Jump Rope from Carolina for Kibera on Vimeo.

Thirteen-year-old Hamisi Kondo’s jump rope is a white blur in the gym of the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland. He slows down only for special tricks – things like jumping rope on his hands. Or while doing flips. Or while doing push ups.

When he’s finished, the crowd screams. Girls rush up to meet him, pulling on his arms. Hamisi  just smiles.

He’s from Tanzania, and his English is limited to a few words. His coach Isaac Rubirya (translates most of what’s said.

"He loves the jump rope because it’s a wonderful game and he get in this jump rope quick as possible. And he loves it very much.”

 To Africa and back

Hamisi and half a dozen others from Kenya and Tanzania are in the U.S. on a four-city tour that started last week at the World Jump Rope Championship in Washington, D.C. The trip and training are part of a charity called One World One Rope. It was started by Oberlin graduate Michael Fry in 2009.  He won a $28,000 competitive grant – one of three given out each year to graduating seniors. It covered the cost of his plane ticket, living expenses, coaches and ropes for the first year.

"I’ve been jumping rope competitively for 15 years. And as I started to steer away from competition, as my bones start to feel a little bit older, I wanted to find a way to give back," said Fry. "The sport has given me so many opportunities. And I decided I wanted to introduce a program in another country. So, I looked for contacts in Tanzania because my sister had taught at a school there a few years back."

Fry says his goal was always to bring the team to the U.S. to compete, though he didn’t expect would happen so soon. He attributes the kids’ dedication.

 “You know they’ve come from very difficult background but like they have never once made an excuse for themselves or an excuse for their upbringing or their background. All they’ve given me is their hard work and their passion for it. They’ll work for hours without even a break until they’ve mastered that one skill, and then their face just lights up.”

Long days, and nights

Among the hardest working is Hamisi.

Back home, he practices five days a week. His coach, Rubirya, translates: "Sixty to 80 hours."  

That  paid off last week. Hamisi won five medals at the world championships, including a gold for best novice in his age group. 

Fry met Hamisi’s coach Rubirya at a group home in Tanzania. Fry was doing a demonstration. Rubirya  was hooked. He plans to make jump rope a family tradition beginning with his newborn son.

  “I’m just having a little boy. My boy, he got born one day before I fly to United States of America. Just like two weeks, he is old. I went today to get him a jump rope.”

Rubirya has that extended family, but Fry says family is an abstract for many of the kids, who come  from orphanages or group homes.

“They're so used to sharing everything. There will be 60 kids each sharing one basketball, one soccer ball, one box of crayons," said Fry. "But with jump rope they just loved having something that was their own. That they could call like this is my rope, you know I’m going to take care of this rope, practice with this rope.” 

Local coaches taking over, here and abroad 

The team is on to Seattle,  then will return home to Africa. Fry will accompany them, for now. He wants local coaches like Rubirya to take over within three years,  while he  moves onto another country.

 “I want to see jump rope around the world. I want to see jump rope in the Olympics," Fry said. "You know it sounds crazy, but you need 75 countries at a minimum to even be considered for the Olympics, and jump rope right now is around 25. So, I see every country as one step closer to that goal.”  

Back at the Boys and Girls Club, outreach coordinator Ricardo Franklin says he plans to start a Boys and Girls Club jump-rope team. He’ll sell the athleticism of the sport. 

"I was just surprised how much sweat I had going, and you know how my body feels right now. It’s just another athletic event that I think that our kids you know would love to get involved with.”  

But Franklin says a bigger attraction – for pre-teen boys and girls – may be the admiration of other pre-teen boys and girls.