The USTA Trampoline and Tumbling Nationals were hosted at the Bank of Springfield Center in downtown Springfield this week.
According to our news partners at WAND TV, this week marked the 52nd year for the USTA Nationals and the 3rd time Springfield has been selected as host city.
“It also allows a lot of our athletes that are from the Midwest — which, we have probably the largest contingent in the Midwest — to come to a central location,” said Danielle Outlaw, Recording Secretary of the USTA Executive Board. “This is our largest national championship ever for that reason, so it’s really nice to be able to bring all of those athletes into Springfield, IL.”
Trampoline and tumbling are both subsets of the larger sport of gymnastics and the sport has grown and become more diverse since Outlaw was an athlete competing.
“I was an athlete in this sport and here I am now as an adult and as a gym owner and I can just tell you that the skills have advanced. We work all year — not just our athletes — but our coaches educated themselves to be able to train higher difficulty skills.” Outlaw continued, “We see both boys and girls in the sport. All ages.”
Ages range from 3-years-old all the way up to 38-years-old, rewarding years of hard work and dedication.
“This is the big finale for our season and we bring together athletes who have qualified at their state competition to represent their team and their state at the national championships,” said Outlaw. “So, it’s a great opportunity for them to really show everyone what they’ve been working on for not just the season but many years leading up to this point.”
More than 2600 athletes competed throughout the week.
