Alice Poon Y10T

Physical & Health Education MYP YEAR 5Year 10 Rope skipping

Rope Skipping Criterion A

1. Is Rope skipping a sport? Justify your answer.

In my opinion, Rope Skipping is a sport. A sport is an activity that requires athletic and physical
exertion and skill involving rules for enjoyment, entertainment or competition. Rope Skipping fits the
above description; it is a physical activity that requires athletic skills, and in competitive Rope Skipping,
it involves a set of rules for competitive and entertainment reasons. Moreover, there are great quantities of
Rope Skipping competitions, for example The International Rope Skipping Federation, where they hold
national Rope Skipping competitions with championships. Rope Skipping is also featured in many
schools as Physical & Health Education units, and many activity workshops also features Rope Skipping
lessons in the fitness sections, and has also been featured in sports events such as the Olympics.
Therefore, I consider Rope Skipping a sport.

2. Is Rope skipping more popular in the USA high schools amongst students than in Hong
Kong schools? List 2 reasons to support your answer.
Rope Skipping is definitely more popular in USA high schools amongst students than in Hong Kong
schools. Firstly, USA has had more popularity in Rope Skipping historically. Earliest records of Rope
Skipping in the US were Dutch settlers, and the popularity of this sport soared in the 1940s in the US,
proving historical popularity of this sport in America. This activity is still proven to be popular in
Western countries till now, as seen in the countless of Jumping Rope Institutes. Also, USA promotes
Physical & Health Education more heavily than Hong Kong. This can attract more attention and
involvement in sports more easily in American students when compared to Hong Kong students.
According to the Physical Activity Council, over 56% of the USs youth (ages from 12-18) are involved
in sports events, inside and outside school. This also shows the USA students tend to be more active in
physical activities due to their culture and schools promotions.

3. What are the benefits of rope skipping? Give 3 reasons from physical aspect and 3 from
mental (psychological) and social aspect.
Firstly, Rope Skipping is a significantly efficient calorie burner. According to Science Daily, Rope
Skipping can burn up to 1,300 calories per hour, almost 0.1 calorie per jump. Just by doing 10 minutes of
Rope Skipping can burn the same amount of calories as an 8 mile run. Secondly, Rope Skipping can
improve bone density. This is extremely beneficial towards children and elderlies. This is because the
impact of jumping and landing on both feet can be absorbed by both legs, which is less damaging for your
joints and bones when compared to running. Having better bone density can also decrease the chances of
feet and ankle related injuries, as well as bone fractures. Thirdly, Rope Skipping can improve
coordination and agility. This is caused by the continuous jumping that causes your mind to focus on
what your feet are doing, even if you dont pay attention to your actions specifically. This creates Neural
Muscular Adjustments, which is used to make you more balanced and aware of your bodys actions to
your mind, hence why Rope Skipping is a great sport to develop quickness and agility. Furthermore, Rope
Skipping is also an excellent sport for the training of other sports such as boxing. Many famous boxers
recommend Rope Skipping as training because it helps develop coordination.

Not only is Rope Skipping beneficial physically, it can also be beneficial psychologically. Firstly,
Rope Skipping can make you smarter and helps to enhance other handy skills. Like mentioned
previously, Rope Skipping can create Neural Muscular Adjustments, which increases ones skill of
coordination, rhythm, reflexes, strategy, and dynamic balances. This can also make you more mentally
 Alice Poon Y10T

aware and alert. These skills can be further enhanced with the incorporation of Rope Skipping tricks and
techniques because it requires more physical and psychological exertion. Secondly, Rope Skipping can
help relax and calm you down. According to The Jump Rope Institute, the composite movement of the
circular motion and angular momentum of Rope Skipping helps to create a synchronous and harmonious
coordination for the body and mind, which causes relaxation and calming effects. Thirdly, Rope Skipping
can be extremely beneficial socially. Group Rope Skipping is a helpful way to learn how to co-operate,
coordinate and collaborate with one another. Team work is an important factor in Group Rope Skipping
which requires good social, communication, self-management and thinking skills. Moreover, Group Rope
Skipping and Rope Skipping competitions can help people find other people with similar interests with
them, and joining teams can enable them to share their enjoyment with each other.

4. What have you learnt after conducting this research? Has it changed your attitude towards
this sport / physical activity?
After this research, I learned a lot more about Rope Skipping, especially its benefits and encouraged
more involvement with it. Growing up, I did have an interest in Rope Skipping, however I only knew it as
a sport involving one movement; jumping. However, after this unit and this research, I was able to
investigate more about this topic. It has definitely influenced my attitude towards this sport; it is easy to
pick up, portable, and has many benefits from this simple physical activity. It is very interesting to learn
more about a sport aside from just playing it for a Physical & Health Education unit.

5. The FISAR-IRSF World Rope Skipping Championships 2014 was held in Hong Kong from
27th July 2014 - 5th August 2014; but the media coverage was far less than FIFA World
Cup 2014 or FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix (Hong Kong station) 2014.
a. Discuss the reasons for the lack of popularity & media coverage in rope skipping
championships.
Sadly, Rope Skipping Championships have far less media coverage because it is often
overshadowed by other sports. When thinking of sports, many people may only associate them to major
sports events like soccer, football, basketball, swimming, badminton, baseball, golf and so on. This is
because these sports dominate the sports events. Many people may also think that they are more engaging
and exciting to watch, and far more many people are not even aware that Rope Skipping has
competitions. So, instead, events like Rope Skipping have a lack of popularity. Moreover, when thinking
of Rope Skipping, countless of people may only think of it as a basic one-movement physical activity
involving jumping on both feet while swinging a rope; they may not even know that you can do tricks and
techniques which makes Rope Skipping competitive. Furthermore, like mentioned above, lots of people
associate sports with events like soccer or basketball. Since they have more popularity and media
coverage, they will also eventually have more business and economic opportunities. People and
companies become more invested into those sports, while sports like Rope Skipping may have less
coverage because they do not have as much advertising and sponsorships.
b. If you are the organizer or sponsor for the Rope skipping championships, what
would you do to attract more attention in the society? How would you promote and
market this sports event in the future if HK is going to hold the championship again
in 2016?
If I was the organizer or sponsor for the Rope Skipping championships, I would use more unique and
eye-catching promoting and advertising methods to attract more attention to this sport. People need to be
aware of how diverse this event can be in order for them to become interested in this activity. Therefore,
the first step to promoting this event would be to let others acknowledge what exactly are Rope Skipping
championships, so that they will be aware that this sport can be similarly engaging and exciting as the
other sports events. Promoting on social media could also be a major attention grabbing method. In order
to reach out to larger audiences, social media is a great way for promoting events. Promoting to different
 Alice Poon Y10T

industries to get more sponsorships, advertisings and media coverage is also important. This includes
digitally (perhaps for a younger audience) and physically (perhaps for a more mature audience).

6. Hong Kong team had great results in the Rope skipping Championship in summer 2016
(Sweden). It has finally attracted wider media coverage on the sport achievements. Discuss
(i) from different aspects (social, family, school and government), give 4 reasons for the
significant improvement and achievement of HK rope skipping. (ii) why is there a change in
media attitude?
Firstly, one of the biggest reasons for the significant improvement and achievement of Hong Kong
Rope Skipping is most likely because of the advanced technology that we have now. People are now able
to go online and find news and information around the world, and that is probably the reason as to how
the Hong Kong team members had got in touch with the Rope Skipping Championship. This may have
inspired engagement and involvement in Rope Skipping, hence having bigger chances of increased
achievements. Secondly, there has been a rise of encouragement and coverage over sports in Hong Kong
in the recent years. The Hong Kong government has been encouraging sports inside and outside of school
over the recent years, and the Sports Commissions organization Sports For All has scheduled more
participation activities in the latest years. Therefore, it is clear that the governments support and updates
on news events has increased engagement and performance in sports. Thirdly, having social support from
different people can help encourage others to participate in activities and for improving performances.
According to a study conducted by Can J Public Health, people with lower social support (from family,
friends, school, government etc.) are likely to be less active in the physical activities they participate in,
when compared to people with higher social support, who can also perform better. From this research, we
can assume that the increased amount of social support caused participants to be more active and to
perform better in competitions. Lastly, school-based sports have been promoted in these few years in
Hong Kong, which Rope Skipping can be considered a part of. Team based sports like Group Rope
Skipping can bring physical and psychological benefits, as mentioned in previous questions. Therefore,
Hong Kong schools and governments enhanced encouragement and promotion of these sports may have
brought in more participation, therefore leading to improved achievements.

A change in media attitude in sports coverage is mainly due to the increased performance in sports
from Hong Kong athletes in this decade. According to the Hong Kong Sports Institute, there are 32 Hong
Kong athletes from 7 national sports ranking, and 29 Hong Kong athletes in 6 Asia rankings, as of 2009.
The increased performance from Hong Kong athletes in worldwide rankings attracts more media
coverage because it is better to announce positive news rather than negative. Furthermore, a video clip of
the Hong Kong teams Double Dutch performance was uploaded to YouTube, and has gained over
174,000 views in merely half a month. Excellent achievements and attention like this causes media to
invest in these activities as well.