A jump-start on spring

As soon as spring is on the horizon, the kids at this school all start jumping – literally!

By Todd R. Nelson

from the April 6, 2007 edition

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They appear at my office door five minutes before the start of every recess and ask, "Will you come turn for us?" It is the Jump-Rope Squad. In the morning, as they pour off the bus, they dash to the ropes for some before-school jumps. During even the smallest interstice in the school day, the ropes start whirling and jumpers start jumping. Got your snow pants and winter boots on? No big deal. Is the windchill factor minus 20 degrees? Jump faster. Didn't wear a belt to school today? Hold on to your pants with your free hand or wear suspenders tomorrow!

There's something about the vernal equinox or the flow of sap that makes the kids at my school – virtually all the kids at my school – start to jump rope as soon as spring is on the horizon.

Why is it so much fun to get your feet off the ground? It's simply one of the few games we play that anyone of any size or age can share. Large and small, rhythmic and unrhythmic alike, they wait in line, dash into the asphalt jumping zone at the front door of the school, and have their "ups" inside the fiendish whirling rope.

There is usually a chorus of encouragement with occasional hints of nagging about line order ("mind the queue," as the British say), making jump-rope a fascinating sociological study.

This just might be the most democratic of games, and the challenge isn't entirely physical. The social and mental dexterity is as valuable as anything going on with your timing and legs.

Every kid is competing with his or her own last, best outing. And the corps of jumpers sometimes aspires to a group effort. ("Let's get a really big rope and try having the whole school jump!" was a recent suggestion. It could happen!) Everyone is working to make everyone else successful.

Whether turning or jumping, we all want the count to go astoundingly high. There's universal pleasure in seeing a second-grader who, only a couple of days prior could hardly jump three revolutions, now reach double digits.

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