The Hot Shots of Tennessee competition jump rope team earned more accolades as seven members qualified for the first-ever U.S. National Team that will compete at the inaugural International Jump Rope Union (IJRU) World Championships. The competition, originally slated for July 2020, was rescheduled due to COVID-19 and will take place at the same location, TD Place Arena, in Ottawa, Ontario, in July 2021.
Olivia Byrd, William Pogue, Keren Rosen, Brady Siebert, Sara Smith, Delaney Talbert, and Jacob Weatherford will represent the Hot Shots on the U.S. National Team. Their qualifying events include individual freestyle, pairs freestyle, double Dutch single freestyle, double Dutch pairs freestyle, single rope team freestyle, and single rope speed sprint.
The qualification process for the U.S. National Team began last year at the American Jump Rope Federation (AMJRF) National Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, when a National Ranking Leaderboard was created. Athletes competed at national ranking events across the country, where they were video recorded performing routines for which they hoped to qualify. The recordings were then evaluated by a certified judging panel, with a separate panel reviewing and scoring all submissions for each jump rope event. Although AMJRF competitions scheduled after the beginning of March were cancelled due to COVID-19, judges continued scoring submitted recordings in order to finalize the leaderboard for the national team. Results are posted at http://www.amjrf.com/
About Hot Shots of Tennessee
Members of the Hot Shots attend Hunters Bend Elementary School, Grassland Middle School, Summit High School, Franklin High School, and Duke University. Team members have earned gold, silver and bronze medals at national and international competitions, appeared on the nationally syndicated Pickler & Ben television show, and been selected as Jump Rope Ambassador at the Arnold Sports Festival USA, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival. For more information about the Hot Shots team, visit www.hotshotstn.org, like us on Facebook at Hot Shots TN Jump Rope, or follow us on Twitter @hotshotsjumpTN. For more information about the sport of jump rope, visit www.ijru.sport or www.amjrf.com.
