Skipping- the whole family can win with it
Sports
Hamilton Mountain News - Jan 18, 2008
The OMA report, An Ounce of Prevention or a Ton of Trouble: Is there an epidemic of obesity in children? showed that from 1981 to 1996, the proportion of overweight boys increased from 15 to 28.8 per cent and overweight girls from 15 to 23.6 per cent. The report also highlighted the severe and potentially life-threatening consequences of obesity. Obese children face an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, breathing problems (such as obstructive sleep apnea) and orthopedic complications.
The Jumpsations Rope Skipping Team is running a 10-week "Fun and Fitness" program that is great for the whole family (parents can join too) - every Wednesday night at Templemead School.
As well as being fun, the program aims to teach kids the importance of physical activity in preventing childhood obesity. The health benefits of jumping rope are numerous...from improved cardio-vascular strength, increased muscular strength, better endurance, improved body conditioning, greater flexibility, improved co-ordination and stronger bones.
Alicja Szczesny - program co-ordinator adds, "we are teaching them what I think is a lost art. I remember skipping in the playground every lunch and recess when I was a kid. Double dutch was my favourite - not too many people outside of competitive skippers' know what double dutch is these days." Visit www.jumpsations.com for registration info. |
| Girls who skip ward off bone loss |
|
It turns out a skipping rope may be the perfect gift for a 10-year-old girl.
A girl of that age may be too young to worry about osteoporosis, but not too young to start fending off brittle bones.
Researchers found girls who do regular jumping exercises at least three times a week had a 5 per cent gain in bone minerals.
The activities could include jumping jacks, running or even skipping during gym class at school.
The study appears in this month's issue of Pediatrics.
The research concludes that if maintained, the jumping exercises could delay bone loss by three to five years once the girls grow to be post-menopausal women |
The Hamilton Spectator
Sports, Tuesday, May 20, 2003 , p. D06
Roped in; National Rope Skipping Championships
The Hamilton Spectator
Skip ropes are flying through the air. Feet stomp on the gym floor. Handles clack together. Everywhere bodies are jumping, crouching, flipping and turning. Welcome to the 2003 edition of the national skipping rope championships, the event of the year for the Canadian Rope Skipping Federation.
It's Saturday at noon and participants are warming up for the freestyle part of the competition, best compared to gymnastics with a jump rope.
They practice their routines, smooth out the kinks, rein in the errant ropes. The slap of skip rope on hardwood, and woosh as they whip through the air, fills the gym at Saltfleet high school.
The young athletes have been at it since early Saturday morning, some lining up at 8 a.m. to get their hair braided. The most common look is a French braid on each side of the head, best to keep long locks out of the cords.
It'll be a full two days of events for teams from as far and wide as Nova Scotia, Quebec, Alberta and B.C., as well as strong showing from southwestern Ontario.
In all, 225 competitors are here. As you'd expect, most of them are girls. All of them take the competing seriously and patiently explain that it's not schoolyard skipping. It's athletic and precise.
First up are the speed events. These are pure technique and endurance. Getting tangled in the ropes wastes precious seconds.
The senior competitors from the city's own Jumpsations team wait by the sidelines for their turn in the single rope speed relay. That's 30 seconds apiece, jumping as fast as they can. The highest count wins.
"This is the first one so it's the hardest because you're not warmed up," said 20-year-old Kristine Melloh, a Brock University student who now helps coach the team after years of competing.
"After the first event I'm not as nervous because it's one down," said Jamie Smith, a 17-year-old student at Barton secondary school.
They get to the floor, the four of them lined up before the judges. The clock starts and Smith begins. She stares intently at the wall. Her feet alternate hitting the floor, left-right-left-right-left-right. Her rope spins so fast you barely see it slice the air.
You may have skipped on the playground as a child, but not like these skippers. They carry thin wire ropes for speed, cloth ropes long and short for double dutch events, long-handled plastic ropes for tricks.
"With a lot of organization and hard work, this sport could go a long way," said Craig Crawford, tournament director and Jumpsations team manager. "It could become an Olympic sport eventually."
The Senior Jumpsations come off the court huffing and flushed. For the past two years, they've swept the nationals in the intermediate category, winning first overall. In July, several team members are going to Germany to perform. Travelling is one of the bonuses for skippers.
The team to watch in the double dutch speed events is the Lincoln Leapers, known for their double dutch prowess.
They're a sight to see. Matt Delorey of Stoney Creek, at 18 likely the oldest guy competing, hops between the two ropes. Body hunched over, arms up at his sides, his feet furiously tap-tap-tap-tap-tap on the floor.
They smoothly switch positions turning the ropes and jumping, only fumbling once.
"I love competing, winning things," Delorey said after finishing.
And he's answered it a million times before, what it's like being the rare guy in a girl-dominated competition, so he shrugs it off this time. He just likes skipping and competing.
Their coach, Rochelle Cormier, a grade school teacher, said her sister is in Japan on her third tour with Cirque du Soleil, coaching skippers and performing.
The performance part of this competition comes after the speed events. Each freestyle team has a routine set to music. They spin and cartwheel and somersault through the ropes, trying to keep synchronized while smiling for the judges.
Michele Roy and Marion Armstrong watch from the bleachers. Their daughters practice four hours a week with the Hamilton Hoppers.
The skip-rope moms have travelled with their girls to demonstrations and through the regional, provincial and national competitive circuit.
"It's just like being a hockey mom," Roy said.
"You don't have to lug around the hockey equipment and the sticks," said Armstrong, whose daughter, 8-year-old Katrina, has been at this for a year.
It seems a bit more emotional than a hockey game though. Earlier in the stands, a crying competitor was being consoled. Another tossed her rope and stormed out after her team stumbled through an event.
Roy's daughter, 12-year-old Emily, walks onto the floor with her partner for their pairs routine. Roy's hands are clenched in her lap as she watches them skip and twirl. "Oh thank God," she said when Emily didn't trip while travelling behind her partner.
"Good job, ladies."
Note(s):
SKIPPING NATIONALS: This isn't the kind of skipping you did on the street as a kid. This is high-speed, aerobic, mesmerizing, gymnastic skipping. The Canadian championships were held over the weekend and they have Olympic dreams.
