Brown senior jumps at his chance to compete in jump rope championship

Shortly after graduation, Kraska will compete in the American Jump Rope Federation’s National Championship June 27-July 2 in Milwaukee. And then compete in 11 events at the International Jump Rope Union World Jump Rope Championships July 16-23 in Colorado Springs.

At nationals, he’ll compete in 13 events, he said, including single rope speed sprint (30 seconds); single rope speed relay (four jumpers, 30 seconds each); Double Dutch speed sprint (one jumper, two turners, 60 seconds); and Double Dutch pairs freestyle (four jumpers.)

Double-concentrating in economics and international and public affairs, the Westlake, Texas, native jumps in Brown’s jump rope club. He also jumps with the Brown Bouncing Bears, with Anna Lapre — a two-time former grand national champion in double-dutch freestyle, who is now retired from national competition — and Hannah Long — a four-time grand national podium-finisher, who also competed virtually in the World Championship in 2020 and is now retired from national competition.

Jumping has taken Kraska around the world, from Hong Kong to Sweden, and some 20 US states. He’s performed at SeaWorld and Disney World. He’s jumped in the Macy’s Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade.

We caught up with the champ to talk ropes, and about his dream to keep jumping professionally after graduation.

Q: So how did you get into jump rope?

Kraska: I saw the Disney Channel Original Movie “Jump In!” with Keke Palmer when I was around 8 or 9, and started jump roping on the playground with my friends. A friend learned there was a local competitive team holding tryouts. We both tried out and made it. I started competing. I went to nationals at age 10. Then I started to get a lot more serious.

When I was 11, I made grand nationals (winners from every age group) which was crazy — I really fell in love with it after that. I made it to grands every year following. I started competing at the world level pretty quickly. My first was the World Jump Rope Championships in Orlando, Fla., in 2014. I took home a Grand World Championship at age 13 in the 30-second speed event: 196 jumps.

My personal record is 218 jumps in 30 seconds. I can do 1,020 jumps in three minutes. But my second World Championship title in 2018 was for individual overall: two speed events, and single-rope freestyle, which is tricks: backflips, front flips, aerials.

What’s your favorite event?

Double Dutch single freestyle. There’s a lot of cool things you can do with the Double Dutch in general.

So you’re about to graduate. What do you want to do next?

That’s a great question [laughs]. I’m looking at potentially being an admissions officer here at Brown. I have a couple of interviews with government agencies in D.C. in June. But another option is to move to Florida, try to get a full-time job there, and do professional jump rope performing on the side. Because that’s also something I do with the sport: professional performing.

How did you get into pro jump roping?

So, the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, I got a call from my friend who had moved to Florida to pursue professional [jump rope] performing full time. He said they were looking for a couple of people to do some professional performing for SeaWorld. So I dropped an internship offer and decided to jump rope in Florida. While I was down there, they were looking for people to do Cirque Dreams Holidaze from mid-November into January. So I took leave from Brown my junior fall semester to do professional performing.

Since then, the company, WeFlip Entertainment, brings me down anytime they need a fill-in, at, say at SeaWorld or Disney. So I’m hoping to make that a more regular gig.

You do flips and handstands in your jump rope videos. Have you always been good at gymnastics?

I actually started off doing gymnastics when I was like 3 or 4. I was a rambunctious kid so my mom put me in gymnastics. I stopped [around] first grade. But because of gymnastics, I had the agility and strength to pick up some tricks. So it really just came naturally.

What do you love about jump roping?

The community. I’ve made friends from all over the world. I just saw my German friends at a workshop in Maryland. We click so well. That’s the best part.

What do you like about the physical aspect of it? What drew you in?

I love the creativity. There are so many different tricks out there. Just since I’ve been jump roping, so many new tricks have been created. Being a part of the creativity of the sport and the future of the sport, moving it forward, is a really cool thing to be a part of.

Will you always jump rope?

As long as my bones and muscles will allow it. That’s one thing we don’t really know — the sport hasn’t been around in this capacity for long, so we don’t yet know the impact on bones and muscles long term — but I know a couple of people in their late 30s and early 40s who are still jumping professionally and competitively.

What’s the hardest trick you can do?

A backflip with an under-the-leg cross. It’s not the hardest trick, but it’s the hardest I can do.

How high you can jump?

I actually don’t know. That jump on “Wheel of Fortune” was pretty good for me [laughs].

Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. She tweets @laurendaley1.

This article has been updated with news about Kraska competing International Jump Rope Union World Jump Rope Championships July 16-23.

Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaley1.