Jumping rope and other games of yore are a hit again with women over 40 in the south suburbs. It’s a pastime they said is especially helpful during the pandemic.
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Pamela Robinson has become an ambassador for the revival of jumping rope, which has become so popular on social media and in the community that it has branched out over the U.S., Israel and Canada, with clubs also forming in Ghana and the U.K.
Robinson, of Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, said she first formed a jump-rope group in 2016, meeting in a Homewood-Flossmoor area parking lot.
“I was just going through a really dark period in my life,” she said, noting her marriage of nearly 20 years was ending and her two children were grown. “I wasn’t going to have kids, I wasn’t going to have a husband, I wasn’t going to have a purpose.”
She remembered how much she had enjoyed jumping rope after school and during the summer in the 1970s.
So Robinson sent out a social media post asking if other women would be interested in coming out to jump rope. About 200 people responded.
Popularity grew from there, and in 2019 the group was featured on a Chicago television program, and membership went from 50 locals to over 1,000 across the nation in a week.
Today the 40+ Double Dutch Club Facebook group has more than 20,000 members. On the South Side and suburbs, it’s spawned regular events and meetings in Calumet City, Country Club Hills, Hyde Park, Matteson and Pullman.
At a meetup last week at Eukich Fields in Evergreen Park, several dozen members practiced their double Dutch jumping and worked on their hula hoop skills.
They said they needed the exercise, especially after sitting at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but camaraderie was what kept them coming back. The week before even Mayor Kelly Burke stopped by for the fun.
“I love the companionship we have … the sisterhood,” said Veretta Knox, a co-captain of the group, who lives in Hazel Crest. “It’s a bond we have you can’t break.
“I can release my stress. I’m just free!”
For Linda Shane, a group captain who lives in Chicago’s Ashburn community, motivating other women is key. Shane also volunteers at charities that collect toiletries, coats for children and other items for families.
“We’re at the age now — the kids going off to school — it’s something to look forward to,” Shane said.
As old school music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s played in the background, the women gathered jump ropes and began doing double Dutch. Most wore red T-shirts with their names and ages, which the purchased through the club.
Other old school games were available too, including the hula hoops, as well as hopscotch and even jacks.
For Karen Blackwell, of Matteson, the sisterhood is a big draw, bringing back memories of playing with friends until it got too dark outside.
“Coming outdoors for what we used to do when we were little girls,” she said. “We didn’t know how to come in until the lights went on,” said Blackwell.
But Blackwell also said she needed the exercise, and “the pandemic didn’t help.”
Katrina Beard, of Evergreen Park, who was at the gathering for the first time, said it “brought back memories.”
“This is my first time jumping in many, many years,” she said.
Tammie Porter, who lives in Chicago, had been walking for exercise around the field for 15 years when she noticed the group last spring.
“I was like, ‘hey, I wanted to do a hula hoop again,'” said Porter, who was using a weighted bamboo hoop.
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Robinson said the group even met for some winter months before and during the pandemic until the weather was too frigid, when they found church basements or library rec rooms to use. They even tried using Zoom before ending up back outside.
“We just bundled up and tried to turn it into a winter sport,” Robinson said.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.