Jump rope champ shares tricks, tips with EWE students
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 3, 2010 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Chelsea Guild, foreground, demonstrates techniques for jumping rope to fourth-graders at Eastern Wayne Elementary School. Her visit to the school was incorporated into Terry Butler's physical education class unit on jumping rope. Later this month, schools around the county will participate in Jump Rope for Heart, a fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
Chelsea Guild grew up in Chapel Hill, where she started jumping rope on the school playground when she was 8 years old.
By the time she was 12, she was a member of the award-winning Bouncing Bulldogs, an international rope skipping demonstration team that traveled around the country and across the globe. She was also a member of the USA Jump Rope Team and in 2008 was Teen Miss North Carolina.
Now 19 and a sophomore communications major at East Carolina University, she continues to volunteer her time working with elementary school students, teaching basic jump rope.
Last week, she was at Eastern Wayne Elementary School, where she showed students the ropes in preparation for February's "Heart Month." Later this month, schools around the county will participate in Jump Rope for Heart, raising money for the American Heart Association.
"There's 900 tricks you can do with a jump rope," she told physical education classes before providing a few examples.
She maintains her own fitness by jumping rope every day for 15 minutes.
"Jumping rope for 10 minutes is the equivalent to running for 30 minutes," she told the students.
The petite blonde shared with students the right and wrong ways of mastering the art. She started out with basic "single bounce" jumping and demonstrated the best way to hold one's hands while turning the rope and how to position the feet.
Both feet should be together, jumping in unison, she instructed the class of first-graders.
"If you alternate your feet, I will come tie your shoestrings together," she said with a smile.
She had the students jump forwards, then backwards, revamping her methods according to the age group before her. For the fourth-graders, for example, she instructed students to jump on one foot for one minute, then one minute on the opposite side.
At session's end, she gathered them all together for a group huddle.
"Everyone promise that we're going to jump rope 10 minutes a day because it's good for your heart," she said. "It's a great way to get in shape and it can take you all over the world. Don't let anyone tell you that silly jumping rope is not a sport."
The sport has been good to Ms. Guild. In addition to becoming a world traveler, she had a small part in the 2007 Disney Channel movie "Jump In."