The Dart: Vidalia children get acrobatic, creative on trampoline

Published 12:01 am Monday, January 19, 2015

From left, McKale Wyatt, 6, Jalen Moody, 10, Michael Allen, 9, Javari Blanton, 10, and Adrian Walker, 9, jump on Jalen’s trampoline while Dewayne Grayson, 11, watches Saturday. On weekends, children from around the neighborhood flock to Jalen’s Vidalia house to jump on the trampoline. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

From left, McKale Wyatt, 6, Jalen Moody, 10, Michael Allen, 9, Javari Blanton, 10, and Adrian Walker, 9, jump on Jalen’s trampoline while Dewayne Grayson, 11, watches Saturday. On weekends, children from around the neighborhood flock to Jalen’s Vidalia house to jump on the trampoline. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

VIDALIA — Jalen Moody’s trampoline has made his Vidalia house the place to be for neighborhood children wanting to get adventurous through flips, spins and other creative moves.

For Moody, 10, few things are more enticing than a trampoline — the way the springs propel he and his friends to heights that they’ve never before seen.

It’s a feeling few other children’s toys can replicate.

From left, Blanton,  Allen, Walker and Wyatt wrestle in between jumping on Jalen Moody’s trampoline Saturday. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

From left, Blanton, Allen, Walker and Wyatt wrestle in between jumping on Jalen Moody’s trampoline Saturday. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

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Moody’s house is typically packed on the weekend because of his trampoline.

“When it’s the weekend, everyone’s over here jumping,” Jalen said.

When The Dart landed on Hickory Street in Vidalia, Jalen and a slew of family members and friends were playing on the trampoline.

The sound of the seven boys laughing and trying to outdo each other’s flips in the Moody’s backyard could be heard clear down the street.

Ask any of those children who they learned how to do a flip from and they will respond by simply saying Jalen taught them everything they know.

Now, all the boys have perfected the art of the flip and try to make the acrobatic display their own.

“We look up different moves up on YouTube and try to put our own style into them,” said Darren Williams, 13, another one of the children playing at Jalen’s house.

Jalen’s mother Shameaka Moody enjoys watching the boys and has been impressed by their ingenuity.

“I love watching them have fun out there,” she said. “It has been interesting watching them grow from not knowing how to do any flips to now they each have their own special style.”

Jalen can’t explain his and the other boy’s love of flips.

“It’s just really cool flying through the air like that,” Jalen said.