A local jump rope team may be one of the most famous and competitive athletic sports teams you’ve never (or barely) heard of.
Jumpin’ Jazz, the original name of the local jump rope team (changed to Proform Airborne in 1995), was started in 1988 by Connie Dunn, who “needed something to do,” and was joined a couple of years later by Shirley Orme. The two started a team that today is known worldwide for its competitiveness and amazing skills with jump ropes that has produced numerous U.S. and world champions.
Perhaps your children have seen some of the Proform Airborne team members perform at their school – the team is active in promoting physical fitness and discouraging harmful substance abuse – or you’ve seen jump ropers compete and perform locally at the Festival of Trees or in a Cirque show (including the recent Cirque Dreams Holidaze held at the Frontier Center) or even on TV on America’s Got Talent or as “venue performers” at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Many of those performers and athletes are from right here in eastern Idaho.
Yeah, the team is kind of a big deal.
Still not convinced? Consider this:
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Proform Airborne has performed in two U.S. presidential inauguration parades in Washington D.C.
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Several Cirque Dreams shows feature jumpers who have been or are currently members of the team.
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The team has performed at the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at the Phoenix Raceway (2022 and 2023).
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The team members’ performance at the 2024 Olympics is notable for a lot of reasons, including the hope of jump rope being an official sport in future Olympics.
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Jumpers have competed on America’s Got Talent, Romania's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent.
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The U.S. national jump rope team, which includes several Proform Airborne jumpers, competed at the 2023 World Championships in Colorado Springs, CO, as well as at the Double Dutch contest in Paris in 2022, coming in 2nd place in speed and 3rd place in freestyle competition.
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The team has numerous regional and U.S. jump rope tournament winners along with international champions.
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The team has performed at numerous sporting events, including during basketball halftimes at Utah State University and Brigham Young University.
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Team members have performed and competed across the world. Jumpers from Proform Airborne will send jumpers to a qualifying event in North Carolina in February with the winners moving through to the 2025 World Championship in Kawasaki, Japan in July of this year.
Not bad for a small group of volunteer coaches and dedicated, hard-working kids, most of whom are aged 12-24 years old.
You would expect the sport of jump rope to improve, and get more creative and intense as the years pass with today’s jumpers performing aerial stunts and aggressive tricks within the ropes. Sometimes, however, what is lost in all that is that some of the advances in the sport have originated and been made by Proform Airborne.
What people see today in jump rope performances and competitions is, pardon the pun, leaps and bounds ahead of where the team was when it started nearly 30 years ago.
Proform Airborne Head Coach Monica Foster said, “The skills I ended my competition career with at 21 are the same skills now easily being done by 11 and 12-year-olds. The amount of talent is incredible and the level of endurance appears to have no limit.”
That level of competition and skill takes a lot of practice and dedication, Foster added.
The team today is a mix of newcomers and veterans, and it holds community classes for all ages and skill levels. Due to the popularity of jump rope in the area, Proform Airborne has split the team into three “tiers.” The “C” and “B” team practice once a week and have opportunities to compete here in Idaho Falls as well as perform in school and community shows.
When it comes to the “A” team, Proform Airborne Assistant Head Coach Brita Lindstrom explained, “The ‘A’ team is our nationally ranked competitive team members. They practice 8-12 hours a week depending on the time of year. They generally are expected to do shows and compete at as high of a level as they can. All ‘A’ team members compete at the national tournament each summer.”
It’s the “A” team members who will try out for a national team that will compete in Japan this summer.
Hasn’t Gone Unnoticed
All this practicing and training has not gone unnoticed. As mentioned, Proform Airborne, along with the broader world of jump rope, has gained notoriety and popularity over the years as you see performances by teams and individuals in all sorts of venues and all a myriad of events.
“Jump rope has gained more momentum in the entertainment industry, becoming more common at circus shows, in amusement parks and at company retreats,” Foster said. “More schools are also incorporating jump rope into their PE classes and in assemblies across the country.”
Circling back to Proform Airborne, where do the coaches see the team in 5 years? Ten years?
“One of the biggest goals is to have jump rope debut as an Olympic sport in the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics,” Foster and Lindstrom said. “Along with having our own team members on the first Olympic jump rope team, we are hoping to make Idaho Falls a hub for an Olympic training center. Our team has produced some of the top athletes in the world and those athletes are being trained up as equally skilled mentors and coaching staff.
“We also hope to continue to spread the sport of jump rope to as many people as we can in the community. We know it’s a great way to be physically active, improve teaching and leadership skills, create lasting relationships across the globe, and even see new places.”
To get to where the team is today has taken a lot of people – and jumpers – over the years.
Lindstrom pointed out, “Monica and Matt Foster have had the biggest influence on the team for the last dozen years or so. They funded and built us a jump rope gym to call home. It’s been so nice to have the space and it really has helped the kids see just how successful they are and how much they deserve for their hard work.”
Monica Foster is also heavily involved with the national and world organizations in jump rope. The jump rope world would not run without her. She is the tournament director at world championships and has been for at least 10 years. She is very involved with the judging rules and helping our sport progress to becoming an Olympic sport. Monica had also been the head coach of Proform Airborne for 12 years.
“Connie Dunn, along with her assistant coach, Shirley Orme, started the team in 1988 and trained up a group of beginners in the sport to become world champions in less than 10 years,” Lindstrom added. “Other coaches have included Alex Macbeth, Wade Bowman, Kaitlyn and Tim Phillips, Eric Cornell and Melinda Andrus.”
500 And Counting
It is estimated that Proform Airborne has had approximately 500 competitive and performance members over the years with the number of children who have participated in the team’s 36 years of community jump rope clinics estimated at more than 5,000.
Yes, the team is teaching, training and encouraging eastern Idaho youth of all ages to jump rope, but the team’s goals are even more broad than that.
The coaches commented, “As coaches, we always try to encourage our athletes to ‘be good humans’ and that comes in many forms. We’re proud when we see their hard work pay off in a perfect performance, or when they are proud of themselves after a competition when they see their hard work pay off. We are also proud when we see them encourage not only their own teammates but cheer on and become friends with others from around the country and world. We are proud when they show up on time and are reliable and respectful to others around them. We have the best of kids in the world on our team, so being proud of them is so easy; they really are the best humans.
“Watching a team member overcome a challenge brings a lot of joy, whether that is a challenging skill, the ability to run a workshop on their own, or break through the barriers that hold them back from becoming the best they can become. Our No. 1 goal that comes before becoming a champion in the sport is to help them see the champion we already consider them to be.”
If you know someone interested in jump rope, the team offers community classes for both jump rope and gymnastics three days a week. Anyone can join at any age or skill level throughout the entire school year.
Visit proformairborne.org to learn more.