Reflections on the inaugural Melbourne Jump Rope Community meet up.

On Sunday November 21, the jump rope community met at Carlton Gardens in Melbourne and skipped together for almost three hours. And it was probably the quickest three hours of my life.

We had double Dutch ropes going constantly (much harder than it looks), music blaring and about 30 people skipping at once.

There were people showing us tricks like you’ve never seen, others showing us how to shuffle and skip at the same time. There were people who could skip so fast their rope seemed to disappear and others with ropes so heavy you could only move them slow.

People of all ages got together and joined in the fun. There were children as young as six giving it a go, there were people in their 40s getting into it too.

Passers-by used one of my skipping ropes and some of them had amazing skills!

The aim of the meet up was to get to know more people, learn new skills and generally have fun. We did all of that, and so much more - The meet up really exceeded our expectations!

Today I feel a little bit like you do after returning from holidays. You had a great time but now it’s all over; you keep asking yourself “What have I got to look forward to now?” (I’ll answer that question a little later).

So having had time to recover and time to digest all the pizza I ate after it, I wanted to share some of the reasons I enjoyed it so much.

Here goes:

 

1. Making new friends (who aren’t just like me)

Think about your friendship group. If you’re a 30-something-year old guy like me you’ve probably got a handful of mates who are 30-something-year old guys like you.

And if that’s true, then you probably do the things that 30-something-year old guys do, and you’ve probably been doing that for a while.

Right?

Since I started my Instagram page in July, I’ve connected with people from all over the world who love skipping.

And not just people like me! I’ve met so many people of different backgrounds and ages who I would otherwise have nothing to do with.

The meet up was attended by a pretty even split among men and women, and there were people there from Malaysia, the Philippines, Venezuela, Chile, Hong Kong and Geelong (not quite as exotic I know).

One of the best parts of the meet up was getting together with people who love skipping just as much as I do, learning from each other, shooting the breeze, and eating pizza.

The meet up strengthened the connections I’d made online and helped me create new ones. And that can be pretty hard when you’re in your 30s and have a young family.

2. life after lockdown

I started skipping in lockdown because it was the perfect antidote to lockdown. I could do it by myself without leaving home. Or I could go outside for half an hour and enjoy the sunshine.

It was great because it kept me active at a time when it was pretty easy to forget that exercise was a thing.

But skipping does haven’t to be something you do alone.

The jump rope meet up made me realise that skipping is much more than a lockdown fad.

It’s a ticket out into the world; a way to connect with people again and a way of learning new skills.

More than ever before, it’s so important to stay active and stay connected.

Now that I’ve started skipping I feel better than I ever have. Now that we’ve had our first meet up I can’t wait to do it again.

So as the world makes a comeback after a pretty terrible two years, grab a skipping rope and you can make a comeback too!

In summary

If I were a Professor, I might say that the jump rope meet up was an occasion marked by a sense of reciprocity and exchange; a moment characterised by an ethics of inclusion.

But I reckon that’s just another way of saying it was awesome.

It’s hard to picture a better way of doing that than getting together with a group of diverse people, jumping rope and having a good time.

Notice that I haven’t even mentioned that it was awesome exercise too. You’d have to be a mathematician to figure out how many calories I burned on the day. And Pythagoras would struggle to calculate the calories I ate in pizza after it.

But that wasn’t what it was about. It was about connecting with people.

It was truly awesome to be part of something so special.

If all of this sounds like fun to you, grab a skipping rope and get started today.

We plan to meet up again in January, and again and again and again.

 

See you there!