As I watched the broadcast, I was a little incredulous. Jump rope? A varsity sport? You've got to be kidding me! But then I watched the quick-footed black girls hopping between the two fast-moving ropes, doing flips, twists, and other tricks as opportunity allowed, and I changed my tune. Not only does it take skill to double dutch, it looks like an incredible workout.
According to the New York Times article on the subject,
“As an urban district, we need to be creative in an urban kind of way, and double dutch does that for us,” said Eric Goldstein, who oversees the Public Schools Athletic League, the governing body for the city’s interscholastic sports. “If you see people doing it, it looks hard and it is hard.”
He has a point. The city and the suburbs support very different cultures and ways of life, and appropriate adjustments should be made accordingly. And double dutch jump rope is certainly not easy. Have you ever tried it?
I did, once. And it was a joke. Double dutch is dang hard.
Regular jump rope, however, I enjoyed (probably because I was decently good at it). Back in elementary school my recesses were spent reciting jump rope rhymes with other girls in my class and our feet whipped in and out of the rope. The only rhyme I remember now is the "Cinderella" one:
Cinderella,
dressed in yella
went upstairs to kiss her fella.
By mistake
she kissed a snake.
How many doctors
will it take?
1, 2, 3, 4.....
The other game we played didn't have a rhyme, but did allow for more girls to jump in and out of the rope during the game. During each girl's first turn, she ran into the moving rope, jumped once, then ran out. Each time her turn came up, she added one more jump. This continued until her feet got tangled, at which point she was out. The last girl remaining won the game.
What fun memories this post has fostered! I don't know about you, but I'm now itching for a good game of jump rope. What were your favorite jump rope rhymes and games?
12 comments:
I also could never master the double dutch jumping. One of my favorite rhymes was "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black. With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back. She asked her mother, mother, mother for 50 cents, cents, cents to see the elephant, elephant, elephant, jump the fence, fence, fence. He jumped so high, high, high, he touched the sky, sky, sky and didn't come back, back, back, til the 4th of July, ly, ly.
Come to think of it that may not be a jumprope one--it seems like there needs to be a counting part. Oh well.
I can't remember any of the songs we used to jump rope, but that is what my days at recess consisted of. I could never do double dutch and wasn't too fond of jumping in and out. I must not have been a very coordinated kid!
I loved jump rope & I REALLY loved double dutch. We used to sing "Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around. Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground...", performing each task as it was mentioned. When I was in junior high we even had a jump rope section in p.e. where we had to learn double dutch and perform several tricks. It was loads of fun. Unfortunately, I am sure that if I was to try double dutch today, I would fail misearbly.
I'm with Heather, the Teddy Bear one was my favorite. I loved jump roping, and it makes me kind of sad that my girls don't love it like I did. Maybe we should move to Harlem...
I loved both of these rhymes! We used to jump and jump and jump during recess. We also played a game of "tag" with the jump ropes. You would race in and out of the rope (or ropes - yes - I could double dutch) and the object was the catch the person in front of you. If you could whip around your jump rope twirlers fast enough, you could take a "break" jumping inside the ropes; the only "safe" place.
Growing up in white bread Washington, jump-roping was unfortunately a rare playground activity. During one of those times I was successful with double dutch. But not for long.
I've seen the "pros" before and like you, was amazed. It's pretty cool they are making it a varsity sport. I think it's been a club sport with competitions and everything for some time now.
My elementary school had a jumprope team... it was amazing the things they did. I was okay... but never too much of a double dutch expert.. the only rhyme I remember is the cinderella dressed in yella... this did bring back some good memories! And, I can totally understand how they could turn double dutch in to a varsity sport... it is seriously amazing watching what they can do...
I've had a lingering craving to jump rope for the last 4 years. . . Seriously. I especially want to try double dutch again. I think I finally learned how sometime in elementary school, but it has been so long.
one of my greatest regrets is "borrowing" the school's jump rope, and not giving it back...it haunted me forever until I graduated high school and decided that Mr. McGee didn't remember anymore. good times
We also did the snake. I don't remember that it had a rhyme to it, but it started out wriggling on the ground and then got higher and higher until we tripped. The Cinderella one was my favorite, though.
And double dutch is amazing to watch. I watched the black girls in my elementary schools with such envy, but I never had the coordination it took.
I was always afraid of double dutch... but at BYU I had a PE class for El Ed majors. We HAD to try it... and lo and behold I could do it--so much fun!!!
We used to have jumprope contests at our elementary school in Texas and it was so much fun!
Double Dutch is so hard... I have never gotten it down... but I also haven't tried in many years... it might be fun to try again. It's amazing what those girls can do!
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