Lee Reisig recently posted the second installment of “The Rope Show”. In this episode, Lee shares video of Nick Woodard landing a trick called the “Death Wish”. This is a new trick that Nick let us know about last year when we interviewed him about landing the Money Maker. Lee thought of the trick, and Nick has become the first to land it. It’s a Triple Under AS landing in a Frog. This is a very scary trick. If you snag your rope while your arms are behind your knees, you will be in serious trouble. Your face will be the closest thing to the ground and your arms will be stuck behind your knees and therefore unable to break your fall when you land. Landing on your face is *NOT* part of the trick.
Thanks to Lee for sharing another cool moment in Jump Rope history!
Finally!!! Today they posted a trailer for JUMP! on YouTube! (Yes, I did a little dance after I watched it. It’s THAT good.) For those that haven’t heard about it, JUMP! is a documentary that focuses on the sport we all know and love. Starting in 2005, director Helen Hood Scheer flew all over the U.S. to film some of the top jumpers in the country. The film follows kids from 5 different teams as they train for and compete at Nationals and Worlds.
The cast is an amazing collection of some of the top Jump Rope talent in the world:
Tori Boggs (River Valley Skippers)
Emily Bonnette (River Valley Skippers)
Marcus Taylor (Ropin’ Rockets)
Nick Woodard (RazzMaTazz)
Jeff Mauss (RazzMaTazz)
Lee Reisig (Summerwind Skippers)
Style Harper (West End YMCA Rope Twisters)
Jaz O’Neal (West End YMCA Rope Twisters)
Shaun Hamilton (Head Coach of Team USA)
I can’t wait to see this movie. The trailer ROCKS! Check it out:
This video was submitted to JRV by Mary Beth Arnold of Indy Air Bear fame. Mary Beth jumped with the Indy Air Bears for 14 years. This is some video of her and her old double dutch partners throwing down some great freestyle with a ton of turner involvement.
In today’s video the YMCA Super Skippers demonstrate some advanced Jump Rope skills for us. The first trick is a 4-wheel switch. The second trick is a trick for two people with one rope called the “TLC Tunnel”. The 3rd and final trick is a fast 3-wheel gig. These tricks take a lot of practice and good teamwork to master.
USA Jump Rope has posted the results for the 2008 US Trials. It looks like it was an incredibly tough competition. One stand out accomplishment from the tournament: Tori Boggs swept every event to win the Female Junior Masters division!
Congratulations to all of the jumpers that advanced to Worlds. Good luck in South Africa!
Here’s a treat for those that couldn’t be there: this is video of Nick Woodard’s Single Rope Freestyle at the event. Prepare to be amazed!
Jump Rope Videos officially turned 1 this week. What an amazing time it has been. In our first year of operation we’ve shared over 150 videos from around the world. We’ve had over 46,000 visitors and 98,000 page views and are growing every day. THANK YOU for making JRV such a huge success! Special thanks to all of the jumpers, coaches, and parents that have made such great videos to share with the world. Keep it up and together we will show the world how great this sport is. Our common goal is to see that Jump Rope becomes an Olympic sport. Here are the steps you can take to help us realize our Olympic dreams by getting the word out about Jump Rope:
Support the local jump rope organizations in your country. Become a member today!
Show people what jump rope is all about. Share JRV with all of your fellow jumpers, coaches, friends, family, and co-workers. Email them a link to your favorite video today!
Become more involved in the JRV community. Rate the videos and leave comments telling us what you like or don’t like about the videos or the site. It will help us make this a better resource for everyone interested in Jump Rope.
It’s been an amazing first year and we are looking forward to sharing many more with you.
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.
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!
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.