Not your playground's jump rope: These jumpers from West Seattle compete around the world

On a 90-degree July afternoon inside a karate studio in West Seattle, there was no AC, just a handful of struggling box fans. That wasn't slowing down the 44 kids, aged 7 to 17, who whipped ropes around as turners and jumpers focused on sharpening their Double Dutch skills.

This wasn't your playground jump rope.

The jumpers were working out the kinks in their routines in preparation for the International Jump Rope Union's World Championships in Kawasaki, Japan. The competition included 30 countries and 2,000 athletes. Nine athletes with Rain City Ropeworks, a jump rope team from Seattle, qualified for this year’s event held in early August.

Competitive jump rope is a relatively small sport, but Rain City Ropeworks Coach Rene Bibaud is one of the best. She's toured the world jumping rope and has been featured in Cirque du Soleil. She started jumping rope in the fifth grade and opened Rain City Ropeworks eight years ago.

“Jumping rope is a wonderful, heart-healthy activity. Through that, I gained a lot of self confidence and really fell in love with jumping rope and had some really great experiences,” Bibaud said.

Still, Bibaud said she knows the sport can be frustrating for kids, so she’s constantly shifting their focus from results toward an appreciation of their efforts.

“Every moment that I'm working with somebody, I'm instilling the idea of not giving up, not being too hard on yourself, and realizing that some progress takes time,” she explained.

RELATED: Why Ichiro 'was everything' to Seattle Mariners fans

Results may take hours, days, weeks, even years. Madeleine and Mara Garrison, 16 and 14 respectively, have been jumping for seven years. They were working on a paired routine for the competition when KUOW visited.

“Patience. Patience is key,” Madeleine said. “I'm really bad at that. You can ask Mara.”

Mara agreed, but she also cut her sister some slack.

“If I'm working on a trick and I'm struggling with it, she'll remind me of the time she spent two hours sitting in our basement doing that one trick over and over again until she got it,” Mara said. “That helps remind me that if I'm just patient, then I can get this.”

Working at tricks over and over again is how to get the incredible speed and tricks the athletes can do, like “the subway,” which Madeleine practiced with another jumper for their Double Dutch routine.

In “the subway,” one person gets into a push-up position and the other person goes under them, all while jumping rope.

Jump rope is a sport that kids stick with. Many of the jumpers have been part of the team for almost ten years. They practiced their routines for the International Jump Rope Union's World Championship for almost three years.

They're still excited to keep adding complexity and challenges to what they already know.

“It's such a creative sport that I’m constantly seeing creative new ways to do things,” Halle Morgan, 17, said. “I think there's constantly new things to learn and expand on.”

And because the community is so small, she added, they’ll go to competitions and see the best jumpers in the world. They may even get to talk to them after their routines. That keeps her invested.

RELATED: Photos: Seattle celebrates fútbol in trial run for 2026 World Cup

Madeleine Garrison, who came to jump rope from the competitive world of gymnastic, said it’s been a very different experience. She said talking with other gymnasts wasn’t part of the experience, so she finds it more fun to get ready for big competitions in jump rope.

At the World Championships in Japan, they had the opportunity to represent some of the best in their sport.

Coach Bibaud described the experience as being similar to the Olympics.

“City Hall had a big welcoming thing for us, and we did some performances around town,” she said. “They watched anime, did karaoke, saw the sites, and ate good food. There was even a big party to close out the competition.”

But things didn't completely go the team's way.

During her Double Dutch routine, 16-year-old Riley Hill sprained a previously injured ankle and couldn't finish.

It was a shared tragedy for the team, but there was also shared pride.

Madeleine and Mara placed second in wheel freestyle, an event in which each jumper holds one rope in each hand and spin each rope at opposite times, all while jumping opposite each other and doing tricks.

Two more jumpers from Rain City Ropeworks placed sixth in paired freestyle.

It was never really about winning, though, not for Bibaud or her team.

She said she teaches jump roping to help kids set goals without making comparisons, which is why the team is ready to get right back into it, even after a 10-month long season. They have Norway to look forward, two years from now.

RELATED: What the puck? The Seattle Kraken have 2 staff librarians

“The reason that I like to bring my kids to these events isn't because I want to go and be the best of the best of the best,” Bibaud said. “That's great and all. but I want them to go and renew their motivation and their inspiration and to see other athletes and to just open up their minds to what else is possible.”

You can catch Rain City Ropeworks at halftime shows, school assemblies, and community events in and around Seattle. It's these community events, the team said, that let them spread their love of jump roping.