INDIANAPOLIS, July 22, 2016 – The 2016 Stars and Stripes Championships, formerly known as trampoline and tumbling’s Levels 5-7 Championships, begin today at the Cox Business Center in Tulsa, Okla. Scheduled for July 22-24, the three-day championships features more than 1,000 of the country’s top Levels 5-7 trampoline and tumbling gymnasts.

The Stars and Stripes Championships features 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 organizer, and this is the second trampoline and tumbling event held in Tulsa. The 2012 Elite Challenge also was staged at the Cox Business Center.

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.