Jump Rope Videos

This is a deleted scene from the Disney move “Jump In!”. In this scene we get to see a performance by another double dutch team in the final competition.

With the recent success of the Disney movie Jump In!, a lot of people are looking to start jumping rope. In particular, there is a lot of interest in double dutch. People seem to have a lot of questions about getting started jumping double dutch. If you want to start but don’t know where to begin, I’ll try to help you out by answering a few common questions. Keep in mind that there are no absolute right answers here. You have to experiment to find what works best for you. There are many factors to consider such as what event you are jumping in, how many jumpers are in the ropes, etc.

How long are double dutch ropes?
Double dutch ropes are typically 12 to 16 feet in length. For speed events you should use 12 foot ropes. For freestyle you would typically use 12 foot ropes for 1 jumper only, 14 foot ropes for 1 or 2 jumpers, and 16 foot ropes for 2 or more jumpers.

What kind of rope works best for double dutch?
There are 4 different basic styles of jump rope: Licorice/Speed ropes, cable/wire ropes, beaded ropes, and cloth ropes. Each style of rope has its pros and cons.

• Licorice/Speed ropes: These are good multipurpose ropes. They are good for speed and are usable for freestyle. The downsides are they stretch, they are hard to see, and they are not as easy to control as beaded or cloth ropes.
• Cable/Wire ropes: These have very small diameter and are excellent for speed. They do not stretch like licorice/speed ropes. They are not good for freestyle. The top speed scores are typically obtained using this style of rope.
• Beaded ropes: These are the easiest to see and are therefore most often used for demonstrations or teaching. The colors of the beads can also be customized to match team colors. The downside is that they are the heaviest ropes and can have a little “bounce” when they hit the ground.
• Cloth ropes: These are the easiest ropes to control and don’t “bounce” when they hit the ground. They are decently visible, but not as visible as beaded ropes. These are the ropes we used for double dutch freestyle routines on the Texas A&M Jump Rope team.

Where can I buy double dutch ropes?
There are several shops on the internet that sell ropes. Jumprope.com and buyjumpropes.net are both official suppliers to USA Jump Rope.

Where can I learn how to turn/jump double dutch? Where can I learn new double dutch tricks?
Jump rope workshops or camps are a great place to start.

• Workshops are often conducted by local teams as fund raisers. Single day workshops are an excellent chance to “jump in” and get your feet wet. Contact a team near you or check out the calender on the USA Jump Rope website.
• Camps are an excellent chance to really dive in and improve your skills by learning from some of the top jumpers in the world. USAJR holds jump rope camps each summer. They are a ton of fun.

If you have more questions that were not answered here, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Today’s Jump Rope News Roundup is in celebration of The Disney movie Jump In! being released on DVD. The DVD will be available Tuesday, April 3rd. There are several reviews of the new DVD. Also, be sure to check out the article from the Contra Costa Times which features interviews with members of Jumping For Joy.

People flocking to learn the ropes: Sport’s popularity is jumping - CONTRA COSTA TIMES

“This is competitive jump-rope — a jaw-dropping, high- speed athletic event that’s suddenly all the rage, thanks to the new Disney movie “Jump In!”
…
The Disney movie’s January premiere drew a record 8.2 million viewers; millions more have tuned in with each repeated showing. And with Tuesday’s release of the DVD, loaded with “how to double Dutch” extras, more converts will likely be wooed.”

Jump In!: Freestyle Edition DVD Reviews:

• CONTEST: Win Jump In! on DVD! - MovieWeb
• DVD Review : Jump In! - MovieVine
• Jump In!: Freestyle Edition DVD Review - UltimateDisney

There has been a lot of good press for the sport of Jump Rope recently. It seems appropriate to share some of it with you here.

Rope-skippers hop to top of new sport - Features an interview with Tyler Perez of Impact Tri-Force and Anna Schimmelfing of the SkipSations at their AAU District Championship.

Jump Rope’s Big Leap - Quotes from Marcus Taylor (Corbin Bleu’s stunt double in the Disney movie “Jump In”) of the Cincinnati Ropin Rockets, Kelsy Moe of The Summerwind Skippers, Coach Ray Frederick Jr. of the Bouncing Bulldogs, Mary Hunter Benton of the Bouncing Bulldogs, and Krishinda Lee of the Bouncing Bulldogs.

SXSW News & Notes: Jumping for doc - A review of the new jump rope documentary “Doubletime” by director Stephanie Johnes.

SXSW Film Reviews - Doubletime - A review of Doubletime, mentions the Bouncing Bulldogs.

If you know of any good articles in the news about Jump Rope, please let me know.

Here’s another jump rope video from the Double Dutch Holiday Classic at the Apollo. These freestyle routines are from a couple of Japanese teams. Kurui won best of show and Kirin took third place. Both teams are amazing. Teams from Japan have dominated the competition for the last several years. In these videos you can see why. They demonstrate excellent control over the ropes, very advanced tricks, great choreography, and great stage presence.

What does the U.S. need to do to catch up? A few years ago some jump rope teams started hiring gymnastics instructors to train their jumpers. It’s not far fetched to believe some teams will hire dance instructors over the next few years to teach some hip-hop inspired moves. With the recent success of the Disney movie “Jump In!” and the good reviews for the new documentary “Doubletime“, this new fusion of styles seems poised to become much more popular.

In case you were wondering, Jump In! will be released on DVD on April 3rd. The soundtrack is already out. According to Wikipedia, the soundtrack debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 on January 17, 2007 and has already gone gold.

It’s great to see that there is a lot of buzz surrounding the Disney movie Jump In! I’m impressed with how well Disney did their homework on the sport. Of course some things had to be somewhat contrived for the sake of the movie, but overall I thought they represented Jump Rope very well.

Even though some of the more advanced moves were performed by stunt doubles, the actors definitely did their share of training before filming started. I’m impressed with what they learned in a relatively short amount of time. In this video Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer talk a little about the training process.

The new Disney movie Jump In may be the most exciting thing to happen in Jump Rope since the U.S. Nationals began airing on ESPN in 1996. The entire Jump Rope community is buzzing with the attention that this movie has brought to our sport. According the The Houston Chronicle, the original airing of Jump In had 8.17 million viewers, which makes it the most watched program in Disney history. As a result, interest in the sport of Jump Rope has skyrocketed in recent months.

Corbin Bleu, the star of Jump In, appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly in early January to promote the movie. The impressive thing is that he learned to do his own jumping for the movie in a relatively short time. He demonstrated some of his new skills for Regis and Kelly.