GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A giant trampoline production facility in Plainfield Township is Steven Chan's happy place.
It houses his business that was born out of happiness itself.
"It's that sense of zero gravity, just for a split second as you're bouncing," he told FOX 17. "Just the sheer fact that you can't not smile while you're bouncing on a trampoline."
That's a feeling Chan has been chasing since he was a child.
“I started in Malaysia, doing gymnastics there," he said. "They had a special trampoline coach come in. While I was going there, it was in a big sports complex, and they had a trampoline in there. A bunch of people found it really exciting and new. So, you know, I kind of peek through the window. I was like, 'I gotta be a part of this.'”
Chan saw an opening, and he jumped right through it.
“We found there was a really missing part in providing something like this here," he said. "Especially in the US, there aren't any real major manufacturers that make high-performance string bed trampolines. So we saw it as an opportunity that we wanted to capitalize on.”
Chan felt the best place to do that was in Grand Rapids.
"Why Grand Rapids?" we asked.
"Why not?" he replied.
So in 2010, Chan started MaxAir Trampolines. Just like most businesses that have been featured on FOX 17 Unfiltered, his company began in — you guessed it — a garage.
“We were in that garage, and we had everything packed in there," he said. "The tensions were high because, you know, everything was brand new. We didn't know if it was going to work. We're like, 'Hey, you know what? What do we have to lose?' You know, we quickly realized that we have nothing to lose here at this point. We're invested so much, we might as well keep going and see where this could go.”
Chan said the first trampoline they ever made took 400 hours! After many ups and downs, they've since perfected the process.
Now, the company has grown to ship to every continent in the world except for Antarctica. They've installed trampolines in the homes of X-Games and Olympic athletes and at places like the Altitude Trampoline Park in Walker.
One of MaxAir's biggest breaks came this year when they became the Official Trampoline Supplier of the SlamBall League.
“Slamball is a combination of trampolining, basketball, hockey, and football," Chan explained.
The sport was first created in 2002 but has been on and off since then. In the summer of 2023, the sport came back with revived aspirations, and MaxAir right by their side.
"We saw SlamBall when it first came out," Chan said. "I was like, 'Wow, this is incredible. We need to be a part of this somehow.' That day finally came."
Chan has sky-high hopes for the future of MaxAir, wanting others to share that same feeling of childlike innocence he's been chasing this whole time.
"I think for us, and a lot of folks (our building), it's setting out and living the dream that we set for ourselves a long time ago," Chan said. "And here we are.”