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Abbotsford Skipping Sensations celebrate grand opening of new facility

Local skipping group thanks sponsors for assistance, look ahead to 2021 World Championships
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The Abbotsford Skipping Sensations celebrated the grand opening of their new training facility on Sept. 29. (Submitted)

The Abbotsford Skipping Sensations celebrated the grand opening of the club’s new facility on Sept. 29. The following information below was submitted by Chair of the Parent Executive Kerry Baird to honour the occasion:

The Abbotsford Skipping Sensations are a competitive jump rope team based out of Abbotsford and have been one of the premiere jump rope clubs in the country for 30 years. We have nationally recognized coaches, and athletes that have competed and excelled at provincial, national and international competitions.

Aside from travelling around the country to many provinces to compete at the Rope Skipping Canada National Championships each year, many of our club members have competed as Team Canada in the following: FISAC World Championships in London and Hong Kong, Pan American Championships in Orlando, and recently the World Open Invitational in China. Our athletes have medalled or placed in all of these tournaments and most recently finished as second place overall in the China tournament. These competitive endeavours have earned our team a spot in the local Abbotsford Sports Hall of Fame.

RELATED: Abbotsford jump rope athletes: Skipping to Nationals

In addition to international travel and tournaments, we perform many local and regional performances. Some of the highlights have been halftime shows at TWU, CBC and UFV collegiate basketball games, Canada’s Got Talent semi finals, 2010 Olympic Village festivities, and local Abbotsford Agrifair and Canada Day Celebrations. The team has also participated in various corporate festivities hosted by Telus, Lululemon, New Balance and even Cirque du Soleil.

As part of the ethos of the Skipping Sensations, we strive to give back to the community at a grassroots level. The club volunteers as a demonstration team for Jump Rope for Heart in many regional elementary schools, promoting jump rope as a heart-healthy exercise. The team conducts many after school workshops and learn-to-skip camps in the community, eager to grow the recreational facet of the sport. We continue to partner with local school districts and Abbotsford Community Schools to endorse jump rope as a fun activity that is accessible to people of all levels. Furthermore, the club has used jump rope as an outreach activity in service trips abroad to Mexico, Thailand and Uganda to engage and interact with marginalized kids and impoverished communities, to promote the positive aspects of sport and the universal language of play.

RELATED: Jump Rope Provincials come to Abbotsford

This year (2020) we found ourselves in the challenging COVID-19 era. This heavily impacted our team since we were without a place to practice, due to restrictions on user groups in public schools. The team is aiming to qualify for the first IJRU World Championships which are scheduled to be in Ottawa in July 2021. It is the most highly anticipated competition in the global jump rope community. Our team has taken the bold and progressive action to enter into a one-year lease for our own practice facility. This will give us a place to train, but also a space to teach and continue running community camps. The commercial warehouse space we have rented has a concrete floor, so we required a specialized sports flooring installed for us to jump on. This flooring was almost $17,000. As a small club of only 24 athletes, this cost (in addition to now paying for practice space) is a large financial burden for families on our team. However we are overjoyed and very fortunate to have had corporate sponsors cover the cost of the flooring and contribute to some of the improvements in our space. We would like to gratefully acknowledge our Platinum Sponsors: Sapphire Sound, Caliber Projects, Standard Insulation, Exclusive Floors, New York Painting and Coating and WJ Mouat Technology Department. Other sponsors included Hi Beam Contracting, Vesta Projects, Clearbrook Iron Works, and Columbia Cabinets.

Our new facility is located in the Mana Corp Building on Forrest Terrace in Abbotsford. For more information on our programs or to rent our space go to skippingsensations.com.



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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