Minali Jensen
7th Grader
Every year, we train to get ready for the workshop show. However, for me, the most important and special part of the workshop is when we get the opportunity to jump with and learn from people from other teams. This year, although we did not have the chance to interact so freely, our team went to great lengths to try and make the workshop great for all jumpers on the team. This included inviting two special teachers, LaToya and Stewart, who did a fantastic job at teaching us both single rope and double dutch.
We started out with single rope, taught by Stewart. My group learned multiple difficult and complex skills, a lot of which were new to me. This included combinations of EK’s and TJ’s, push-ups, crabs, double under frogs, rope releases, and much more. Many of the skills that he taught were learned over his multiple years of training and competing. The fact that he was willing to share his knowledge and help other jumpers from other teams grow, really demonstrated his respect towards our program.
“I am great! I am better with others! I am not the team!” was what LaToya, a jumper from New York, started our double dutch lesson with. This past Saturday, she came to teach us fusion. We learned double step in the form of a two 8-count routine. We had to jump fast and that combined with dance certainly did not make it easy. However, she took us step by step and kept everyone in the same place. LaToya made sure to not only teach us how to execute this routine, but also how to make it look good, how to put energy into your steps, and how to draw the crowd’s attention. That was one thing that she was really good at and one thing that I aspire to improve on as well.
Both of these teachers were chosen for a reason. LaToya and Stewart are both master jumpers and teachers. They have mastered the basics, meaning that they can coach all kinds of skills and all kinds of people. However, we can only benefit from their teaching if we are coachable and go home and practice these skills. If you don’t practice, you can lose the skill just as fast as you get them. We should always take advantage of the opportunities at hand and use them to get better. After all, it’s not every year that something like this happens. Especially in these unusual times, we can only improve, and by taking advice from master teachers, we can do just that!
7th Grader
Every year, we train to get ready for the workshop show. However, for me, the most important and special part of the workshop is when we get the opportunity to jump with and learn from people from other teams. This year, although we did not have the chance to interact so freely, our team went to great lengths to try and make the workshop great for all jumpers on the team. This included inviting two special teachers, LaToya and Stewart, who did a fantastic job at teaching us both single rope and double dutch.
We started out with single rope, taught by Stewart. My group learned multiple difficult and complex skills, a lot of which were new to me. This included combinations of EK’s and TJ’s, push-ups, crabs, double under frogs, rope releases, and much more. Many of the skills that he taught were learned over his multiple years of training and competing. The fact that he was willing to share his knowledge and help other jumpers from other teams grow, really demonstrated his respect towards our program.
“I am great! I am better with others! I am not the team!” was what LaToya, a jumper from New York, started our double dutch lesson with. This past Saturday, she came to teach us fusion. We learned double step in the form of a two 8-count routine. We had to jump fast and that combined with dance certainly did not make it easy. However, she took us step by step and kept everyone in the same place. LaToya made sure to not only teach us how to execute this routine, but also how to make it look good, how to put energy into your steps, and how to draw the crowd’s attention. That was one thing that she was really good at and one thing that I aspire to improve on as well.
Both of these teachers were chosen for a reason. LaToya and Stewart are both master jumpers and teachers. They have mastered the basics, meaning that they can coach all kinds of skills and all kinds of people. However, we can only benefit from their teaching if we are coachable and go home and practice these skills. If you don’t practice, you can lose the skill just as fast as you get them. We should always take advantage of the opportunities at hand and use them to get better. After all, it’s not every year that something like this happens. Especially in these unusual times, we can only improve, and by taking advice from master teachers, we can do just that!
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