All Hopped Up State’s Only Jump-Rope Team Is Dedicated To Learning The Ropes Of Its Demanding Sport

Protective tape is wrapped around one girl’s knee, another puts ice on a pulled groin and a third takes a drag from an inhaler.

The girls line up holding the end of a jump rope in each hand and turn on the speed. They average between 100 and 120 jumps per minute as they go through compulsory routines.

Double unders are next, where ropes must pass beneath the feet twice between jumps.

They fan out in threes and practice freestyle routines that incorporate tumbling, handstands, and splits. Two girls jump into ropes at once, a routine called Double Dutch.

Then there’s the butt jump, where a few of the experienced jumpers fall to a sitting position and raise their rear ends for the rope to pass underneath. Thump, thump, thump.

Five minutes of rope-jumping is equal to a mile jog. Yet the music pounds and Deborah Wittwer’s team has just begun.

Now in its 10th year, the team, which calls itself Side Steps, practices routines, performs in parades and goes hat-inhand to sponsors to raise money.

The 25 team members range in age from 6 to 19. While other states have school-sponsored jump-rope teams and can practice daily, Side Steps is confined to the Monday nights when it has the Lidgerwood Elementary School gymnasium reserved. Team members are grateful for that.

A typical Monday for Stacey Fisher, 15, includes classes at North Central High School, then softball practice at Franklin Park, then time to grab a taco before going to Lidgerwood to practice.

“The coaches don’t mind, it adds to my conditioning,” Fisher, a catcher on the softball team, said between bites of her taco.

Her partner, Heather Vandolah, 14, said some classmates at Rogers High School are skeptical when she says she’s off to jump-rope practice.

“They say ‘we don’t have a jump-rope team.’ I say ‘yes we do.”’

“A jump-rope team, they kind of laugh,” added Lindsey Chapman, 16, also a Rogers student.

Except for its ties to Lidgerwood Elementary, there is no affiliation with the school district, no pep rallies, varsity letters or newspaper stories (except this one).

“I don’t make them come, I don’t make them jump,” said Wittwer, who has two daughters on the team. “They’re coming on their own because they want to be here.”

Unlike in other sports, almost anyone who works hard can succeed at jumprope, said Dave Huard, whose daughter Niki, 9, and son Eric, 6, are on the team.

The team started when a group of Girl Scouts wanted to jump rope for a camp exhibition. One thing led to another and Wittwer became a certified jump-rope coach.

Now she teaches jump-rope classes for all ages at Lidgerwood and has received city money for a daylong jumping session this summer.

Side Steps also performs at neighborhood parades and benefits.

In competition, individual scores are kept, but, like basketball, what counts at the end is the total for the entire team.

Rope-turning is just as important as jumping and some younger kids specialize in turning for more experienced jumpers.

“If you’re a good rope-turner you can turn so they avoid a miss,” Wittwer said.

For the purpose of traveling and pairing off, the team is limited to 25 kids, and there always are a few boys.

Team members often recruit friends for openings and those who have been through a class have an edge. Attitude and self-discipline are considered before someone is asked to join.

The team has been to San Francisco and San Jose and in May will compete in Santa Clara.

Robynn Rother, a jump-rope mom who works for the Spokane School District, said her daughter Rosalie, 12, took her first trip to Canada with the team when she was 8.

“I was a little hesitant, a little worried,” said Rother, “but I thought it would be good for her to be without me for a short time, it would build some independence.”

Four years later, Rosalie is playing soccer, basketball and volleyball. The jump-rope team is a way for her to keep in shape for the other sports.

Jumping rope is only part of what brings the team together.

Some girls spend a few minutes before the workout and between routines braiding hair or exchanging gossip. There is a hug for a girl whose grandmother died.

They give each other massages and push down on ankles to stretch out hamstrings.

They talk of Bloomsday, and an upcoming trip.

“Shopping, of course there’ll be time for shopping,” Wittwer tells the girls. “Have I ever taken you anywhere where we haven’t shopped? Don’t we always shop?”