Professional Rope Skippers Provide A Heart-Pumping Program

By Larissa Lytwyn

Every year, Sandy Hook Elementary School participates in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart campaign.

By having their minutes of jump roping sponsored by volunteer donors, Sandy Hook students have both raised money for cardiovascular health research as well as helped themselves become more fit.

Recently, in appreciation of the school’s efforts, the Professional Elite Rope-Skipping Team (PRET) of Houston, Texas, brought their heart-pumping talents to Sandy Hook School in three separate presentations for grades K through 4.

PRET is comprised of professional rope skippers from North Carolina and Texas.

As part of the World Class Rope Skipping organization, headed by Houston native De-Marquis Epps, PRET has traveled to 26 US states and territories including Alaska and Puerto Rico, as well as 12 foreign nations including Canada, England, Japan, Denmark, and Sweden.

“Our mission is to educate children about the importance of cardiovascular fitness,” said Mr Epps. “Skipping rope is one of many excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise!”

Mr Epps has been a professional rope skipper for 22 years.

Most of his teammates have averaged ten to 15 years of professional experience.

At the beginning of the presentation, PRET demonstrated the statistical rates of heart disease as the leading cause of death among Americans by having half of ten student volunteers drop to the ground while their five classmates jogged in place.

“There are a lot of ways that you can help keep healthy and strong to avoid heart disease,” said Mr Epps.

According to its mission statement, the World Class Rope Skipping organization is “dedicated to teaching the principles of rope skipping, developing and empowering children through physical fitness, while giving them the opportunity to acknowledge, respond and participate through dynamic rope skipping educational programs that stimulate spiritual, social, emotional and physical development.”

After underscoring the alarmingly high incidence of heart disease among US citizens, the PRET members engaged students in a game of Simon Says.

As “Simon,” Mr Epps told students to get up and “wiggle,” then jog in place.

The children responded with passion, stomping their feet as they jogged and spinning their bodies into tight, exuberant circles as they wiggled.

After, Mr Epps taught the students how to take their pulse.

“As you can see, any activity that gets your heart pumping is considered cardiovascular activity,” Mr Epps explained.

Next, the real excitement began as PRET demonstrated why they are the past US Amateur Jump Roping Federation’s (USJRF) National Champions. Each year, the championships are broadcast by ESPN.

The children whooped and clapped with unbridled glee as, to the sounds of pop hits including Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hot Stepper,” the PRET members performed ever-more-elaborate series of somersaults and back flips to double-dutch style jump roping.

Individual members also came forward to perform such feats as “quadruple jumping,” when the jumper leaps so high that he or she is able to swing the rope four times under them before landing.

Then, PRET member Sean Hamilton shared his story about how he was inspired to take his jump roping skills to the ultimate level.

“Several years ago, I got a call one day that said that my mother was in the hospital,” he told the students. “It turned out that my mother had experienced a small heart attack!”

Just three months after leaving the hospital, Mr Hamilton’s mother experienced another heart attack. Four months after that, she had yet another episode.

Mr Hamilton learned that the heart medication his mother took could not prevent the attacks, but only slow them down.

Still, it was the heart medication that was helping her stay alive today.

“I want to thank all you students for raising money for the American Heart Association to fund the research that provides the medication that people like my mother need,” he said.

In the meantime, he encouraged the students to stay physically active and eat healthy to build their resistance to heart disease later on in their lives.

“And, as you know, one of the best ways to stay fit is to jump rope!” declared Mr Hamilton.

After several student volunteers successfully skipped rope, music teacher Maryrose Kristopik was encouraged to come forward, to the screaming appreciation of her students.

Ms Kristopik successfully skipped rope for more than one solid minute, even turning and twisting with Mr Epps as she double-dutched.

Mr Epps encouraged students to remember, “If you can believe it, you can achieve it!”

“As you have seen, skipping rope gets more and more challenging as you become more and more experienced,” he said. “You might not have thought it was possible to skip rope and do back flips, but as you can see, when you believe you have the skills, nothing is impossible to accomplish!”

For more information on World Class Rope Skipping, visit worldclassropeskipping.com.