Demonstration vs. Competition Team

 

The High Flyers are both a demonstration and a competition team. Jumpers may choose to be on either or both teams.  Our demonstration team jumps from September until late February and finishes with a demonstration at the Ligonier Town Hall.  Not everyone will travel on all of our demonstrations.  Sometimes there is limited space, sometimes jumpers need to develop their skills before they can travel, and each member must be in good academic standing. 

 

For those jumpers who want to take the additional challenge and make a further commitment to the sport, they may stay on and be part of our competition program.  The competition team is a year-round commitment with significant travel, time commitment, and cost involved with attending practices, tournaments and clinics. 

 

This year, we begin our relationship with the Ligonier Valley YMCA and those jumpers from the YMCA who want to try out for the HT High Flyers competition team will do so at the end of November. They will also join us for practices after that.  We are excited about expanding our program with this exciting partnership that centers on children’s health and wellness.

 

There is no fee to be on the competition team.  Typically, the team budget covers the cost of the registration fees for competitions through fundraising and grant writing.  However, families are financially responsible for AAU (junior Olympics) and USAJR (national championships) membership fees, as well as hotel and travel expenses. Since we are a voluntary program, all help in our fundraising efforts is critical because the money we raise helps offset the costs of uniforms, equipment and registration fees.

 

There are two tracks for jump rope competition:

 

1.     AAU Junior Olympics

2.     USA Jump Rope National Championships

 

To compete in either competition, jumpers need to be members of each organization.  The deadline for renewing USAJR membership is November 1 and AAU membership can be renewed at any time prior to the regional qualifying tournament. 

 

For new jumpers, AAU competition is the best track since 10 jumpers per age group qualify for the national tournament. USA Jump Rope is for more serious jumpers and only four jumpers per age group are taken for the national championships. 

 

The regional qualifying tournament for USA Jump Rope is usually in mid to late April, while the qualifying tournament for the AAU Junior Olympic Games is typically the first or second Saturday in May.

 

As a competition team, we are required to provide one judge for every four jumpers that compete at every AAU and USAJR tournament. Typically, these judges come from our parents and coaches who must be trained every year.  We typically have one opportunity to be trained during the calendar year.  In 2009-10, we will receive our training at the Comet Skippers Workshop. The more judges we can have trained the better. Often there is a shortage of judges in different tournaments and it’s great if we can carry our own weight.