LANCASTER CAMPUS JUMP ROPE TEAM'S ACTIVITIES PROMOTE FITNESS, FUN TIMES; SCHOOL IS FOR SKIPPING.Byline: Karen Thacker Community Columnist Names like Chinese wheel, egg beater n. 1. a small device having one or usually two blades, each having several stiff oval wires at the tip. The blades are swirled or rotated for beating eggs or whipping cream. and double Dutch double dutch also double Dutch n. A game of jump rope in which players jump over two ropes swung in a crisscross formation by two turners. may sound foreign to many youngsters, but to 22 children at Pinecrest School they are as familiar as pitching, hitting and catching. They are routines being learned by the 7- to 11-year-olds on the school's jump rope jump rope or skip rope Children's game in which players hold a rope (jump rope) at each end and twirl it in a circle, while one or more players jump over it each time it reaches its lowest point. team, organized this school year and already giving performances in public, usually at other elementary schools. ``I think it's a cool thing for health and fitness,'' said Laura Campbell, Pinecrest athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic and coach of the jump rope team, also called a demo team. ``At first I thought, No way, but I experimented with the children and they caught on.'' The team came about after Campbell watched jump-rope exhibitions at several physical education workshops, and thought she'd try it with her students. The American Heart Association American Heart Association (AHA), n.pr a national voluntary health agency that has the goal of increasing public and medical awareness of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and thereby reducing the number of associated deaths and disabilities. sponsors a Jump Rope for Heart fund-raising activity each year that schools can take part in. Campbell took it a step further and had tryouts for the demo team, and now the group visits other schools, usually performing at assemblies. ``The kids love to see other kids perform,'' said Pat Willett, executive director of the American Heart Association, Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley division. When the demo team visits other schools, they do a synchronized syn·chro·nize v. syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing, syn·chro·niz·es v.intr. 1. To occur at the same time; be simultaneous. 2. To operate in unison. v.tr. 1. routine, all singly jumping to music with some fancy footwork in between, and a few solos and pairs perform. Tryouts are required to make the team, which currently has an equal number of boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. . Stunts must be performed without error and include four consecutive double unders (one jump with the rope passing under feet twice) and a 360-degree turn, among other tricks. ``Most people don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. you can do so many things with a jump rope,'' Campbell said. ``I like leg unders, double unders, and crossing hands in back,'' said Mallory Crabb, 9, who admits jumping rope can tire a person out fast. ``Sometimes you can go a long time but it's the number of tricks that get you.'' Crabb says it's become the cool thing to do at Pinecrest. ``It's starting to catch on like wildfire at our school,'' Campbell adds. Next year Campbell plans on creating other teams with lesser and greater skill levels, including a competition team that would face other teams around the state in categories like speed jumping, group speed, double Dutch, and free style. ``It's exciting for me 'cause I know it keeps the kids fit and they enjoy doing it,'' Campbell said. The cardiovascular benefits are wonderful and there's a lot of foot skills and movement from left to right that require concentration as well. It also is healthy emotionally for the kids, she says, because everyone makes mistakes. No one is a loser in jump rope and it's easy to start over again. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Kyle del Rosario, 8, shows some mid-air style while skipping rope at Pinecrest School in Lancaster. The school has has formed a jump rope demonstration team that performs at campuses around the Antelope Valley. (2--Color) The Pinecrest School coed jump rope team, for ages 7 to 11, practices its routines out on the playground in Lancaster. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion