Empower Kibera Youth Through Jump Rope

Carolina for Kibera’s jump rope team, the CFK Sprinters, is in top gear preparing for the August In-House Competition and Camp! Each year, the in-house competition—which helps train and prepare individual jumpers for future competitions—takes place over the August holiday. Athletes compete, train together, and exchange tips and tricks to help each other improve and gain confidence going into the next big competition: One World One Rope’s annual East Africa Jump Rope Championship. This year, the East Africa tournament will take place in December right in the Sprinters’ home town of Nairobi!

This year, there is much excitement around Sophia Opiyo, a young athlete who is looking to defend her title as the fastest single rope jumper on the team. Two years ago, after only 4 weeks of training, she recorded the highest speed of anyone on the team by jumping 67 times within 30 seconds. Breaking—or even matching—her record will require focus, fortitude, and a deep desire to represent the Kenya jump rope team during the championship.

Aside from the in-house competition and camp, jump rope’s status as an official sport in Kenya has helped two athletes from the CFK Sprinters tremendously. These two players have been admitted to one of Nairobi’s elite high schools! It is almost impossible for a child from Kibera to get in, let alone pay for the school since school fees are incredibly high. However, these two athletes have benefited from jump rope’s official status as a sport—a process led by CFK staff—and have been awarded scholarships to attend. They will keep skipping rope at school and we are lucky to have them in Nairobi to compete!

Did you know that the CFK Sprinters also hold competitions amongst themselves from time to time? Held a couple of times a year, these in-house tournaments give jumpers a chance to engage in friendly competition with their peers. Most importantly, the in-house competitions test, monitor, and grade the jumpers, and help seasoned athletes as well as rookies understand the rules and regulations of the jump rope sport.

The Sprinters’ most recent in-house competition, held on 1 May, brought together over 65 jumpers from the team. We had a massive turn-out from the community, with residents crowding around to watch the live performance. Perhaps this isn’t surprising, since it was the last day before school started up again after a long vacation. This made it even sweeter for athletes who attend boarding school; the rest of the team bid them a nice farewell until the next school holiday in August.

Like all tournaments, the in-house competition seeks to give jumpers a chance to compete and challenge their peers to work hard and improve. As such, we had several awards there up for grabs by the best performers. The awards were encouraging and motivating as every participant tried their best to walk away with a medal.

However, the tournament also featured an educational component. Many members of the Kibera community do not know the rules of jump rope (and some do not believe it is a real sport), or how the power of sport can be harnessed to teach kids about confidence, healthy habits in their daily lives, and friendship and teamwork. Children who were there got a chance to dance alongside the jumpers and, if they were old enough, to practice their moves with a rope. By encouraging children from the community to try out jump rope through competitions like these, Carolina for Kibera can reach more at-risk youth in the community.