One of the great things about my job is it leads me to meet interesting and inspirational people. I recently did a story with the Bouncing Bulldogs. They are a first-class, world championship jump rope team based in Chapel Hill. The oldest members of the team just completed high school and have been jumping for 10 years.
Oh, they have put in many hours of practice. Twice a week during the school year, they are up and jumping at 6:30 in the morning before school. They practice in the afternoons twice a week, and one day per week their coach, Ray Fredrick, Jr., takes them to Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill to run the steps. Academically, they have to maintain a B average. You can make a C in a course and stay on the team, but you can't compete.
During a practice, three rooms in the Bulldogs' gym are buzzing with energy. They do 6-minute speed drills that requires jumping constantly and so quickly that their feet barely touch the ground. Arms and wrists turn circles so fast that the ropes whistle.
Then comes practicing their group routines. As many as four jumpers will work in unison with two ropes and acrobatically twist, flip, hop and jump. It's amazing to see.
The Bouncing Bulldogs recently won their 3rd straight National Team Championship and they are going for their fourth world team title this week in Toronto. Because of jump rope, these young athletes have traveled the world...places like Berlin, Australia, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and South Africa.
Last Christmas, the team left their families and holiday traditions at home and went to South Africa. They visited some of the most depressed areas in South Africa. Houses were made out of scrap tin and wood found on the roadside. The Bouncing Bulldogs befriended some of the youngsters there and quickly introduced them to jump rope. Most of the kids didn't have shoes so the Bulldogs left the extra pairs that they brought along on the trip. By the end of the journey it wasn't the beautiful beaches that the Bulldogs talked about. It was the kids of South Africa who learned a new activity and smiled the whole time doing it.
Bulldogs coach Ray Fredrick, Jr. says he doesn't take his team on international trips just for fun. The trips are designed to go and help people...to come back and share an experience that hopefully will make their own community better. Jumping rope with the Bouncing Bulldogs is good for the heart.
