Bringing home a new piece of sports equipment is always exciting. Whether it’s as big as a full sized backyard trampoline, or as small as a new pitcher’s mitt, it holds all the hope and promise of many hours of fun playing a sport, and the possibility of perfecting new skills of agility and athleticism. If you’ve recently purchase an outdoor trampoline, it’s important to make sure that you have all the proper trampoline accessories so that it can remain protected from the elements and fully functional for years to come.

If you’re not familiar with all the trampoline accessories that are needed to keep your trampoline fully functional and safe for all those who wish to jump on it, it’s important to learn a little bit more about the basic features of some available additions. One of the first trampoline accessories that are recommended for larger structures that will spend most of their time outdoors is a trampoline cover. Simply put, this is a large piece of weather proof fabric that is designed to fit quickly and easily over the edges of your trampoline to protect it from the elements. It’s important to stay away from covers that say they are only "weather resistant" and look instead for those that say they are "weather proof" and that include protection from UV rays.

The next most important accessory for your new jumping structure is trampoline pads. Although the trampoline cover will protect the metals trampoline springs from the rain and sun while the trampoline isn’t being used, it’s important to protect your family and friends from the springs while the trampoline is in use. Beginning jumpers might have a hard time targeting their landings to occur in the middle of the ring, and a trampoline pad will keep them from slipping and landing on the springs instead.

Once you have a trampoline cover and pad, the only trampoline accessory that there is left to buy is a trampoline net. Also referred to as a trampoline enclosure, this is a feature that will prevent smaller jumpers from falling off the trampoline accidentally. Although you might have established clear rules about how many people can use the trampoline at once, and which kinds of tricks can be attempted safely, it is inevitable that a new or overly excited jumper might forget, and jump a little close to the edge. The trampoline net will be there to catch them if this happens.