# Women Are Gathering To Jump Rope And Make Connections In The 40+ Double Dutch Club



## Leeda.the.Paladin (Aug 2, 2021)

Women Are Gathering To Jump Rope And Make Connections In The 40+ Double Dutch Club​










               Updated August 2, 20214:15 PM ET                                                    

                 Heard on          Morning Edition

Kelley Dickens


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Members of the 40+ Double Dutch Club gather regularly to jump rope and connect with other women.
                   40+ Double Dutch Club            

Around 500 women ages 40 and above met over the weekend in Chicago to have some fun while reliving childhood memories at the same time: by jumping double Dutch.

It was part of a meetup of the 40+ Double Dutch Club, which started in Chicago and has now branched out across the country.

Fifty-year-old Pamela Robinson founded the club, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

She learned to jump rope while in elementary school. "When I was growing up in the 1970s, everybody jumped rope. And that's all we did all summer long in the Chicago area," Robinson says.

For her, jumping rope represents happiness and freedom.


"In 2016, I was going through a lot of issues in my personal life, and I needed to find a happy place," she says. "I remembered how freeing it is to jump double Dutch and how it takes us back to a time before stress, before husbands, kids, bills, before adulting took over."

At first, she was apprehensive if she'd get support and if any women would join her. Now, there are more than a hundred chapters across the country — and a couple internationally too, in Israel and Canada.



 
Sports ​ 
Double Dutch: From Street Game To Sport​ 
They'd planned a massive, nationwide meetup in 2020, but the pandemic canceled it. They finally gathered this past weekend, outside, in Chicago. It was the first time many of them met in person.

Part of the reason for the popularity and growth may be tied to the connections made in the club. Robinson says it goes well beyond just jumping rope.

"It has turned into somewhat of a ministry for all of the women who are involved. We now have over 20,000 members on our Facebook group page and there are women who have battled depression and who are going through chemotherapy, who have more experience with grief and loss ... who are coming out and they are experiencing a joy that they haven't experienced in a long time."





"We pray for each other," she says. "We pray with each other. And we're not only coming out jumping rope and having fun, we're building relationships with each other."

As the name implies, everyone in the club is age 40 and up. The oldest jumper is in her 80s.

For the ladies in the club, age is just a number.

"This is our exercise," Robinson says, "and it's helping us to improve our physical, mental and spiritual health."


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## luckiestdestiny (Aug 2, 2021)

This sounds like such fun! These clubs need to expand across the country  .


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## nyeredzi (Aug 2, 2021)

Oh, this looks like so much fun!


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## fluffyforever (Aug 3, 2021)

It does look fun... I never got the hang of double Dutch though. I was better at getting hit in the face by the phone cords.  Maybe there’s hope for me yet.


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## Crackers Phinn (Aug 3, 2021)

Double Dutch looks fun and I have never been able to do it.     Besides, I got too much titty meat for all of that jumping in public. Go have me on Onlyfans.


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## january noir (Aug 3, 2021)

Me too @Crackers Phinn!   I can barely jump with a single rope now that I'm a senior citizen (I know I could do it with conditioning, most definitely).
I've chatted with some of these ladies on Instagram.  They said they could teach me easily!  
I said, "even if I'm in my 60s?"  They said, "Yes, we can teach you!"


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## Peppermynt (Aug 3, 2021)

I grew up double dutching in Philly. Loved it! I could do it all, regular, medium and Irish, lol. I was an itty bitty titty girl back then too lol. Nowadays I’d have to be holding these girls down cause


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## Evolving78 (Aug 3, 2021)

january noir said:


> Me too @Crackers Phinn!   I can barely jump with a single rope now that I'm a senior citizen (I know I could do it with conditioning, most definitely).
> I've chatted with some of these ladies on Instagram.  They said they could teach me easily!
> I said, "even if I'm in my 60s?"  They said, "Yes, we can teach you!"


You can do it! I know of several ladies that are a part of it.


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## [email protected]@ (Aug 4, 2021)

Omg. Where do I sign up???

(I'm not 40 yet though)


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## Everything Zen (Aug 5, 2021)

Ooooh! I’ll be eligible to join at the end of the year and I don’t know how I feel about this. Is that how people feel when they get their AARP card in the mail?


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## Seraphina (Aug 8, 2021)

Everything Zen said:


> Ooooh! I’ll be eligible to join at the end of the year and I don’t know how I feel about this. Is that how people feel when they get their AARP card in the mail?


Me too and I'm also conflicted.


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## MizAvalon (Aug 12, 2021)

Awww, this looks so fun!


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## OmbreLune (Aug 12, 2021)

This is just so wholesome and heartwarming. I know my mom and aunties would have a ball trying to keep up with the 40-something youngins


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## Keen (Aug 13, 2021)

When I was in elementary school in Haiti, jumping rope was the game of choice during recess. We got so creative with it.  Next time we have a picnic at church, I will suggest an adult rope jumping competition.


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## Chicoro (Aug 23, 2021)

I love double Dutch. In grade school, at recess we used to do cartwheels into the rope and continue jumping, while wearing Catholic school uniforms of white blouses, skirts rolled up around the waist to shorten them and shorts underneath!

My 82 year old Southern born relative said she called double Dutch “Hot Peas” when she was a child. Interesting.


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