Spring Break is a by-gone, but the memory of my Indianapolis trip lives on.

No, I didn’t see Fred Hoiberg. But I will say I sat by him in church one time and during the summer of 1996, I delivered a pizza to his Ames residence. That was the single most glorified moment of my pizza delivery career, even though his wife answered the door.

Here’s the lowdown. While some people went to sandy beaches during the spring holiday, I went to Indianapolis to watch my best friend run a fast, fast, fast 800-meters in the indoor national track and field championships.

While in Hoosierville, I also visited DePauw University in Greencastle. In Greencastle, not only did I get my picture taken next to a red-orange pick-up with a confederate flag sticker and curtains painted on the back windows, I met a world-class jump roper.

“Jump roper?” you ask. “Jump roper,” I say. “A world-class jump roper!” My friend Paul’s good friend Ben Clark has traveled the world to participate in skipping contests. I had heard stories about him before actually making his acquaintance, but the experience of witnessing his jump rope routine was the superlative of neat. Who knew Indiana would feature such an attraction?

Ben the jump roper has won four all-around national championships, the world championship in 1994 and 1997 and has won speed events every time he has competed. In addition, every time he enters a national competition, he comes home with several event titles. In sum, this guy’s rope skills are “wow!”

My friends and others, the roper (we’ll call him that) and I took to another athletic activity before viewing the jumping performance. This involved a bit o’ brew at the bowling alley on the behalf of the boys. By the time we made it through one game (and the guys had made it through numerous pitchers), I was worried about the safety of the roper in his ability to perform his routine — but not worried enough to give up my chance to see this spectacle. However, I did ask him if a helmet would be a good idea in such a case. He said no.

So, there, in the basement of Phi Gamma Delta house of DePauw, I was introduced to jump roping like never before.

Without actually showing you the moves, I will attempt to draw you a mental picture.

The short, trim athletic fellow wearing a wife-beater and Levi’s started tearing it up.

He opened up with the basics — a single, followed by double-unders, double-under crosses then triple-unders. (This is when the rope goes under your feet once, twice, three times while you are airborne.)

Speaking as a girl who was a top-notch jump roper in kindergarten, I can honestly say the triple-under is triple cool. I myself love jump roping and devoted much of my recess time to the rope, unless I was singing “We get a kick out of legs and it shows…” and doing high kicks with a classmate, now roommate Erin, who was running that 800.

Back to Ben, relations with the rope began to get a little more complicated. He started by doing figure eights and left-side right-side stuff. And pretty soon flips, push-ups and falling-onto-the-floor type things were added to the mix.

With rope in motion, he did something else. (For those who are not familiar with the field of jump roping, something else is a move that is deemed courageous and amazing by onlookers.]

Joanne, Jana (other roommates) and I continued to award “ooos” and “ahs.”

Lastly, Ben showcased how he would work the double dutch event as we were told to imagine two people twirling the ropes “here and here.” He stepped back and then took a running start as he flipped into position. Then, he had hot feet dressed in silver Nikes, and his hoofs were moving really fast. I mean really fast.

Every time the left foot hits the floor it goes down for the count. His record in the singles speed competition is 156 times per minute. Watching the silver shoes in all their glory, our mouths dropped open. He was the Pele of jump roping.

When all was said and done and he was out of breath, we applauded his performance. You see, although his blood stream had been affected by some alcoholic chemicals, he did not fall nor did he entangle himself in the rope.

Ben was pleased to comply with the idea of an informal question and answer question sponsored by us onlookers. I later sent him an e-mail to get a less-slurred and more in-depth look at the situation.

And here is the history of Ben’s jump roping career. He got into the sport in eighth grade because his sister recommended that he try out. As a fourth grader, she had already covered the continent by way of skipping contests. Ben became an international traveler as soon as he made the team.

Gymnastics were the avenue by which Ben moved into an elite class of ropers. He went to a few tumbling lessons, had help from a friend and worked on his own to augment his jumping worth.

“I found out that I like being upside down, so I just kept doing it,” he said. Because of the tumbling he and his friend are capable of, the two have won several gold medals.

After having played soccer, tennis and baseball, Ben said jumping “was by far the hardest.”

In the summertime, Ben said there are two two-hour practices each day. Three-a-days are held as competitions approach. Jumpers train in groups of four. Ben said his team in high school was unbeatable. But having split up since going to college, he has had to work with different people every year. This doesn’t allow for ample practice time to become above and beyond.

Although he has conquered the singles world title, Ben hopes someday to win a world contest with a team.

And he said, there is the possibility the summer Olympics will someday feature the sport with a rope.

I bet he will achieve his goals because I have seen the wondrous show by the athlete in the silver shoes, and I can never look at jump-roping the same way again.

---

Amanda Fier is a senior in journalism and mass communication and French from Davenport.