Rapid Fire 4 Speed Double Dutch Competition and Health Fair
Dunkin’ Donuts Park
Hartford
Aug. 25, 2024
What do you get when you combine one of the most entertaining sports in the world with a good cause?
You get the Rapid Fire 4 Speed Double Dutch Competition and Health Fair, an event that occurred at Dunkin’ Donuts Stadium in Hartford. Over 100 jumpers (as people who participate in double dutch are known) came from as far away as Philadelphia to show their stuff and compete in a variety of formats and age groups.
The event is the brainchild of Lady Carrie McCrorey. A famous former jumper herself, she runs the Juvenile & Adult Diabetes Health Awareness (JAHDA) Foundation, which seeks to increase awareness about diabetes and how to combat it. For McCrorey, her two passions dovetailed perfectly- physical exercise is a key component to preventing diabetes, and her other organization, CT American Double Dutch League, is how she encourages physical activity. In addition to the double dutch competition, there were health and wellness booths gathered to provide services and information for the teams as well as the audience.
Anyone who has watched children on the street jump between two ropes simultaneously knows how complicated double dutch is, but competitive jumping kicks that up a notch. There are several different kinds of competitions, and the event on Sunday focused on speed. Coach Greg Drayton of CT Double Dutch explained the rules to me. Drayton has the distinction of being the first male jumper from the Hartford area to compete at the regional level in his youth. (Eagle-eyed readers may remember that name from another event earlier this year.)
Competitors have a set amount of time- typically a minute, but reduced to 30 seconds for the sake of time- to get in as many steps as possible. However, a step only counts when the left foot touches the ground. The competition is divided between Unattached, which consists of jumpers without a team and typically skews towards younger jumpers and beginners; Single teams with two turners and one jumper; and Double teams with two turners and two jumpers.
I got a chance to talk to some of the jumpers before the competition began. Anniyah, Riley and Dinah are all relatively new to the sport, and have been jumping for a couple of months. I asked them what made them decide to get into competitive jumping.
“I wanted to try something new,” Dinah said.
“The exercise,” Riley explained.
“My mom, she’s been trying to get me to do this since I was six,” said Anniyah.
There were plenty of role models for the girls to learn from, as the competition brought out some of the best young jumpers in the region. Team Bless, comprised of a group of 6th graders from Jersey City, showed the field how to perform in the twin turn competition, where two jumpers perform at the same time.
The coaches weren’t about to let themselves get outdone by the whippersnappers though. Coach Greg was joined by Kay-Kay Van Allen and Robin Young Chambers to form the CT legends team, and competed in the doubles competition where one jumper follows another. I asked Van Allen how long she’d been jumping.
“Let’s say since childhood,” she said with a smirk.
Double dutch has always fascinated me as a clumsier-than-most person who regularly trips over his own feet while walking. It was incredible to see jumpers as young as three managing the feat of controlling their feet. I had a great time and can’t wait to find more double dutch competitions around the state.
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