Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Donation improves safety, efficiency of gymnastics practices
11/2/2020 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Christian Palumbo, a senior in Liberty University's School of Business, and his older sister Evangelina Palumbo ('19), a School of Business alumna, recently presented Lady Flames gymnastics Head Coach Tim Kappel with a Fast Fluff Vault Trainer as a donation to set up in the team's new gym in the Club Sports Training Complex.
The siblings who grew up training out of their father Rick Palumbo's Aerials "Fit'N'Fun" Gymnastics Center in Phoenixville, Pa., approached Kappel with the idea to help Liberty's athletes benefit from the latest apparatus for skill-building on the vault, one of four events in women's gymnastics.
"Ever since his kids have been coming to school here, (Rick) would pop into our gym from time to time," Kappel said. "He is a gymnastics coach who owns a gym that has been open for a long time so he has been a good mentor and a great asset to me personally, and he's a huge supporter of Liberty. He is a really neat guy who is always thinking of new ideas."
Christian Palumbo holds patents on several Fast Fluff training and safety inflatable devices used in gymnastics and extreme sports and presented the inflatable training pit to Kappel, who had it branded with a Liberty Flames logo and red, white, and blue colors.
The extra-large Vault Trainer, a landing pad used by several collegiate programs across the United States and at hundreds of private gymnastics clubs from New York to New Zealand, allows student-athletes to maximize drill and skill building training time by increasing repetitions over shorter intervals.
When inflated, the device is 12 feet long by 7 feet wide by 5 feet tall with an 8-inch mat.
"This model was specially built with the full intention of having college-level athletes use it," Kappel said. "With the height of it, it really forces (gymnasts) to work a lot harder, making them complete the skill, to get that air time off the horse and land on that mat."
It is a similar concept to the Air Bag that Liberty's ski & snowboard team purchased in 2014 to use to practice landing Big Air jumps.
"It is a pretty cool device which allows you more efficient training and is easier on their body," Kappel said, noting that it takes the place of pits filled with foam pieces. "It's an inflatable that we can do drills on and when you turn the machine off, it deflates back onto the ground, which makes practices more efficient with a lot less wear and tear on the kids moving mats around."
He said the device is portable and, while designed to be used to cushion vault landing, can also be set up on the floor exercise to practice spring floor landings.
The 5,000-square-foot gym in the training complex that also houses the men's and women's wrestling, crew, and taekwondo teams, is equipped with apparatus for the Lady Flames to practice all four events, with ceiling joints removed above the high bars to give the gymnasts more head room.
"The facility has turned out great," said Kappel, who hopes to continue to add equipment and to beautify the space with wall wraps featuring photographs of the Lady Flames in action.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
The Vault Trainer is inflated in a corner of the Club Sports Training Complex gymnastics facility.
