An upcoming episode will feature skills and talents from the United States, including the local Firecrackers. Host Ayako Imato saw a YouTube video of the team that went viral four years ago and wanted a chance to feature the girls.
The camera crew arrived to a gym packed with fans and admirers, who watched as the Firecrackers taught Imato some of their jump rope moves.
The TV show isn’t the only exciting news for the team.
“There is a movie about the Firecrackers in the works,” said coach and founder Lynn Kelley. “A screenwriter/director from Hollywood contacted the team three years ago after seeing the Naval Academy performance on the Internet. A script has been written, and the production company is in the process of casting actors.”
Q: Who are The Firecrackers?
A: The Firecrackers are a precision jump rope team composed of 24 girls in third grade through eighth grade from Kings Local Schools. The girls do fast-paced, choreographed jump rope routines to music at halftimes of high school, college, and NBA basketball games, at parades, community events and other public venues.
Q: How did the team begin?
A: The Firecrackers grew out of elementary physical education classes at South Lebanon Elementary school in the Kings school district in 1996.
The South Lebanon fourth- and fifth-graders put on a physical education show annually, and I looked for physical education activities that could be showcased and choreographed to music. A jump rope fit the bill!
The jump ropers were such a hit with the audience at the PE show that my husband, Ed, suggested we jump at halftime of a Kings game. We did — at a JV girls’ game with about 25 people in attendance. The girls received a standing ovation, and we were asked to jump at a boys’ JV game the next week. The team continued to jump for halftime at Kings and Mason games for the next couple of years.
In 1998, Miami University extended an invitation to the team to jump at a Miami mens’ game. From there, someone from the University of Dayton saw them and invited them to a UD show. It snowballed gradually to about 30 shows per year in 2013.
Q: What goes into creating a routine?
A: First of all, the girls have to have quite a lot of jump rope skills and tricks mastered. We add to their repertoire every year by going to jump rope camps, creating new tricks, having world champion jump rope instructors in for clinics to show us new moves and watching other teams perform.
We listen to hours upon hours of music to find appropriate song choices, and then we spend many hours editing the music and combining several versions of the same song together to create a piece that we can then use in our show. After that, we listen to it literally hundreds of times so that we can place skills in the appropriate places in the music. Every beat in our seven-minute show is choreographed, and we make changes to our routines almost weekly throughout the season to make them more exciting and entertaining.
Q: What are some of the team's most notable performances?
A: Macy's Parade in New York City in 2001, 2003 and 2005; an appearance on the David Letterman Show in 2002; the Inaugural Parade and the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington DC; the Jerry Lewis telethon; halftime shows at major universities, such as Ohio State, University of Kentucky; University of Cincinnati; University of Louisville, Indiana University, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, University of Virginia, Clemson, The Naval Academy, Michigan State; and also NBA games for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers are some of our favorites.
Q: How does it feel to have gained international attention?
A: The Firecrackers are somewhat unique in the jump rope world in that we don't participate in competitions; we are a performance team only. We are very proud and honored the girls are being recognized for their efforts and hope this will encourage other youth around the globe to explore the sport of rope jumping.
Q: What lessons do the girls learn while part of The Firecrackers?
A: The Firecracker Jump Rope Team is not just about jumping and physical fitness. Yearly, the girls take an etiquette course, a public speaking course, participate in many community service projects and do several events to show and express their appreciation to others.
These life lessons – plus their many travel experiences and our core covenants of hard work (our motto is the six Ws — work will win when wishing won’t), personal responsibility (“If it is to be, it is up to me”) and taking ownership of their team — help to give the girls poise, commitment and leadership skills that will last their lifetime.
None of this would be possible without the wonderful people that help run the team, our volunteers — Dave Query, Patty Cory, Wendi Herbert, Melissa Allee, Eddie Young and all the terrific parents that support the program.
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