There was a time when kids spent summer evenings out on the sidewalk, practicing tricks with their jump ropes. With all the smartphones and video games in their lives today, they could use a reminder of how fun it can be to just... jump.
The rhythm of summer, the staccato of rope and sneakers, is back at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club, where Mikelle Page gathers a group of kids together twice a week.
“Speed it up! Low to the ground,” she shouts as a few dozen girls furiously hop and tangle with their ropes.
Page was starting to worry that maybe kids were over it. Perhaps all their digital distractions doomed the sport she grew up with.
“You saw kids jumping rope all the time, everywhere, and now when I come out with my ropes in the park, parents are asking, ‘Where did jump rope go?’ You don't even find jump ropes in the store anymore,” Page said.
This bi-weekly gathering is called Jump Seattle, a free program meant to help kids, particularly girls of color, reconnect with a healthy pastime.
“It feels like you can be free and leave all your problems somewhere else, you can just get on the rope and start jumping your heart out,” said ZiHeara Riley-Wylie, 11.
As a kid, Page was in an acrobatic club at her school. They rode unicycles, juggled, jumped, and tumbled, all across Seattle. She started teaching double-dutch as a volunteer parent at her child’s elementary school six years ago and was able to expand her program this summer with a $5,000 City of Seattle Get Moving grant. Kids in the program get a jump rope to take home for the summer.
“Heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes, childhood obesity, is all an issue among all our youth, but particularly our youth in underrepresented communities like the South End,” Page said.
But where are the boys?
“Everything is for everybody, it even goes in the name, Boys and Girls Club!” said Nunu Jones, 7.
Maybe they haven't got the message yet.
“They think it's a girly thing, but it's not, anyone can do it,” Riley-Wylie said.
More info on Jump Seattle:
Location: Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club
Dates: Tuesday and Thursday 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Runs through: August 30, 2018
