One, two, three!” Throw shoulders back, keep chest broad, hold chin down, pull knees in, grab calves and kick feet out to land in a stance. That’s a lot to remember in the second following “three!” when a person is trying to jump and balance in a harness around the torso.
And with a background of blaring techno music, the clatter and slam of dropped skis and snowboards, and the incessant squeaking of more than a hundred springs, it’s no wonder that time just flies by in B-50 Gerlinger Annex during one of the University’s many trampoline classes.
The trampoline program at the University has grown dramatically over the past 10 years. With seven classes offered this year — compared to only one course offered in 1992 — and the demand continuously exceeding the available class spots, the program is a favorite among students as it revives the sleep-deprived, offers release for the frustrated and provides a fun workout for all, said trampoline instructor Lani Loken-Dahle.
Junior Jeff Harding is an avid wake boarder. Last term he enrolled in Aerial Maneuvers, his first class in the trampoline program, and he said he loved every minute of it.
“As soon as you take one of them, you can’t get out of it,” Harding said. “Some people take it every term.”
Harding sees each class as an eye-opener. “It’s a fantastic break from classes, and it wakes me up a lot,” he said. “I have one class after this one, and I’m always wide awake for it.”
According to Loken-Dahle, most of the Aerial Maneuvers class time is focused on learning jumping and flipping techniques with skis and boards that ideally can be used outside the classroom. Harding has used a couple of the moves he’s learned in the class on the waves, but the majority of his skills have been applied on his trampoline at home, he said.
This term Harding decided to repeat Aerial Maneuvers, but next term he says he’s going to try
Trampoline I.
One noticeable aspect of the Aerial Maneuvers class is its
male majority.
“It’s more of a type of person,” sophomore Chelsea Dangler said about whether the class composition is really a gender issue. “It’s the type of person who likes to go for things, kinda doesn’t really care about getting hurt and likes being in the air. I’m stoked because we’ve got about six girls in here, and you can totally tell that they are all hard-asses.”
Dangler said she loves the atmosphere. “I like being around a lot of guys,” she said.
She took gymnastics for eight years and appreciates Loken-Dahle’s breadth of experience.

“Lani does a really good job in teaching the basics of how to do a flip correctly,” she said. “She shows you a diversity of moves you can do.”
Loken-Dahle has been teaching trampoline at the University since 1979. Winter term she taught all seven classes in the trampoline program, and on Mondays and Wednesdays, she taught class for five hours straight.
“I love to work with people and sometimes it just brings tears to my eyes to see all of my students in class,” she said.
Loken-Dahle said seniors and even graduate students have told her, “I could not have made it through the past four years without the trampoline program.”
A graduate of Arizona State University with a master’s degree in physical education, Loken-Dahle tells her students on the first day of class that she was “born on a trampoline.” Her father, Newt Loken, was a trampoline “legend” in his day, an NCAA all-around gymnastics champion, and one of the first and strongest promoters of trampoline, both for fitness and sport, she said.
“When he was a lieutenant in the Navy, my father was a fitness director on an aircraft carrier, and he insisted on bringing his trampoline on board,” Loken-Dahle said.
With such a family tradition in the area, Loken-Dahle couldn’t help but take after her father.
“I don’t remember life without a trampoline,” she said.
Loken-Dahle is also a skier, snowboarder, wake boarder and skater. This term she will be teaching eight physical education classes: six trampoline classes, one aerial maneuvers class, and a springboard diving class.
“Things like orientation tours and word of mouth are two of the biggest reasons the program has become so popular,” Loken-Dahle said.
“I was just looking through the course catalog and I saw it,” said freshman Matt Gregory. Gregory took his first trampoline class this term, and he said he liked it so much, he’s taking it again next term.
As far as why he thinks others take the class, he shrugged and said, “I guess it’s just fun to jump on a trampoline.”
Gregory has been snowboarding for five years, and his favorite part of class is the last 15 minutes, when the students are allowed to bring snowboards and skis onto the trampolines.
“My snowboarding has gotten a lot better this year, and that’s because of the tricks I’ve learned in this class,” he said.
One thing students may have noticed during the warm, dry months of spring term this past year was a class jumping on a cluster of large trampolines on the lawn between Prince Lucien Campbell Hall and the University Museum of Art.
“Last year was the first year we were able to do that,” Loken-Dahle said, “and it was glorious.”
In previous years, the students had been able to have class on the lawn outside Gerlinger, and Loken-Dahle said if the weather is agreeable again this year, the trampolines will be allowed outside PLC again.
To sum up everything the trampoline program stands for today, Loken-Dahle said, “It’s a caring, supportive, social environment with a lot of positive energy, and the most wonderful thing is it’s a combination of really good exercise and a lot of fun.”