Exercises with two long (5-meter long) ropes
To successfully implement exercises with two ropes it is essential to learn how to turn or rotate the rope. These practices are performed with longer rope (4 -5 m). The pupils stand facing each other, but far apart, so that the ropes do not touch the ground. . The pupils holding the rope should be alert to the symmetric arm work. The hands are placed at the height of the chest and abdomen when they are turning the ropes.
The pupils should stand with their legs narrowly apart, keeping the torso relaxed and natural. The shoulders are lowered. The ropes are simultaneously turned in the opposite directions. One of the ropes begins to turn outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the body, while the other , with a difference of one beat, begins to turn inside, to the longitudinal axis of the body. Efforts should be made that at first the pupils holding the ropes should feel their rotation, and only after that pupils can start to jump over the ropes.
The pupils who will turn the rope take the rope in their palms, so that the rope is coming out of the palm between the ring finger and the middle fingers, and this is the position to do the rotations. If the pupils feel the dynamics of the rope, they should move closer to each other and turn the rope in such a way that it touches the ground. The sound of the rope touching the ground can help us infer whether swinging is symmetrical. The jumpers should start from the side, from where the pupils turning the ropes stand, watching the rope which is further away. They should jump between the two ropes based on the movement of the more remote rope. When the remote rope is on the rise, the jumper should firmly move in and start to jump immediately. As a guiding practice the pupil should just run diagonally between the two ropes to the pupil on other side. This practice can help to feel the rhythm of two swinging ropes drive and the pupils can overcome their potential fear of the moving ropes.
As a rule, the pupils should learn how to move in between the ropes and how to move out, from both directions. It is advisable to constantly switch the pupils who turn the ropes; everyone should learn how to rotate them!
The practices described above can be varied and combined. I think if we give our pupils the opportunity and time to try new exercise elements, and appreciate their creativity, we will be richer with more experience. Let us allow the pupils to grow!
The objective of rope jumping, together with the development of the movement culture and conditional abilities, is personal growth, a personality capable of self-development and renewal, able to overcome difficulties in order to achieve goals, creative in all aspects of life, and pursuing a lifestyle an integral of which is regular exercise.
For the sake of the recordings, I visited the rope skipping workouts of the jump rope extracurricular class in Agora a number of times and the above-mentioned goals seem to be realized. It was good to see a lot of skillful, motivated and enthusiastic pupils who participated in the class.
The fragment demonstrates an independent practice that the pupils carried out to music; they compiled a sequence of exercises which included so well-known elements they could be performed by the team members and the pairs alike.