Off-beat Sport Keeps Tawresey Jumping

Author: Amy Brais Staff Writer

Middlebury College possesses an indisputably multi-talented student body. One particularly accomplished individual is Betsy Tawresey '04.5. Tawresey, a champion team jump-roper, has jump-roped competitively for over 11 years, won national and world titles with her team and recently appeared on ESPN.

Tawresey is the oldest of three children, a Seattle, Wash., native and an aspiring English major. She also works in the Juice Bar and volunteers at an elementary school in Whiting, Vt., in her spare time. I sat down with Tawresey and talked to her about her career as a jump-roper.

Campus: Most people wouldn't consider competitive jump roping to be a mainstream sport. How did you get started?

Betsy Tawresey: I personally started when I was eight years old. A team came to my school and did a show and I immediately wanted to try it. We started jumping in the playground and eventually some parents stepped in and formed a program.

Campus: How did you and your team go from jumping rope for fun on the playground to winning titles?

BT: Well, this is really a sport that has been growing along with its jumpers. It's completely unrecognizable from the sport it was 10 years ago, around when I started. There are different age categories and the competition gets more intense with age. The youngest competitors will do pretty simple routines, while the senior jumpers do things which are much more complex, so we underwent gradual improvement. We competed in our region, which consisted of Washington, Idaho and Montana. Jumping is relatively popular in Seattle; there are three or four teams in the area, so there was a good deal of local competition. We did travel to the other states in our region, though, and they also came to us. Through our regions we qualify for nationals, which are held in Florida. The top four or five teams from Nationals go to the World Championships.

Campus: Tell us about your past performances and titles on both the national and world levels.

BT: My team went to the World Championships in St. Louis in November 1999. World Championships happen every two years, and usually 14 or 15 countries compete. In 1999, some of the countries were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Korea and Denmark. In that tournament we won the silver medal for our overall performance in the competition, as opposed to for a specific event. In June 2001 we went to the National Tournament in Florida. Two of my best friends and I won the gold medal for the double-Dutch relay speed event. We did one of our old routines and it went really well.

Campus: Can you explain what that event entails?

BT: There are three people and everyone jumps at one point. Each person has 40 seconds of jumping. After 40 seconds, the judges yell, "Switch!" and you have to do so without stopping the ropes. It's really important to switch quickly.

You have to get in and out as fast as possible because for every second over the time limit you lose two jumps, which translates into points lost. People win national titles by a half of a jump, so it can really make or break you.

Campus: What exactly are the different types of events, and how are they judged?

BT: There are speed events and there are freestyle events. A speed event lasts between 30 seconds to a minute per jumper, and the number of jumpers ranges from one to four. There are three judges to each speed event and they use counting devices to count how many times your right foot hits the ground in that time span. Freestyle events are a little more complicated; they can end up being closely related to a gymnastic floorshow. You're judged on power, strength moves, gymnastics, footwork, multiple-unders, presentation… even your smile and poise. The freestyle routines have to have a definitive beginning and ending and last anywhere between 45 seconds to a minute and 15 seconds. Group routines can get huge; the largest I've seen had 45 jumpers. In group routines, all of the jumpers have to be in sync at some point, so it gets really difficult. The largest routine I've ever been in had 25 jumpers.

Campus: What would you describe as your standout jump-roping moment?

BT: My proudest career moment would definitely be when I was in slow motion on ESPN.

Campus: It would be hard to top that. What are your plans for the future?

BT: Right now it's the off-season [jump-roping season is from early March to August], so at the moment I'm really just concerned with doing some training. I usually try to steal some space at the gym for jumping, and I haven't been asked to leave yet, so it's going well. I still jump with my old team, and I'm not looking for any teams locally. At home I started an elementary school team, and I might be interested in starting an elementary school or community team here in Vermont. And of course, the Worlds are in Belgium this April, so I'm going to try to go and defend our title.