St Luke's Anglican School will partner with Skipping Queensland to facilitate an elite skipping workshop and competition this month.
On Sunday 20 November and Monday 21 November students will have the opportunity to learn from world-class jump rope athletes.
The two-day event will be held at Bundaberg PCYC, commencing with a workshop covering a range of different skipping skills and competition standards.
The workshop will culminate in an official competition on day two, including varying age groups from under 6 to 12 years, to be judged by Skipping Queensland.
This opportunity comes on the back of St Luke’s active involvement with 67-time World Jump Rope Champion, Luke Boon, who has been working with the school over a number of years to help deliver a grassroots skipping program for its students.
St Luke’s teacher and skipping coordinator Hayley Russo said the idea to introduce skipping to St Luke’s came from her personal interest in the sport.
“In 2019, I was lucky enough to attend a skipping workshop run by Luke Boon,” Hayley said.
“After the workshop, I started talking to him about our existing program and asked if he would be interested in visiting our school.
“It turns out he was, and he first visited our school in 2020, returning in 2021 and 2022.
“Our program gets bigger and bigger every year.
“Students' skills improve with practice, and we now have some very talented skippers within our ranks.
“Luke has had an incredible influence on the students within our community, and he has been a really great help and support to me each year as I run the program.”
President of Skipping Queensland and Accredited Sports Scientist Kirstin Morris said the organisation was excited to be building on the partnership forged between St Luke’s Anglican School and Luke Boon to offer this new workshop.
“The sport of jump rope has experienced significant growth on the global stage, with plans to possibly take the sport to the Olympics in 2032, or earlier if we’re lucky,” Dr Morris said.
“St Luke’s skippers, and children just like them, are just the right age to begin mastering the sport for that opportunity.
“We hope to extend our reach and create more opportunities for kids all over the state to get involved in this incredible sport.
“This workshop is the first of its kind since the relaxation of COVID restrictions and we’re excited to reboot the program and begin to promote skipping as a sport.”
Mr Boon says he shared in the excitement for the future of jump rope and recognised the opportunities the workshop could bring to students.
“St Luke’s students are now part of this movement and subsequently, will inspire so many more kids throughout Queensland to start Jump Rope,” he said.
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