ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- For a group of Tri-State athletes, the week ahead is a critical one.
They'll be running, jumping and going head over heels in preparation for the seventh annual Just Flippin' Trampoline and Tumbling Invitational.
Hundreds of trampolinists from around the country will be at the competition; it's an officially sanctioned U.S. Trampoline And Tumbling Association event.
"In our sport, it's kind of the like the X-Games sport -- it's pretty dynamic, it's pretty explosive. It's not like traditional gymnastics," coach Richard Mousir said.
Athletes will have to demonstrate 10 skills -- the hardest skills they can attempt -- while also maintaining a graceful form.
Some of the local athletes might jump as high as 10 feet; Olympic athletes go up to around 15 feet in the air.
The young athletes have to put in a lot of time, Mousir said, but they can also specialize in and excel at the parts of the sport they enjoy most.
Local athletes have the home-field advantage, which can be helpful in a sport that is more mental than physical. They've been training year-round, six days a week.
"People like to forget about the mental training, because the physical training looks so hard. The physical training is the easy part. You have to be really strong mentally to be able to get all your skills done and get the routines done that you need to get done," trampolinist Randy Holmes said.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 28 at Gymnastics Central, 8485 Broadwell Road.
