INDIANAPOLIS, July 7, 2017 – More than 1,000 of the nation’s top Junior Olympic trampoline and tumbling gymnasts are headed to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the 2017 Stars and Stripes Championships, July 21-July 23, at the Cox Business Center.
Formerly known as trampoline and tumbling’s Levels 5-7 Championships, the three-day competition will feature competition in men’s and women’s trampoline, tumbling and double mini-trampoline in five age categories: 8 and under; 9-10; 11-12; 13-14; and 15 and over.
The Tulsa Sports Commission is the local host, and this is the third trampoline and tumbling event held in Tulsa. The 2016 Stars and Stripes Championships and 2012 Elite Challenge were also staged at the Cox Business Center. In 2015, the Levels 5-7 Championships was held in Fort Worth, Texas.
Trampoline events involve athletes using trampolines that can propel them up to 30 feet in the air, during which they can perform double and triple twisting somersaults. Tumbling utilizes elevated rod-floor runways that enable athletes to jump at heights more than 10 feet and execute a variety of acrobatic maneuvers. For the double-mini competition, the athlete makes a short run, leaps onto a small two-level trampoline, performs an aerial maneuver and dismounts onto a landing mat. Trampoline was added to the Olympic Games in 2000, and at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the USA had its first athlete in history advance to the finals.
Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. Its disciplines include men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and group gymnastics. For more information, log on to www.usagym.org.