Jump Rope Videos

Recently DDF team member Maarten Goedemé was in South Africa for 10 days to teach at a rope skipping camp. Maarten has been working for about 4 years now to promote the sport in South Africa. Judging by the skill level of the jumpers in this video, his hard work is paying off.

This user submitted video comes to us all the way from Hong Kong. This is from Hong Kong based rope skipping team Flyer’X. Team members include Kam, Ting, Ching, Yi, & Yu. In this video, some of the team members perform their double dutch freestyle at the 4th Asian Rope Skipping Championships in New Dehli, India. Special thanks to their coach, Wittman Au-Yeung, for sending us a link to their video. If you have video that you want to share, send us a link.

I’ve seen a lot of crazy jump rope tricks in my day. But this one is insane. B-boy AKI from GM8 does a head slide through the double dutch ropes. At first I thought he tripped and ate it. Then I realized he meant to do this. Like I said… insane.

Here’s another video of him doing it on YouTube.

We previously reported that there was going to be a Double Dutch Contest in Belgium. The DDCB took place this past weekend on April 14th and the results are in. First place for the Double Dutch Fusion event went to Tsukune (Japan), secund place went to DDF (Belgium) and third place to Oxycrew (Belgium).

This is video of the second place team from Belgium, DDF. They are amazing, I can’t wait to see the routine from the first place team.

The 2006 USA Jump Rope National Championship will air this Sunday April 22nd, 2007 on ESPN2 at 11:00 a.m. Central/Standard Time. If you have never seen a jump rope tournament before, prepare to be amazed. This is an amazing single rope and double dutch competition that will display the best talent from across the United States.

Here is a sample of what you can expect to see. This video is of Grand National Champion and USA Jump Rope All Star Adam Pang performing his single rope freestyle routine. Adam is an amazing athlete and his routine is flawless.

In 1983, British artist Malcolm McLaren released the album Duck Rock. “Double Dutch” was one of the singles from Duck Rock. This video is a great bit of history. It is sort of like a “jump rope time-capsule”. It’s fun to look at all of the things that have changed in the 24 years since this was released.

In this video, there are no guys jumping rope. It is 100% girls. Compare that to today where it is no longer a girls only activity. The USA Jump Rope All Star team has 12 boys and 12 girls. Overall USA Jump Rope has about 60% girls and 40% boys¹.

Also, almost everyone in this video is African American. Today the sport is very ethnically diverse. There are jumpers from all backgrounds. Jump Rope is also now a truly global sport. FISAC/IRSF is the governing body for the World Championships. On their website they list membership numbers from at least 31 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

References:
¹ - The Denver Post - Disney film spurs jump-rope sales

Today’s jump rope trick came to us from the ERSO News Flash. Apparently you can subscribe to the ERSO News Flash email list to get the latest updates from Europe as they happen. This is probably also a good time to mention that you can get the latest updates from Jump Rope Videos by subscribing to the Jump Rope Videos RSS Feed. You can use the news reader of your choice and it’s absolutely free!

This difficult looking trick is demonstrated by Miranda Bosch from the Netherlands. It is called the Boss Cross. I’m not sure but you may also need to be double jointed to do this. You will definitely need long handles on your rope. Cool trick Miranda! If you have cool tricks that you would like to share with the world, be sure to submit them to Jump Rope Videos.

The folks at Spout got a chance to sit down with director Stephanie Johnes and USAJR All Star and World Champion Tim Martin to talk about their new Jump Rope documentary Doubletime. This video was taken the same day that Doubletime premiered at SxSW. They even got some footage of Tim jumping and showing off his amazing single rope freestyle skills.

Here is a nice halftime demonstration by the High Five Jump Rope Team from Parkersburg, West Virginia. They have some fun elements in their show including double dutch inside double dutch and even a chinese wheel inside a chinese wheel. You also have to be impressed by the leap frog during the traveling routine. Cool stuff.

Today we have a special treat… an interview with USA Jump Rope All Star Nick Woodard. For those that don’t know, Nick is a superstar in the Jump Rope world. He is a three-time USA Jump Rope Grand National Champion and current member of the USA Jump Rope All Star Team. Last year Nick became the first person in the world to do a trick called “The Money Maker” (also referred to as a Kamikaze Frog), and he has graciously answered some questions for us about landing this insanely difficult trick. Also, be sure to check out the video of “The Money Maker” after the invterview. A big THANKS to National Champion and All-Star Lee Reisig for providing the video.

UPDATE 4/17/07: This trick was incorrectly called a Kamikaze Frog in the original post. There is an informal tradition in the world of jump rope that the first person to land a trick gets to name it. Nick won a $100 bet as a result of landing this trick and therefore it has been dubbed “The Money Maker.” Thanks to Lee Reisig for bringing this discrepancy to our attention.

JRV: When and where was this video taken?
NW: The video was taken at the North Carolina Workshop hosted by the Bouncing Bulldogs during the first weekend in November. It was a Saturday evening.

JRV: Was this the first time you landed the Kamikaze Frog?
NW: This was the second time I landed the trick.

JRV: In total, how many times have you landed it?
NW: I have landed it two times.

JRV: How long had you been working on this trick before you finally made it?
NW: I had been working on the trick for about a year and a half off and on not hard all the time but when ever I felt it I went for it.

JRV: What was the secret to landing it? Do you have any pointers for others that are working on it?
NW: The secret to that trick is there really isn’t a secret. I muscle that whole trick through. It would be a little bit easier if I were to use my legs to get me a boost up but I use all my upper body which is the way I do it. Well for others trying to do it just push off hard and turn the rope extremely fast, that’s what I have to think about.

JRV: Did anyone else give you any pointers that helped you land it?
NW: Jeff (Mauss) has helped me with the trick. He tells me where my legs are and if I need to keep them in some more or if I need to spin the rope faster, so he has been a big help for that trick.

JRV: I know a few people have been working on this trick. Are you the first person to make it?
NW: I am the first person to be able to land this trick in the world.

JRV: Do you know if anyone else has been able to do it?
NW: Nobody to my knowledge has ever really tried the trick or even thought about it.

JRV: Do you think this is the hardest trick you’ve ever done?
NW: This is by far the hardest trick I have ever done. Once I did it I was really excited but hurt at the same time, I hurt my wrist but it was all worth it.

JRV: Are you working on any tricks that you haven’t been able to do yet? If so, what are they?
NW: As of right now I’m working on a trick called the “death wish”. I have gotten close to it but not landed it yet. Lee (Reisig) from Summerwind came up with it but neither one of us have been able to get it. The trick is a double under A.S. frog. You jump your Double Under A.S. and land in a frog. I have gotten close just haven’t hit it just yet but give me a little more time I will get it.

JRV: Do you plan on putting this in your freestyle routine this year or is it too difficult to try in competition?
NW: I do plan to put it in my routine. I have to get more consistent at it but the second I can do it all the time it will be in there.

JRV: Is this your new favorite trick? If not, what is your favorite? If it is, what was your previous favorite trick?
NW: I would say that yes that is my favorite trick because that is one I had been working on for a long time and I finally got it. So any trick that I finally get after a lot of work that is my new favorite trick. My previous favorite trick would have to be my back flip with a full twist with a rope. Nobody can do that trick right now so I love being able to do those type of tricks. It’s a big crowd pleaser.

JRV: In the video, you do a belch frog immediately after landing the Kamikaze frog. Was that planned or was it an accident? Can you describe what happened at the end?
NW: At the end yes I did do a belch because I was on my way down and I didn’t have enough balance to stay up right so I needed to get another trick so I wouldn’t just fall so a belch was the only thing I could think of at the time. It wasn’t planned but it added a nice little ending to it I thought.

JRV: What was it like to land the kamikaze frog for the first time?
NW: To land the kamikaze frog the first time was amazing. I actually did it at worlds. I was in the back with Jeff (Mauss) and Shaun (Hamilton) and they remembered me trying it a while back and they were like “come on Nick you got it”. So I went at it for about 20 min and on one of my final tries I hit it. There were a lot of people in the back from other countries watching and they all saw it and applauded. It was awesome. It was funny because the competition was going on at the same time so I hope we weren’t to loud.