Jumping Rope
Watching “Ellen” the other day, I was surprised to see the world champion jump-roper. I didn’t even know there WAS one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIw4u3II-PY
When I was a girl, in the 40s and 50s I jumped rope. I didn’t go anywhere without my jump rope. And I was GOOD at it. A skinny kid, I jumped rope all the way to school, and at recess, and all the way home–about a mile each way. When I wasn’t jumping rope, I was roller skating (the clamp on kind!).
And sometimes I was rope jumping with my roller skates on!
So I was surprised that there are two world rope jumping organizations. Maybe more. And that there are contests worldwide. I am surprised that it is being considered a sport. Maybe an Olympic one, in the future? Or is it already? If so, is it a winter sport or a summer sport?
Rope jumping (or skipping as the Brits call it) is as old as rope itself. . .when rope was developed in China centuries ago, the Chinese started jumping it. The Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Greeks picked it up. The Dutch developed it to a fine
art and brought it to America in the 1600s. The English in America thought it was stupid. But in the cities, where space was limited, it was an activity that children could do in their front yards. And later, in the housing developments in the inner cities it became widely accepted in the 1940s and 50s. And it was inexpensive.
For a while McDonald’s sponsored it and it had a rebirth. When they dropped it, it faded out. But it is now part of every athlete’s exercise routine. . . 15 minutes of rope jumping burns off TONS of calories and melts fat. (Check with your Doctor before starting any exercise routine!) And whereas there were 5 or 10 routines when I was a girl, there are now dozens which when combined with each other and/or other sports can be in the dozens up to a hundred or so.
I didn’t live in the inner city in Omaha–I lived in the “outskirts”. And I could do almost anything rope jumping that was known to do at that time, and so could my friends. We each had a jump rope (mine had red painted wooden handles) and a long rope (where two people turned it while a third–and maybe a fourth and fifth–jumped to a rope skipping rhyme) We also Double Dutched: two long ropes turned in opposite directions.
Oh, I knew all the rope skipping rhymes:
Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall.
One named Peter and the other named Paul.
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.
Come back Peter, come back Paul.
Don’t you come back till your birthday is called.
January, February, March. . .
Now fly away, fly away, fly away all.
That one was a favorite, and we came and went as the rhyme instructed.
It brings back such memories. And NO, I do NOT jump rope any more. But thanks for asking.