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New York City adds double dutch as a competitive sport in its public high schools

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Jumping rope is a favorite game for kids across the country. But in New York City public schools, jumping rope is serious business.

Earlier this month, 17 public high schools in New York began a competitive varsity double dutch program. Double dutch is a kind of jump rope game. To play it, one or more players jump over two ropes. Two people on either side of the jumper swing the ropes in a crisscross manner.

New York City schools worked with the National Double Dutch League to develop rules and a scoring system for the sport. Double dutch players earn points for their speed and for their technique in moves. Those moves can include flips and cartwheels.

By adding double dutch to its list of competitive sports programs, New York became the first city in the country to make jumping rope an official high school sport.

Double dutch is a coed sport in New York's schools, meaning both girls and boys can play. So far, it has attracted more girls than boys. That's not surprising to double dutch officials.

"Double dutch has always been a part of our everyday recreation," Lauren Walker, program director for the National Double Dutch League, told the New York Times. "Just as guys would go off to the schoolyard and shoot hoops and play stickball, girls would just pull out their ropes and start jumping."

Walker's father, David, founded the National Double Dutch League and developed rules for competition that allowed girls to play it as an intramural sport. He was also an important part of New York's double dutch culture. He wrote the history of the game, tracing it back to New York's original Dutch settlers, hence the name "double dutch."

By adding double dutch as a competitive sport in its schools, New York is giving greater recognition to an activity that is important to many young women and teaches them important life skills.

"They learn how to negotiate," Ruth Payne, a double dutch coach who helped get it added as a competitive sport, told the Associated Press. "They learn how to talk, they learn discipline. And they learn to work together."

Double dutch is only the latest competitive sport added to New York City public schools that is aimed at getting girls more involved in sports. Coed cricket, girls fencing, girls lacrosse, and girls golf have all been added since 2000.

Editors from Scholastic News Edition 4 contributed to this report.

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