If a jump rope only conjures memories of playground pastimes, you’ve never seen the Apex Skip-Its performance jump rope team in action! Watching an Apex Skip-It team member practice a routine is like trying to focus on a single rotating fan blade. The rope hums as it spins. The jumper’s wrists twist, whipping the thin cord in impossible patterns as strength and speed blend in choreographed combinations, and with every turn the rope taps the floor in rhythm to the playlist in the background. Put 40 team members in perfect synchronicity and there’s no doubt that jump rope has outgrown the schoolyard.
The Apex Skip-Its is a family-run business now in its fifth year led by Coach Tommy Hager and his wife, Alison, along with their son, Will, and daughter, Foster. It’s also a unique program in that it instills in its team members character, leadership, and wisdom with every turn of the rope.
A Philosophy to Live and Coach By
Coach Hager’s name is well-known in the Apex-Cary area. Although prepared to teach Physical Education, he took the job of Youth Sports Director at the Cary YMCA in 1992 and started the Super Skippers competition jump rope team in 1993. From that point on, he learned from influential mentors what winning, training, and leadership looked like. “I’m a much better teacher and coach because of those years of training high school and college kids. Discipline, control, and sportsmanship became ingrained in me.”
For eight years, Tommy coached at the YMCA and in 2000, with the opening of the new Salem Elementary School, he left the Super Skippers in capable hands and became the school’s P.E. teacher. He laughs as he recalls one early staff meeting before moving into the new school building. “The principal said to the other teachers, ‘…and Tommy’s going to have a jump rope team.’ We had never talked about it, but she knew I had been coaching jump rope at the YMCA.” The Salem Skip-Its team would be a mainstay for 14 years.
Initially, the team was an after-school club focused on exercise, but, as Alison explains, “Tommy was an ambassador for the school and the sport, so they began performing at other schools to kick off Jump Rope for Heart campaigns.” With the team gaining popularity, and recognizing that kids who weren’t enjoying themselves weren’t improving their skills and often quit, Tommy started holding try-outs at the beginning of every school year. Third through fifth graders were eligible to try out and the students who made the team were prepared and committed.
Keeping students challenged was something Tommy faced not only in a classroom, but also as the Skip-Its coach. “There are low-performing kids, high-performing kids, and middle-of-the-road kids and I have to meet all their needs, so how do you differentiate?” Tommy sought the guidance of his mentors and developed a series of progressively more difficult skill levels the students could achieve at their own pace, working both independently and with teammates. A student completing all skill levels was recognized as a “Skip-Its Legend.”
For Tommy, however, seeing his team members develop character and personal integrity was just as important as measuring their athletic abilities. Part of each skill level involved writing an essay about a character trait and encouraging students to recognize that trait in others as well as being able to describe how they themselves demonstrated the characteristic, but that wasn’t enough. “For years, I graduated fifth graders who were good athletes, but they were a little entitled. I didn’t like sending them on to middle school or into their community feeling like I could have done more to shape them.”
The result was the Humility Project—a new, final requirement for becoming a Legend. Tommy admits, “This was the Holy Spirit banging on the door of my head. So many times, I’ve looked back and realized I’m a slow learner. Why wasn’t I doing this all along? I sought great counsel from people I respected, typed up my vision, and sent it out.”
For credit, a Skip-It had to participate in a community service project, define and describe the concept of humility, interview people they believed to be humble, and present a visual representation of their project to the rest of the team. Alison recalls, “Parents were angry. They said, ‘This is so much work.’ It took one year and they came back to thank Tommy after seeing big changes in their child. That’s Tommy’s tireless vision—to raise servant leaders. He knew there would be pushback, but he was going to do it anyway because he was committed to the kind of kids he wanted to grow.”
Taking a Leap of Faith
By 2014, the Salem Skip-Its team had nearly 40 members. The school had converted to a year-round calendar so Tommy, Assistant Coach MaryAnne Shaw, and parent helpers managed a four-track schedule that juggled practices, school shows, teaching clinics, holiday parades, and the rare field trip to perform for audiences outside of Apex.
Tommy’s time was consumed by teaching and the volunteer hours he spent coaching. Alison, who had left her teaching job when Will was born with life-threatening heart issues, now tutored while Will and Foster were in school. Their budget was constantly strained under lingering medical bills untouched by their teaching salaries, their family time was limited, and their happiness felt increasingly fragile. Then Tommy learned that the school gym was needed for before- and after-school care, and that the Skip-Its could no longer practice there. Looking back, he believes it was part of God’s plan.
Alison wasn’t as sure and thought it was the end of the team, considering they had nowhere to practice. She remembers Tommy suggesting they form a new team, one they could own and run as a family business to supplement their teaching incomes. She recalls, “Salem Baptist Church was open to us using their gym so we met with trusted friends who helped us figure out how much we needed to make, what our expenses would be, and how to not go broke.”
The Apex Skip-Its team, re-named and re-branded with their own logo and equipment, held try-outs in September, 2014. The new team consisted of students from several local elementary and middle schools, past Legends, and three high school students who were former Salem Skip-Its. Former Skip-It and award-winning Super Skipper Melissa Robinson was hired as an Assistant Coach, dividing her time between the team and her job as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at UNC Hospital.
Despite the Hagers’ trepidation about charging families to join the new team, success was immediate. They revised the skill levels to challenge the older and experienced team members. They expanded the Humility Project requirements. They booked performances, service trips, and teaching clinics across the state. They established a mentoring program. And they created a high school internship position for an interested team member in their junior or senior year.
A Team (and a Sport) with Endless Potential
After four seasons, the Apex Skip-Its team has graduated three high school students and welcomed Jessica Black as Assistant Coach. Melissa Robinson is about to be married and the team now has 91 Legends in its combined history. Handwritten forms and receipts have been replaced with online registration and payment options. But while much has changed, every part of the program is still aimed at continuing to promote the development of character, leadership, and wisdom in every team member.
A steady stream of returning Skip-Its remind Tommy and Alison that what they do goes beyond just jumping rope. “Our graduates are the ones we want to put in front of the younger kids as role models,” Alison says. “They’ve become part of our family and we’ve had the privilege of being able to ‘do life’ with them for an extended amount of time.”
Tommy adds, “Our program is improving every year because of the families we get to work with. We’re not perfect, but every year we grow and get better because of the people we’ve surrounded ourselves with for 25 years, and especially the last four.”
Coach Hager sees jump rope as “an inexpensive sport you can do almost anywhere, by yourself or with a friend or group. Jump rope is going to help your physical fitness and, if you’re into another sport, it’s only going to make you a better athlete. Jump rope is great cross-training for any sport where you’re changing direction or you need endurance, foot speed, or timing. If you’re looking for a safe, fun, potentially skills-based sport or a new skill development, jump rope is one of the best.”
The Apex Skip-Its team has appeared at schools and nonprofit organizations statewide; half-time shows and health expos; museums and parades; fall and spring festivals, and church and PTA events. The team can be booked for performances and/or skills clinics in which participants learn and practice single rope jumping (freestyle, power, and speed), partner skills, and Double Dutch (turning and jumping).
For more information, visit www.apexskipits.com and the Apex Skip-Its Facebook page, or contact Coach Hager directly at apexskipits@gmail.com.
