LOVES PARK, Ill. — For lots of kids, high-flying shenanigans are just a rite of passage. They’ll leap on and off beds and couches, climb available trees and vault off whatever structure is handy in the backyard.
It’s not simply to torment their parents, either.
They have a natural no-fear attitude and occasionally they harness it into athletics. The kids with the boundless energy and inclination to take risks become pole vaulters, high jumpers, divers, gymnasts and champion trampolinists.
Cousins Capri McLarty of Rockton and Charlotte Matus of Loves Park used their daredevil nature to become state trampoline champions individually as well as collectively springing their way to national gold.
“They are extremely hard-working, dedicated kids who put in a ton of hours every week trying to reach their goals,” said Matt Alex, their coach at Gymnastics Academy of Rockford (GAR). “Gymnastics has four events and trampoline has three: tumbling, double mini and synchronized. As far as synchronized trampoline goes, you have to look the same as far as height and techniques in the air and those two do jump a lot alike.”
In April, competing as individuals in the state competition for tumbling and trampoline at Illinois State University, Capri came away the state champion in tumbling and was second in the double-mini trampoline where Charlotte took the gold medal. Double mini-trampoline involves an athlete racing down a runway, bouncing on the front part of a trampoline, doing a flip and landing on the back part of the trampoline and doing another aerial trick. It sounds a whole lot easier than it is.
Recently the duo combined and took first place in the 11-12 Advanced Synchronized Trampoline girls division at the United States Trampoline and Tumbling Association (USTA) National Championships in Louisville, Ky.
They have come a long way.
“I was 2 years old when I started tumbling classes at Kids Spot (in Roscoe),” said Capri, who will be in seventh grade at Stephen Mack Middle School in the fall. “I started trampoline and double-mini when I was 8.”
A seventh grader at Holy Family School in Rockford, Charlotte started in dance first, but convinced her parents Mary Ann and Tom to let her try gymnastics.
“When I saw Capri tumbling, I wanted to do that, too,” she said. “I was probably 8 or 9 when I started on the trampoline.”
If you’re thinking about backyard trampolines or the ones your kids have hopped around on at birthday parties, you’d be about 180 degrees from the difficult tricks and maneuvers this duo have mastered on side-by-side trampolines. Their routine, performed in unison, is 30 seconds and must include various skills which they are judged on, as well as their degree of difficulty and consistency.
These girls make it look smooth and effortless.
“Kids know we do this, but they just don’t get it,” said Capri, whose father Danny is a physical education instructor as well as a perhaps the area’s top strength, conditioning and basketball skills coach. “They just think we do flips, but there’s a lot more to it than that and a lot of conditioning. They just think it’s easy.”
She knows better.
“I kneed myself in the eye in practice and broke my eye socket,” she said. “I had to skip some practice.”
While they competed separately at first, they were the perfect team for synchronized trampoline.
“You’re judged on your form and your technique and how well you both do them together,” Charlotte said. “You have to practice a lot so you can find your balance together. It’s not easy, but we can see each other out of the corner of our eye.”
“I feel like the start is really the hardest part,” Capri said. “If you start on a different bounce the counting would be off and the whole routine can be messed up.”
Counting is what keeps them together.
“I know how many seconds I’m in the air on a jump,” Charlotte said. “It’s 15.”
For the duo to score well, Capri needs to copy the jump and the landing.
“If you get the right bounce at the start, I think the rest of the routine will be good,” she said. “There’s four to six judges scoring you. If they score you fast it’s usually good. If you have to wait it’s usually because they’re adding up the deductions and the routine didn’t go so well.”
They scored great in Louisville. Their tally of 57.3 easily beat out the second-place 54.6.
The pair spends on average 13 hours a week at GAR practicing individually, in groups and finally as a duo.
Charlotte says there is a social aspect to the sport.
“It gives you a chance to see friends every day,” she said. “You can meet new people from different places and make a lot of new friends.”
There’s something else they like about it.
“I just like floating in the air,” Charlotte said.
“Yeah, being in the air is the best,” Capri said. “It’s like flying.”
Their coach said their ceiling as far as competitors is sky high as well.
“Tumbling, double-mini and synchronized together is a world championship event,” Alex said. ”Every year other than an Olympic year they have a world age group event that starts at ages 13-14 and goes right up through adults. Their goal will be to make the world championships in Spain next year.”
There’s something even bigger to shoot for. Trampoline became an Olympic sport in 2000 and is part of the competition in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
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