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Jump rope goes varsity!
Categories: Teens & tweens, Fun & Activities, Playground Bureau, Environment, Education, Extreme Childhood
Remember jump rope? Some of you, as I did, may have spent hours if not the equivalent of days hopping up and down between two friends and a couple of ropes, trying not to get tangled. Some of the more adventurous (and graceful) spent their time perfecting moves that would rival the coolness of breakdancing.
Now, it looks like jump roping may move from outside of the playground and into the spotlight. The sport, which has been referred to as child's play, a hobby and a past time, is going varsity. At least Double Dutch will, and at least it will in New York. I don't know if you've ever participated in this particular kind of jump rope, but it ain't easy! Double Dutch requires a lot of skill, timing and flexibility, as well as fancy footwork.
The innovative school set to take the plunge is Brooklyn's own Boys and Girls High School. A demonstration was held to determine whether or not there was enough interest. Jumping rope, which has been traditionally seen as a girls' pastime, is being considered as a way to draw girls to the field of athletics, which have generally been dominated by boys. I'm sorry, but this is SO COOL!
Pic by sun dazed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jan Bay 7-28-2008 @ 11:59AM
I jumped road a lot when I was a kid and was very pleased to hear that "jumping" at a certain age helps with bone mass issues as osteoporosis runs in my family. I would love to see more schools picking up programs of this type for boys and girls for heart and bone health. It would be an excellent way to fight childhood obesity as well.
The school in our town has virtually eliminated outdoor recess. However, there is a large indoor exercise area and basketball gym where the kids have physical education. The facility would be perfect for this kind of activity, not that a large room is necessary.
I hope that PE teachers all over the United States catch on and start to promote a program of this kind and educate their students to the fun and benefits of jumping rope.
Jan from http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/
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Baron 7-28-2008 @ 12:20PM
Hm... my little town (7000 residents) in the middle of nowhere has been doing jump rope competitions in junction with this (well, actually it was one of the leagues that around that merged into this big legue) since I was a kid (like 20 years ago). http://www.usajumprope.org/u_usa_new.asp
Not saying I'm not glad to see people getting in on this, but it has been around.
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queenoqueens 7-28-2008 @ 6:06PM
Ah, I loved playing double dutch as a kid. I started at age 5. I don't know if it's more of a city thing though, as I never ever see it being played in the 'burbs.
It is sooo much fun. It never felt like exercise. Glad to see it being enjoyed at school as well.
To make things ever MORE complicated, we used to play a game called "Chase" while jumping double dutch. Anybody remember Chase? It was where you would chase someone in a circle eight while jumping through a rope turned by 2 people. Fun!!
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Sebena 9-06-2008 @ 2:05PM
I loved playing double dutch when I was a kid also. Like queenoqueens said, we never saw it as excercise at all. It was just sooooooo much fun. I couldn't wait to get home and complete my homework so I could go outside and play double dutch. We must have played double dutch at least 6 out of seven days. I'm living in Alabama now and was so surprised to find out that the kids here don't even have a clue about double dutch. I would love to introduce the kids in the grammar schools here to this wonderful sport. I just don't know how to go about it. I would love to hear from anyone that could give me help in how I could go about introducing it to the kids here. I can't even find kids that know how to turn. It's kind of hard to teach them to jump if I have no good "turners". By the way I have an 18 year in college now. I still have a strong desire to jump double dutch. I really do miss it. Is that strange?
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