Bounce is a chain of activity centres with a focus on parkour, free-running and other movement sports. Their latest is freshly-opened in Kungens Kurva and is home to around 4200 square metres of trampolines, jump courses and more. Shaun Wood, one of Australia’s most celebrated free runners and one of the founding members of Team Farang, is working with the centre, and we met him and CEO Daniel Dersén.
So where did the Bounce concept come from originally, and how has it developed to the point where you’re opening up here in Sweden? It started off in Australia, right?
Daniel: The founder is from Australia, and they heard about this new trampoline trend that was happening in the US. They looked at a couple of parks, and liked the concept but didn’t think that these parks had the execution right. So they wanted to bring back the concept, but do it much better […] It’s about the free-jumping revolution, it’s about unleashing your free spirit. They’ve taken the concept to the next level and created something very special.
Shaun: We know that life can be pretty mundane sometimes, and you can get trapped in the rat race. So you want to create a place where people can escape that, especially in the winter in Sweden. A place where you can come, and you know that people will be friendly when you come in, that you’ll get some good exercise, and hopefully leave with a smile on your face. That’s the ultimate goal. I envisaged this when I was a teenager. I’m from Australia, where backyard trampolines are so common. I said this to one of my friends once: ‘I wonder if it’s possible to have a backyard entirely made of trampolines?’. I walked into Bounce and thought: ‘this is it!’.
And so what are the different facilities and activities that you have on offer here?
Daniel: A trampoline park has some specific segments that are common. The dodgeball court is very common, and we have two of them. And then you have the free-jump area, which are like big ski slopes where everybody can go. And then you have the big jumps with the air bag, where you can do big flips and fall very softly. Then we have the basketball slam dunks, where you can dunk like you’ve never dunked before. We also have something called performance, which have the big super trampolines where you can do those crazy flips.
Shaun: There’s only a couple of those super tramps in Europe. The other day we had the Swedish snowboarding team in here and they’re going to come back, because it’s a good place for them to train.
Daniel: Then we have wall running, where you jump on your back and run up the wall, and we have different heights where you can challenge yourself. That stuff is the basic set-up that a trampoline park has. But we have also introduced the X-Park, some call it ninja warrior, an obstacle course with spider wall, slackline, cargo net, zipline and all those crazy things. The thing that’s unique about this venue is that we have a really big free-running and parkour area, that’s been tailor made. Shaun has been one of the designers behind it, making sure that it’s very special. It’s one of the biggest in the world actually, by far the biggest in Europe right now.
Shaun: We want the place to be somewhere where amateur and professional athletes can both go and get something out of it. There’s a whole craze going on now with free-running, gymnastics and tricking, all these movement arts, and our vision with the free-running section when we were designing it was to make it a place where anyone could come and get something out of it […] Anyone that is interested in moving, going out there and doing something can come here and find something [for them]. We want to have cool stuff that makes people happy.
Daniel: When we decided to invest in this big area, we needed someone to take care of it for us. Fortunately, we found Shaun in Sydney, and we’re really happy to have someone so known in this community here. It’s almost like putting Roger Federer in charge of your tennis club.
Shaun: I wish free-running was as big as tennis! It’s a pretty cool story. We have some Bounces out in Thailand and I was living out there, and I was possibly going to start some work with Bounce there. Then I had a motorbike accident about a year ago. I had been talking to my mum about Bounce and she knew it was important to me. So when I had my accident I asked her if she could message the owner and tell him I’ve had the accident. So he came and visited me in hospital and I told him: “as soon as I’m better, I’m going to email you and we’ll start something”. Six months ago I sent him that email, and six months later I’m here.
You’ve said you want to combat this ‘sitting lifestyle’, where people are stuck in offices all day. But gym memberships and running are already popular here, so exercise rates are pretty high. So what do you think you can offer outside of those more traditional forms of exercise.
Daniel: New ways of exercising come in all the time. Just look at triathlons: all of a sudden all men around the age of forty are wearing lycra and going around on bikes and swimming in lakes nearby. So you see new trends happening all the time. I don’t think this is really a trend, I think it’s something different. You’re moving and training without really thinking about it. There are very few training or exercise models where you don’t feel a little bit apprehensive about going, because it’s tough. But here it’s just fun. You’re not competing with anybody, you don’t have the pressure that kids sometimes have in ice hockey or whatever, you can just come here and have fun.
Shaun: NASA did a study on trampoline bouncing, and ten minutes on a trampoline is the equivalent of a thirty-minute run. That’s a little known fact. I worked at a place like this during the recovery period for my accident, and for the first three months after my accident I was in bed. I had nerve damage in my right arm and my muscle had deteriorated altogether. I started training and my body was very unresponsive. Then I started at this place, and put on 8kg of muscle. My arm stared being responsive again, and I personally put it all down to being on a trampoline. I was just at work, but I was on the trampoline for two or three hours a day, and that’s a lot. For the first two weeks I was there I was going home and falling asleep instantly. I stared running again and my cardio-vascular was back without doing any running training. It was a great foundation for me. It’s quite low-impact, compared to running on a road which does so much damage to your joints. From that perspective, it has a lot to give to the fitness industry as well. Also, I’ve worked in this industry before and I’ve seen people with motor function problems who’ve come in, it’s had really positive benefits for them too. It is relatively safe here, with how padded up we are. I think people have a misconception about how dangerous it can be. We put our staff though two weeks of rigorous training, and almost half of that training is about safety.
How do you envisage people using Bounce? Is it for parties, staff retreats, individual training?
Daniel: We look at it a little like a ski resort. You have something for the small kids, and then more advanced stuff. There’s something here for everybody, for the entire family.
Shaun: We do offer all sorts of packages and birthday parties are very popular here, we have the first two weekends booked out already. But also, when it’s midweek and it’s cold outside and you want to do something cool, you can go to the movies or you can come to Bounce.
Last question to wrap up. So imagine someone has come here, they haven’t done this before. They’re standing on the mat waiting to bounce. What attitude do you think they should have to get the best out of it? What should be going through their heads just before they take that step?
Shaun: I think they should come in with an open mind. I’ve seen people come to places like this who can’t even walk on a trampoline. So just be willing to put yourself out there are bit. Our staff are all trained. Prepare to be surprised, surprised with the venue, surprised with yourself, surprised with everything. I think people walk away from this place very surprised at what they’ve achieved. A lot of people sit at home watching viral videos [of free-running stunts] and they want to try that. And we’re providing the facility where you can be a part of that for a day. Get off the computer chair, come here and do some of that crazy stuff in a safe environment, and go home feeling awesome.
Bounce Stockholm, Månskärsvägen 1, Kungens Kurva. For more info see www.bounceinc.se
