Taking the Jump: Casey Buscher

Casey Buscher has been jumping rope since the third grade. The classic driveway and elementary school recess activity is a great choice for kids to be active and have fun, but Buscher decided to hop into something more serious.

She tried out for The Jumpin’ Jammers, a competitive jump roping team that competes in the Jump Rope National Championship, FISAS World Championship, and the World Jump Rope competition out of Colleyville, Texas. The Jammers were so successful that they got to compete around the globe and face the best teams from countries like Canada and Australia.

Buscher’s talents lie in Double Dutch, a style where two ropes are simultaneously swung with a jumper (or multiple) in the middle. Buscher and her team placed third place in Nationals in Disney Land.

Buscher grew to love jump roping, and she still keeps up and follows the sport. She explained, “Once I got into it, I really fell in love with it, even though I always played basketball.” Now, she still jumps rope on the side for exercise, but has ambitions for the future of the sport. Buscher says that her goal the goal for USA Jump Rope is to make it an Olympic Sport.

-- Harrison Kelly

TRANSCRIPT

Harrison: I am with Casey Buscher, and I will be asking a few questions about her illustrious jump roping career as a child. When did you get into jump roping?

Casey: I tried out for the jump roping team that I was a part of in third grade, and I jump roped for about seven years. I did it competitively and we travelled around the country and competed in Nationals, and a lot of different events

Harrison: What was competing in Nationals like? who did you jump rope against?

Casey: So we jump roped against teams all over the world, there was people from Australia, people from Canada, but my team consisted of like fifty different people, and there was events like Double Dutch, and speed roping, and single rope jumping, and double partner jumping, so there’s about eight different events that we competed in.

Harrison: What was your specialty?

Casey: My best award I ever got was third place in Nationals in Double Dutch and that was in Florida. We competed at Disney World.

Harrison: How old were you?

Casey: I probably was thirteen when we got that place in Nationals.

Harrison: Is this something you’ve loved your entire life? Or were you just, not forced into it, but more you did it and it kept growing as a thing or is there a passion for jump roping?

Casey: In my hometown, there is a team called the Jump Rope Jammers, and they were really known, and so it was always something I’ve wanted to do because they were kind of looked as idols on the elementary school and stuff because they jump roped really good, I guess. Once I got into it, I really fell in love with it, even though I always played basketball, and it was kind of like my conditioning to be better at basketball. So basketball was always my main sport but I jump roped on the side to stay in good condition, and it was fun too.

Harrison: Do you see jump roping anywhere in your future, and do you still jump rope now?

Casey: Sometimes I still jump rope, I try to do it more because it’s good exercise and stuff, but I still keep up with jump rope all the time, a lot of my friends still compete world wide. One of my friends went to Worlds and competed in Egypt. But I hope one day jump roping becomes an Olympic sport, that’s the goal of the committee right now for the National Committee of Jump Rope is to make it an Olympic sport, so I hope it goes in that direction.

AUDIO:
https://soundcloud.com/user-543315415/casey