Skill Sequencing

Skills can be combined together into sequences the same way notes form a melody. Being able to recognise every skill within a sequence in a key tool as a jumper for learning other’s sequences.

Top tip: pay attention to how many times the arc of the rope faces the floor. Each time is a new skill. Even if you’re unsure of each skill, make a note of each skill in the sequence so you build up an accurate picture of what’s happening.

  • Sandwiched skills are skills which involve more than one jump to complete such as the Leg Over, Mic Release, or T-Toad. Here we will explore all three.

    One-Part Sandwich
    The Leg Over is an open leg cross where the hands do not the cross the body’s midline to jump the rope. Because of this, the standard exit point is a basic Cross, meaning the Leg Over is sandwiched (on one end) with a Cross.

    Two-Part Sandwich
    The name Mic Release refers to the act of performing a Swing, releasing the handle into the air, completely 1-2 airborne rotations and then catching the handle as you jump an Open. The unique ‘feature’ is the airborne rotations itself, which are sandwiched between the two pieces, the Swing and Open.

    Three-Part Sandwich
    The T-Toad is a type of tucked cross where the jumper’s bottom hand is on top of their top hand. To do this we must Swing into the tucked cross, and then Swing out to a basic Cross to exit. Because of this, the T-Toad is sandwiched between three other pieces.

  • Combos are any combinations of two or more skills together. Usually, a combo is a given a name akin to a skill when the combo is famously commonplace, such as the Awesome Annie, Switch Cross or Can Can.

    Awesome Annie is a leg cross combo where the jumper switches between a Toad and Leg Over (or vice versa) by swinging the rope behind them.

    Switch Cross is a body cross combo where the jumper performs a left Cross and then a right Cross (or vice versa) without any Open in between.

    Can Can is a footwork combo where the jumpers performs a knee raise and then a leg raise together, usually with single bounces in between.

  • In sequences, when written down informally, Swings are often not stated, but implied by the sequence itself. This is usually due to information redundancy since the Swings are necessary for certain sequences to be possible (so they happen whether they’re stated or not) or they form part of the sandwich skill they belong to.

    Let’s consider the sequence:
    Cross > EB > TS
    Since you can only transition between these skills (without Opens) via Swings, when deconstructed this would be written as:
    Cross > Swing > EB > EB Swing > TS

    This concept can also apply to other skills when they form part of a greater whole, particularly in sandwiched skills.

    Toad Wrap Release is a sandwiched skill, which when deconstructed would be written as:
    Toad > Toad Wrap > Unwrap Swing > Mic Release > Open