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VICTORIA (CUP) — The Island Hoppers know the ropes. And they should — they’re a group of young rope-skippers in Victoria.

The Island Hoppers Precision Skipping Team — which anyone over the age of seven can join — practise and compete jumping rope from September to June. They compete informally with numerous other B.C. teams, but also attend provincial and national competitions. Members of the team are part of the Canadian Rope Skipping Foundation.

The club consists of a competitive group with 16 members who meet three times a week, and a recreational group currently with 10 members who meet once a week alongside the competitive group.

Eighteen-year-old Samantha Cowden has been skipping since she was 10. She enjoys the creativity involved with the activity.

“You can use your imagination to create new ways of doing freestyle tricks,” says Cowden, who’s always happy to help younger members with their freestyle routines. “Making the time to do everything like memorize routines, find music, and get everything together is the probably the most challenging thing.”

Instructor Leah Haas is in her fourth year of training the Hoppers; this year is her first working with the competitive team. She decided to do some optional summer training to keep the team’s stamina up this year and found a lot of members jumped at the chance to keep their skipping chops up during the downtime.

“In years past, we haven’t done anything through the summer,” says Haas. “It takes so long in September to get their endurance back up to the level where they left off in June that this last year I rented (a) gym, and on Tuesdays I would coach. It just kept their speed and endurance up.”

Nine-year-old Ainsley Marshall, the youngest member of the competitive team, recently received praise for reaching a new personal best — her new three-minute speed skip count has reached 241. In recognition of her achievement, she received an Island Hopper Buck, a method of motivation to help encourage team members to achieve new personal bests and display good sportsmanship.

These motivators can be retracted, so every effort is made to hang on to them. At the end of the season, parents of the team members donate items and an auction is held where they can purchase the donated goods with their Island Hopper Bucks.

In skipping competitions, there are freestyle and speed events. Marshall enjoys speed events the most, but finds it hard to choose between individual and team events. For her, the social aspect is the most important thing about skipping rope.

“I like spending time with friends,” says Marshall.

Katie Pfeiffer, 15, has been skipping for five years. She started skipping after seeing the Hoppers do a demonstration at her elementary school.

“It takes a lot of hard work,” says Pfeiffer, “but it pays off and you see the results in competition.”