By Linda Abi Assi
Double Dutch is widely known as a street game that originated on the streets of New York City. It’s a style of jump rope in which players leap between two twirling ropes But in the past forty years, it’s moved out of the streets and schoolyards, and into entirely different settings. That’s mainly thanks to the introduction of music and tricks to the routines. Double Dutch is now a varsity sport in New York City schools and is played on stages all over the world. Some of its main players even dream of seeing it played on the biggest stage of all: the Olympics. One thing Double Dutch has going for it is a strong presence on all five continents, and a popularity that has long gone beyond American borders.
PART ONE
Double Dutch is pretty easy to visualize. It’s a style of jump rope born in New York City in which players leap between two twirling ropes. Most would imagine little girls in pigtails and dressed in school uniforms, jumping the ropes on the side of a dirty street. But Double Dutch has become more than that in recent years. Since the early 1970s, it has rapidly evolved from girl-only street game to full-fledged sport. In part one of this three-part series, Linda Abi Assi looks at the history of Double Dutch, and how it made its way out of the streets.
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PART TWO
Double Dutch is widely known as a street game that originated on the streets of New York City, and that is very popular with young girls. But in the past forty years, it’s moved out of the streets and schoolyards, and into entirely different settings. It’s now also played in gyms and rec centers, in preparation for regional, national or international competitions. Over the years, the entertaining aspect of the sport has appealed to a larger audience. That’s mainly thanks to the introduction of music and tricks to the routines. In part two of this three-part series, Linda Abi Assi takes a look at the way Double Dutch competitions are structured.
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PART THREE
Who would have thought that Double Dutch would one day become a varsity sport? Well, in 2009, New York City schools added it to their program… New York City became the only school district in the United States to adopt Double Dutch as a sanctioned sport. Double Dutch was once a street game. Now it’s played on stages all over the world. And some of its main players dream of seeing it played on the biggest stage of all: the Olympics. In the third and final part of this series, Linda Abi Assi looks at Double Dutch’s boom on the international stage, and its chances of one day becoming an Olympic event.
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