pretty easy to grab those special looking bright orange trampolining socks and head straight towards the brilliant equipment on offer. Over 300 guests showed up buzzing with energy (thanks Red Bull) and brought their A game; coloured zinc, massive sombreros, onesies, power ranger outfits, the whole enchilada. Sky Zone have four trampolining activities, ‘Stratosphere’ which is a great way to get acclimatised, wall to wall bounding action that reaches hysterical heights when the craziness of ‘Dodgeball’ and Laser Tag are introduced. The area is sectioned to allow jumpers to leap between trampolines, have a go at some flips and hurl themselves straight off walls.
Arguably the favourite is ‘The Pit’, four lanes of long trampolines that shear off into a massive cushy pit of foamy orange squares. Prepare for pulling off the most spectacular moves here and there were some beauties from the guests, flips, spins, somersaults, barrel rolls and swan dives which all end up in the pillowy goodness of the pit. Half the fun though is the eternal struggle trying to get out, which is like fighting against fluffy quicksand, even more hilarious when watching your companions muster up all their technique to drag themselves to safety. The recommendation is; re-think going in head first and good luck if you land facing away from the trampolines or on your back, seriously.
The last area is ‘The Wall’ and isn’t for the faint of heart, we’re talking high vertical drops onto the springiest canvases below. This is where the parkour pros shine and us novices sit back and admire the view. Sky Zone have kicked off the tradition of hosting the inaugural Wall Running Competition on behalf of the Australian Wall-Runners Association, calling out to wall running champs from every state and flying in the top six entrants from Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney to battle it out for first place, $5000 and an annual Sky Zone jump pass.
It was an absolute privilege to watch the top six battle it out and the highlight of the night, from scary looking nose dives to break dancing off edges, to double jumps off walls and triple flips across three trampolines combined with posturing and quirky dance moves, it was very hard to pick a winner. The general consensus was though, that an amazingly wiry little 15 year old ball of energy named Jacob Hunt take out first place honours. However Cooper Larkins, Jordan Reed, Marcus Gangell, Jacob Hunt, Kris Simpson and Aron Mahuika were just as amazing and enthralling to watch and didn’t go away empty handed, scoring a really cool goodie bag from sponsors Uber, Spotify, Glue Store and Drom Clothing Co.
Wall Running finalists mid flight
Sweating it out and having a ball amongst the guests were a few familiar celebrity faces including The Roundabout Crew, Big Brother’s Jake Rich, Bondi Rescue’s Trent ‘Maxi’ Maxwell and pro-surfer Indy Clinton. Former elite gymnast Lauren Hannaford set the bar high with her jaw droppingly graceful acrobatics and comedian Frenchy went to town, getting great slam dunk action in at the Basketball station.
It ain’t a party without decent tunes, and spinning the decks was Martin Novosel founder of Purple Sneakers, an A&R and club manager who records and performs under the PhDJ moniker. Armed with Spotify’s selected playlist he pumped out funky beats, keeping energy levels elevated and party goers on their toes, with a mix of old and new school tracks.
An exponential amount of calories were expended and the Altitude Café within the venue refuelled guests with their simple healthy and not so healthy options. Post 9pm the event went into after party mode and refreshing beverages were served. After the trampolining areas were shut down of course, everyone knows drunkenness and highly exertive activities do not mix (clean up on Aisle 5).
If the Big Air Festival was any indication of the sort of partying Sky Zone get up to, there’s no doubt of a repeat visit. The event had a whole bunch of light hearted activities to entertain guests including a wacky photo booth, but the loads of fun there is to be had, plus the benefits of a great workout and just bonding with your mates is more than enough of a selling point to make it a regular expedition. Expect a sound night’s sleep and a whole world of pain the day after (totally worth it).
For more info on Sky Zone including locations, pricing and activities please visit http://www.skyzone.com.au/
Get a load of the tracks played on the night via Spotify here https://open.spotify.com/user/skyzoneau/playlist/1RDExP6KhUB9jxue6zjEfF
———-
