Over 160 competitors hopped to Augustana in Sioux Falls to compete in the national jump rope competition.
The competition is put on by the American Jump Rope Federation and happens once a year. This year was the first year the event was held in the state of South Dakota.
McKenzie Christensen is the Communications Chair for American Jump Rope Federation. She toured the city a year ago when Sioux Falls was being considered for this event.
“We're really excited to be here. It's an awesome city. We're really thankful to Augustana to be able to host this event here. There's about 164 competitors and just as many volunteers that are helping run this event," Christensen said.
The preliminary rounds were June 30 through July 2 with the grand finals on July 3.
“It's the best of the best here from the nation competing for the Grand National title across 17 different events," Christensen said.
The events are a combination of speed and creativity individually and in a team.
“So we can be in what's called speed. So that's where people jump for a certain amount of time from your right to your left foot," Christensen said. "And then there's freestyle events. So you get to do like the crazy tricks and the skills that people usually like refer to do, like see in movies and stuff. So it's really cool, to see the different aspects, like people really love speed and they train that really hard and they love freestyle and they get really into that. There's also a Double Dutch that you get to do, which is one of my favorites. I love Double Dutch, so you get a jump with three people are four people and it's just like really cool and exciting,"
Christensen is not only running the event but is also competing. She says the sport is for everyone.
“It's such a fun sport and every age range can do it. You can always learn something new. It's a great way to exercise and stay fit," Christensen said. "So being able to like do as like a side thing, like if you're a boxer and you want to jump like that's awesome. But if you want to get into the competitive side, like there's a ton of us around the US, I would love to help you learn like how to be a competitive jump roper, or even just use it to exercise and stay fit.”
South Dakota does not currently have a jump rope team. Christensen says American Jump Rope Federation has the resources to help teams be formed and trained for competition.