New Zealand GeeTramp Ambassador and Athlete
Hi, I’m Max one of the Geetramp ambassadors for New Zealand.
I am a passionate freestyle trampoline athlete, I got into trampolining around 3 years ago. It was in 2016 which was my first year of high school.
I got into it because I was enthusiastic about parkour at the time and so I would practice my flips for parkour on the trampoline. However, as I got better at flips, I started to enjoy them more than I enjoyed parkour.
I started rapidly improving in 2017 when I went from only being able to do a few doubles at the start of the year to be able to throw multiple quads as well as many different triples and triples combos by the end of the year.
2017 is also the year that my Instagram @max.mcquoid started to get recognition within the Gtramp community and I started collecting a relatively large following. I went from having around 700 followers in the first quarter of the year to around 4500 at the end of the year.
Unfortunately, at the start of 2018 (mid-February) I broke my ankle causing me to have to take a 4-5 month break from flipping. However, during this time is when Geetramp decided to expand their company and branch out to New Zealand. They asked the flipping community through their Instagram who they thought would make for good ambassadors and I got a large number of votes from flippers within the Australasian community. Which lead to my partnership with Geetramp and I was sent a 9x14ft trampoline. I also broke my collarbone in October which put me out for another 2 months.
So despite a fairly average 2018, 2019 started off with a bang. In January I competed in the GtGames ANZ where I won both divisions of the competition followed by my annual meetup. I am now getting excited as I await my trip to the states where I will be competing in the Gtgames USA.
A News Article by Tom Rowland on Max McQuoid
HAMILTON NEWS
Hamilton teenager aiming high in trampolining
The only way is up for Hamilton teen Max McQuoid in the growing phenomenon of Gtramp, after winning big at the Gtgames in Takapuna last month.
The "G "in GTramp stands for Garden as it started and is largely still a backyard "Garden" sport.
Now Max is bouncing with the opportunity of representing Australasia at the next GTGames in San Diego later this year — if he can fundraise enough.
What started as an early love for parkour, turned into a love for the extreme, with Max, 16, now one of the hundreds of 'flippers' across the world who take part in GTramp, a form of freestyling trampolining, where athletes push themselves to pull off the most extreme tricks and jumps.
"I got into parkour when I was in Year 8, and then I got into flips with that, so I started going on the trampoline, and then I realised I only liked the flipping part of it," Max said.
He said that while there are other forms of trampolining, including gymnastic style, he prefers the freedom allowed in GTramp.
"You progress at your own rate.
"I did traditional gym trampolining and the coach restricted what I could do and you have to focus on form, rather than just going freestyle."
Max first discovered GTramp off a Youtuber, Tanner Braungardt in the United States, who posted videos of himself doing tricks on the trampoline. Since starting his account in August 2011, Tanner has gained over four million subscribers.
Max practices his routines day in and day out after school. Photo / Tom Rowland
"I think that is how a lot of people got into it. He went from 1000 subscribers to half a million in about a month or so."
After practising months on end, Max finally competed at his first event in January at the GTGamesANZ in Takapuna, winning the knock-out TRAMP competition, and the two tricks spectacular event.
"With TRAMP, there will be groups of six people, and as you rotate around the group you will set a trick, and everyone else in the game will have to complete that trick," Max said.
"If you can't complete it you get given a letter and if you get all the letters to spell 'T R A M P' then you are out."
In the other event, Max was required to do his best tricks, which are judged with the highest score winning.
"I did one trick where you do one backflip, land on your back, two backflips, land on your back, and I got to the fourth backflip and then landed on my feet, and when you practice for so long and you pull it off, I just get so pumped."
Max said that persistence is the main key to being successful in GTramp.
He spends most of his free time on his trampoline outside practising new tricks and timing them to perfection.
He has only ever suffered one broken bone on the trampoline, which was last year when he broke his ankle, which ruled him out for a month.
He also broke his collarbone, but that was while snowboarding.
He is currently in Year 11 at St Johns College and hunting for a part-time job to help with funding for travel and accommodation, while also looking at approaching businesses for sponsorship.
His family have decided against setting up a Givealittle page, saying the money there is better off going to charities that are in desperate need.
Fast Forward now to June 2019
Congratulations Max on your sponsorship with "First credit union". With their generous support you are presently in San Diego where we all await how your adventure there will go representing both New Zealand and Australia along with both Reece and Jamie Jones who we all wish you all the very best of luck and hope you have an amazing experience.
Date - 28th-30th June 2019
Event - Free style trampoline Website for schedule
