'Redemption year': Jumpers rope in national championship

Carolina Jump Rope, UNC’s club competition jump rope team, just brought home a national championship title. 

On April 5 and 6, the team competed in the University Jump Rope Summit at the University of Notre Dame against 11 other collegiate teams. After two days of speed double dutching, partner jumping and other challenges, Carolina Jump Rope clinched the win. 

“We've been nicknaming this season our redemption year,” UNC junior and team member Sidney Cheek said. 

Following the disappointment of last season, a lot was riding on this year’s summit, Cheek said. The team won the championship in 2022, but they lost to Virginia Tech in 2023. It stung, Cheek said, but it’s what pushed them to bring back the trophy. 

This year's national competition was judged based on four criteria: an in-person competition, group virtual performance, community service and team growth. 

Out of the team's 17 members, 14 traveled to compete in the on-site competition, which splits skills into two categories: speed jumping and freestyle. Team members compete as solo acts, in pairs or in small groups in front of a panel of judges.

The group virtual performance is a three to five minute showcase video, which is later displayed at the summit. The best video is determined by audience votes. This year, Carolina Jump Rope’s theme for the video was “Disney Channel original songs.”

The last two categories of the competition are determined by the team's community service hours and how many members clubs gain each year, an effort to encourage the growth of the collegiate jump rope community. 

“This is our only competition for the entire year compared to other clubs, like sports teams, that have different games throughout the year, so this is where we really get to show off of what we've been working on,” UNC sophomore Katie Taylor said.

The team practices twice a week during the academic year. Typically, they warm up with their beginner routine, which they perform at shows throughout the year, and then they collaborate on group routines or learn new tricks, UNC senior Jessica Lee said. While the club has both advanced and beginner groups in practice and in competition, they work on new skills and tricks as a team.

The team ends some practices with a “show and tell,” where team members can show each other new tricks, Cheek said. His signature move is doing push-ups while in the double-dutch ropes. His record is 70. 

Cheek said that some team members have sought out Carolina Jump Rope to be more physically active but have stayed for the community. He said the group prioritizes teamwork inside and outside of practice by spending time together as friends. The president and vice president host annual Halloween, Friendsgiving and holiday parties. 

“I genuinely can't imagine my college life without them,” Lee said. 

Lee didn’t know competitive jump rope existed until she saw Carolina Jump Rope perform at the intermission of a dance recital in fall 2021. When she showed up to the first practice, she said she immediately felt encouraged by the other jumpers. 

“So I kept coming back, and then I kept getting better,” Lee said. 

Vice President Lucas Boyle first joined Carolina Jump Rope as a joke, he said, heeding constant advice to try something new and "funky” in college. However, he was quickly hooked. He’ll be the president next year, and the first novice president, since he didn’t jump before college.

“It's a really fun balance of creativity and athleticism,” Boyle said.

Research Triangle Park is one of the jump rope hubs throughout the country, Boyle said, which is why the team has so many talented jumpers. Taylor, for example, has been jumping for 10 years.

Boyle said the national win strengthened the relationships they had been building all year, and now the jumpers get to bring home bragging rights as a cohesive unit and finish out the year performing a few more shows. 

“In the jump rope world, Carolina Jump Rope is just a big force,” he said.

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