Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Playground Fads: Skipping

Remember the time when you had great stamina and could play with the jumping rope for hours? Today we will discuss the jump rope and several games related to it.
Skipping is defined as swinging a rope over one or more participants heads and they then have to jump over it. You can do this alone, by holding the two ends of the rope yourself or you can use a long rope where two people will hold the ends and swing the rope and other people jump inside it. You can also play with two turning ropes; this is called Double Dutch and is significantly more difficult.
The are several jumping rope rhymes and they are often chanted beginning when the skipper jumps in and ending when the skipper is tripped up.

Maybe you can become like this man if you practice very hard ;)



There are several jumping rope techniques, here is a list of some of them:

Basic jump or easy jump
This is where both feet are slightly apart and jump at the same time over the rope. Beginners should master this technique first before moving onto more advanced techniques.
Alternate foot jump (speed step)
This style consists of using alternate feet to jump off the ground. This technique can be used to effectively double the number of skips per minute as compared to the above technique. This step is used for speed events.
Criss-cross
This method is similar to the basic jump with the only difference being that while jumping, the left hand goes to the right part of the body and vice versa for the right hand, with arms crossing in front of the body.
Side Swing
This is a basic technique where the rope passes the side of the skipper's body, without jumping it. Usually the skipper performs a basic jump after a side swing, or a criss-cross.
EB(front-back cross)
This is similar to the criss-cross except one arm crosses behind the back.
Double under
To perform a double under, the participant needs to jump up higher than usual while swinging the rope twice under his feet. It is possible to have the rope swing three times under the feet (triple under). In competitive jump rope, triples, quadruples ("quads"), and quintuples ("quins") are common.
Double Dutch
Double dutch is a game in which two long jump ropes turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously.
Toad
The toad is a more complicated trick where the jumper performs the "Cross" manoeuvre with one arm crossing under the opposite leg from the inside.
Crougar
The crougar is a trick where the jumper jumps in a normal open jump, but with one arm hooked under the same leg.
Awesome Annie
This is where the jumper alternates between a crougar and a toad without a jump in between.
Inverse toad
Similar to the toad, except the arm crosses the same leg from the outside (rather than the opposite leg from the inside).
Elephant
A cross between the inverse toad and the toad, where both arms cross under one leg, rather than one.
Frog/Donkey kick
This is a variation of a handstand, with a beginner version and an advanced version. In the beginner version, the jumper does a handstand, comes down and then pulls the rope under. In the advanced, the jumper pulls the rope while coming down from the handstand.
Combination jumps
There are many more difficult jump roping tricks that combine two or more of these techniques to make a single trick. These combinations can also be used in Chinese Wheel, Double Dutch, Egg Beater, triangle and Long Rope.
Other
Many other variations are possible, including: "skier", a side-to-side jump keeping the feet together; "bell", a front-and-back jump keeping the feet together; "scissors", a jump putting one foot forward and the other back, then switching back-and-forth; "jumping jack", a jump putting the feet apart and then together; and "can-can" a jump with one leg up and bent, followed by a jump with both feet on ground, followed by a jump kicking the foot out. The possibilities are endless, and many Grand National champions have routines consisting of tricks they made up.

There are also some familiar jump rope rhymes, the most famous are Charlie Chaplin and Big Ben Strikes, the lyrics of these song can vary between different regions.

Next time we will go over several mini games that were played during recess!

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