Jump Rope Videos

This excellent video comes to us from USA Jump Rope All Star Andrew Pang (Yes, he and Adam are brothers). Andrew has dedicated this video to those people who “sacrifice their time to be Ambassadors for the sport of Jump Rope.” His video does a great job of capturing the spirit and energy of the sport. What a great way to say “Thank you” to the community of people that make this sport so great!

I asked Andrew a few questions about the video and his jumping experience. Here is what he had to say:

JRV: It looks a lot of the footage comes from a staff show at a workshop. When and where was the show where this was filmed?
AP: The staff show was filmed at the Heartthrobbers workshop in Tyler Tx, mid January.

JRV: How old were you when you first learned to jump rope?
AP: I was 5 years old.

JRV: How many years have you been jumping rope?
AP: This year is my 18th year jumping.

JRV: What attracted you to the sport of jump rope?
AP: My mom couldn’t pick us up right after school most of the time, and i joined the local jump rope club so i could have something to do after school. Fast forward to now, its the people I meet and my coach Mrs. Ann who keep me in the sport.

JRV: How old were you when you first worked on staff at a jump rope workshop?
AP: 11 or 12.

JRV: How many jump rope workshops and camps have you taught at through the years?
AP: I cant recall how many workshops but, I have been teaching camps since 2002 and have recently started teaching adults the past few years.

JRV: I’m sure you went to a lot of workshops and camps when you were learning to jump. Who were some of the jumpers that you learned from or looked up to?
AP: Derrick and Marcus, Shaun and Willie, Jennifer, John, and David from Jazzy Jumpers

JRV: Fast forward a few years from when you were learning from those jumpers. Now you are on the USA Jump Rope All Star team and a world class jumper. Now there are little kids all over the world that look up to you. What is your advice to those younger jumpers that want to get to your level?
AP: Work hard, keep jumping, overcome adversity, and don’t take no for an answer.

JRV: Thanks for an awesome video and for being such a great ambassador for our sport. Keep up the good work!
AP:Thank you Chris.

This is what Jump Rope is all about:

On January 19th, 2008 Adam Pang became the first jumper to land a jump rope trick called the 900. This is an amazing achievement. For those that don’t know, a 900 is a trick where you start jumping forward, jump in the air and spin 2 1/2 times before landing backwards. The rope has to pass under your feet backwards before you land. To give you an idea of what an amazing accomplishment this is, go read up on Tony Hawk becoming the first Skateboarder to land a 900. Even though Adam is very humble about it, this is an athletic feat on that level of greatness.

Adam is currently a member of the USA Jump Rope All Star Team and was the grand national champion for single rope freestyle in 2006. He even made a cameo appearance in the Disney movie Jump In! Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about landing this amazing trick.

JRV: When and where was this video taken?
AP: The video was taken at the Tyler elite workshop 08.

JRV: Was this the first time you landed the 900?
AP: Yes

JRV: In total, how many times have you landed it?
AP: Just that one time.

JRV: How long had you been working on the 900 before you finally made it?
AP: That was actually the first time i tried the 900. It took me about 6 times to get it though.

JRV: It looks like you and Nick Woodard were having a little friendly competition to see who could do it first. Can you tell us about that?
AP: Yea, we had first started off doing a rope dunk to pass the time. Knowing that Nick could probably do every trick I could do, i had to think of something new no one has done. I ended up trying to do the 900 but didn’t make it in my three attempts. I was close though, so after the rope dunk(Nick won of course), we were both attempting to be the first person to get the trick.

JRV: At one point it looks like you nearly landed it, but Shaun Hamilton waved it off and made you try it again? What happened?
AP: Well, what happened was i landed on the rope but was still able to pull it out. Shaun waved it off because the trick had to be clean in order to say that i was the first to get it.

JRV: What was the secret to landing it? Do you have any pointers for others that are working on it?
AP: There really is no secret. I just jumped as high and spun as fast i could. You easily get disoriented when you do this trick with the rope. If your attempting this trick, practice it without the rope several times keeping your arms close to your body.

JRV: Did anyone else give you any pointers that helped you land the trick? What did they tell you?
AP: No, i just went for it.

JRV: Are you the first person to make it?
AP: From what i know, i am the first person to do this trick.

JRV: Do you know if anyone else has been able to do it since?
AP: I haven’t heard of anyone trying this trick as of yet.

JRV: Do you think this is the hardest trick you’ve ever done? If not, what is the hardest trick you’ve done?
AP: I would say it’s up there with the hardest tricks i’ve tried, but i still think the money maker is the hardest trick.

JRV: Are you working on any tricks that you haven’t been able to do yet? If so, what are they?
AP: I’ve been working on the money maker (kind of close but not really), and a trick i thought up. You basically do a backwards kamikaze and land in a freeze, then pull the freeze.

JRV: What does it feel like to be the first person to land the 900?
AP: It feels great!

JRV:Thanks Adam! Way to go!

I’m very happy to introduce the latest video project from USA Jump Rope All Star Lee Reisig. His video for “Welcome to Jumptown” is still one of my favorite videos we’ve shown on JRV. This is the first episode of “The Rope Show”. Lee plans to make this an on going series in which he will bring us “the latest in Jump Rope news, moves, demos, and challenges.” In episode 1 Lee introduces a 3-wheel technique called the “Gig Cross”.

One of the great things about Lee is his very analytical approach to Jump Rope. He’s great at breaking down skills and figuring out how they work. He can take a single technique and visualize how it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. To me that’s what it really takes to perform at a Masters level in this sport. You need a high “Jump IQ”. In my opinion, Lee’s Jump IQ is off the charts.

I asked Lee what we can look forward to in future episodes. He said that he has some footage from the US Trials and even some video of the “Deathwish” that Nick Woodard told us about last year.

If you have questions or ideas for Lee, leave your comments here and I’ll pass them along to him.

We already know that Molly is fast. And how did she get so fast? She practices hard. REALLY hard.

This video is guaranteed to motivate you to pick up your jump rope and head to the gym. You can learn more from Molly @ MollyMetz.com

Here is the Advanced Fusion routine from the Bouncing Bulldogs at the 2007 Double Dutch Holiday Classic. It’s a very impressive and extremely difficult routine. There are some extremely innovative double dutch tricks in this routine. The Bulldogs placed 4th in this event behind three Japanese teams. The misses clearly hurt their chances of winning the whole thing. I wonder how much higher they would have placed if they nailed it. Even with the misses, I’m blown away by what this team can do in the ropes.

This is a style of Double Dutch created by AKI that he calls “Realism”. The key here is that everyone, the jumper AND the turners, are “dancing” during the routine. Once again this proves to me that the variety of things you can do in jump rope is only limited by your imagination. Fun stuff!!

Here is the routine that won first place in the Advanced Fusion event at the 2007 Double Dutch Holiday Classic. This is team “Masterpiece” from Japan. You can check out the rest of the results on the NDDL website.

CBS Evening News visited Harlem to report on the Double Dutch Holiday Classic. It’s great that Jump Rope is getting some exposure at the national level, but unfortunately their coverage is a little misleading.

CBS reports that the event “amounts to Rope Skipping’s World Championships.” Real jumpers know that Worlds will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2008. The US trials for selecting Team USA will be held in Mason, Ohio in late January. The Double Dutch Holiday Classic is certainly a high profile event, but it is definitely not the world championships of rope skipping.

CBS also reports that Japanese teams “took first, second, and third.” That’s accurate, but only for one event. The Advanced Fusion event is what they are referring to. And yes, Japanese teams took the top three spots with the Bouncing Bulldogs coming in fourth. However that doesn’t give a complete picture of the results. The Bulldogs actually dominated the competition. They won 8 out of 10 events and actually won the Novice Fusion event. Very impressive.

That being said, it’s great to see the popularity of our sport continue to grow. Here’s the report from CBS:

Here’s another sick Double Dutch trick from some of the staff at Southern Jump Rope camp. Southern camp has historically been a hotbed of innovation in jump rope. Several tricks have been invented just for the staff show that marks the last night of camp each year. That is where we did the very first Subway, where the Grand Central Station was created, and where this trick was performed.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

This Jump Rope Video was submitted by JRV viewer Darren Howell.

Darren writes:

Here’s a video of Cleveland Air Magic (Queensland, Australia) FISAC skippers from the recent Australian Championships held on the Gold Coast in September 2007.

This video includes footage of Brittany Gardiner (current Australian Open Female Champion) and Luke Boon (current Australian Open Male Champion and current Open Male World Champion)

Enjoy.