Hop, skip and jump!

Photo Credits: pg 2- lead

Fourteen year old Ramnath Gaonkar weighed 55 kgs and was teased mercilessly because he was overweight. Then one day he happened to attend a National Rope Skipping inter-school competition arranged by his school, L D Samant High School, Porvorim. Intrigued, Gaonkar decided to enter his name in the next competition just for fun. He won a bronze medal and got selected for the nationals.

It was only much later that his teachers confided, “People came to watch not because of his performance but because they couldn’t imagine an obese boy jumping rope and wanted to see for themselves. But they returned wowed by Gaonkar's performance.”

Blissfully unaware of this though, Gaonkar had taken to rope skipping, though not on a regular basis. It was after his SSC that he began i earnest. He stuck to the sport and today is a trainer/coach who teaches other enthusiasts the joys of skipping.

Today Gaonkar is 19. He weighs 69.2 kilos with a height of 5.11 ft. “Looking at my growth graph, I should be overweight and 74 kgs but thanks to rope skipping I could maintain my weight and gain some height,” boasts Gaonkar who today coaches kids under-9 to under-17 at Vidya Prabodhini High School at Porvorim besides camps and workshops in other schools.

“Rope skipping has increased my stamina and endurance, strengthened my legs and helped me excel in other games like cricket, football, badminton, baseball, javelin throw, triple jump and long distance running says Gaonkar who plays most of these sports in his college. “The more you practice, the more you perfect. And the earlier one starts practicing, the more the chances of winning medals,” he advises young kids who newly enter the game. And along with other enthusiasts including Deepam Dessai (19), Sunil Pawar (22), Anikesh Velguekar (18), Dattaprasad Ghadi (18) and Praveen G Fadte Durbhatkar (19), he coaches and trains other kids.

Gaonkar attributes his success to his teacher and mentor Kirti Girish Sawaikar, a physical education (PE) teacher at L D Samant High School, Porvorim who is dedicatedly striving to motivate young boys and girls in Goa to take up rope skipping as a serious sport since 2005. “Rope skipping offers the basic warming up for other sports i.e. cricket, football, boxing, badminton and athletics,” says Kirti who is a state-level cricket player since 1989 having played under Goa Women’s Cricket Association and won trophies for her college, and university.

Recalling how she stumbled upon this exciting game, Kirti admits, “I was thrilled to know the benefits it offered to young kids. Children must indulge in sports that enhance their endurance, stamina and concentration and as this game offers all these, I made it my mission to promote itin Goa.” Kirti’s wholehearted interest took her to accept responsibility of general secretary of Amateur Rope Skipping Association (Goa) affiliated to Rope Skipping Federation of India and has been striving to popularise the game from Pernem to Canacona.

Today Goa is one of the 22 states in India that has recognised this sport and 300 students from 30 schools in Goa actively participate in rope skipping competitions while thousands of others from 200 schools have taken to this sport. Recognised by the Department of Sports and School Games Federation of India, there are 5 per cent extra marks for students of std X and XII if one bags gold medals at four levels – district, taluka, state and national.

Under the presidentship of the sports minister, Ramesh Tawadkar, the Amateur Rope Skipping Association (ARSA), Goa is marking the presence of Goan students in the national and international arena. The Interschool Rope Skipping Competition held in Dubai Nov 2015 proved to be a feather in the cap of ARSA (Goa) and for the World Cup held in Hong Kong in 2014, 11 players from India were sent and 3 were from Goa.

Rope skipping is not just a fun-filled, musical game for students; it’s an exercise for all ages too. Underlining the benefits of this sport as an excellent cardiovascular exercise, paediatric super-specialist, Dr Sanjay S P Khope says, “There is no upper or lower age limit for rope skipping. A wide range of age groups can rely on this simple sport which improves breathing efficiency, muscle power, bone density and enhances concentration, especially in growing children. It is a harmless exercise, provided you do it properly and moderately.”

Rope skipping could be the best aerobic exercise that reduces 700 calories per hour with rigorous action. Jumping on toes exerts the muscles in and around ankles and foot, making them very strong. The calf muscles keep on pumping blood which increases cardiovascular efficiency.

Dr Khope advises to start skipping for 10-15 minutes daily and increase the efficiency gradually after getting acclimatised to the rope before increasing the duration and improving your count. Since there are no constraints on space, time and finance, skipping rope can be termed as a simple exercise. “As good shoes keep the legs stable and reduce stress on toes, one must always wear good shoes instead of skipping with naked feet,” he advises.

But does skipping really help reduce obesity? Not necessarily! Obesity is the result of consuming high fat, junk food and if diet is not controlled, only skipping will not reduce fat. Once the fat is in control, obese people can take to skipping rope to maintain their weight and keep it in control.

Believed to be better than jogging, 10 minutes of rope skipping is equal to 8 minutes of running. In urban areas where fast driving make it difficult to walk on the roads or even footpaths, rope skipping can be done anywhere, in a limited space with a easily portable and cheap exercise machine – a rope which can even be carried in one's pocket!

Rope skipping requires co-ordination of muscles as well as brain and so it increases the concentration level, eventually turning into a combo of mental-physical exercise. The inclination towards this sport has increased the demand and sales of skipping ropes too. “We have been selling over a dozen skipping ropes every month for the past few years. Cricket and football teams are offered skipping ropes and so there’s bulk purchasing too apart from school, college and independent customer demands. Beginning from Rs 50-60 for cotton, the nylon and heavy wire ropes, some with beads and others with timers can cost up to Rs 1000,” briefs a sports shop owner from Margao.

Manoj Hede, college director of physical education and sports administration officer at Kare College of Law (Margao) offers a word of caution to those who want to jump rope. “For any jumping, the floor has to be good. A concrete based floor will definitely hurt. Wooden floor is said to be best for rope skipping. Depending on age factor, shoes and floor, it is the best exercise. However if proper supporters are not worn, continuous skipping over a period can develop hernia in children above 18 in the long term. For children up to 10-12 years, this is not an issue, but as hormones change at puberty, jumping, cycling can lead to serious problems like damaging the knees and toes. Also, extremely obese persons may fall while skipping rope as their weight makes it difficult to coordinate all at a time – hands, legs, rope rhythm and jumping. For a group of 3 or 6 it is really fun.”

BOX

One of first batch of students who learnt rope skipping in Goa under Kirti Sawaikar’s guidance, 19-year-old Praveen G Fadte Durbhatkar made it to the World Cup in Hong Kong in August 2014 along with Deepam Dessai and Anjoom Dessai. “I created a national record in Triple Under (one jump three rotations of rope), 238 continuous last year which has been maintained,” states Praveen who beginning with his first medal in 2009, has bagged 51 medals so far, mastering 300 plus skills out of 1000 odd. Seeing Praveen get a medal, his sister Prarthna has also joined rope skipping.

Praveen explains, “Rope skipping improves flexibility and enhances skills in other games too. There is everything included in it – music, creativity, dance, gymnastics, running, jumping and push ups. No student whom I coach wants to leave it any point; all want to learn more and more skills. Our camps in schools get full within no time and there is a long waiting list of potential sports persons. Rope skipping has opened the horizons for sports lovers and I just love it!”

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Photo Credit: Narayan Pissurlekar (the iconic photo in reverse jump while skipping)

(Some photos are outsourced, mentioned below, have them in laptop)

Photo Captions:

1 – Ramnath Gaonkar 1 (then and now), 2 (current, plain)

2 – Praveen G Fadte Durbhatkar 1 (in action), 2 (fresh photo taken by Vincent Braganza)

3 – Kirti Girish Sawaikar (addressing the recent State level Rope Skipping competition at Cujira, Bambolim)

4 – Demonstrations of a group of boys and girls jumping rope

5 – Praveen G Fadte Durbhatkar training school children in rope skipping

5 – Dr Sanjay S P Khope, paediatric superspecialist in Goa (to go with box, if required)

6 – Manoj Hede, physical director and admin officer at Kare College of Law, Margao (to go with box, if required)