Scotland’s Wrap Queen: Eilidh Smith’s Jump Rope Knots Untied! (Ep. 26)

Dizzy Skips (00:00)
Eilidh Smith, thank you so much for joining me on the Jump Rope Podcast all the way from Scotland.

Eilidh Smith (00:04)
It’s good to be here.

Dizzy Skips (00:06)
Yeah, so fun to have

you. I’ve been watching your videos. I was trying to prepare a little bit and I was just watching video after video of you and I swear my brain got so twisted in wraps. Like you are such a wrap master and I wanted to ask how did you get into wraps?

Eilidh Smith (00:22)
It’s funny actually, initially I was not into them at all. I spoke to Chris and was one of the messages I sent to him way back in like 2021 or something. I was like, wraps are so hard, wraps are so boring, how do you do them? And then…

Dizzy Skips (00:27)
Yeah.

Hahaha

Eilidh Smith (00:37)
It’s funny, like after that and then I got into some of Chris’s wraps but there was a series by Dan Skips, he did the wrap Wednesdays and I slowly got more into that and that’s how I gradually started understanding that kind of stuff. And it kind of went from there to be honest and now I’m just obsessed.

Dizzy Skips (00:55)
Yeah, I

mean, one thing that’s sort of cool is that I’ve watched enough of your videos that you’ll have like Mini Wrap 70, Mini Wrap 71. And you’ve like got this series and I wondered, you write those down or are you planning them or nope?

Eilidh Smith (01:02)
Yep.

Nope.

Just whatever comes up here.

Dizzy Skips (01:10)
So if I said, I want you to bust out Mini Wrap 55, would you know what it is?

Eilidh Smith (01:14)
Well no, not quite like that,

I would have to go and look at it because there’s too many of them for me to remember. Like I remember the most recent ones but not like… I remember like the first two and then the last couple I’ve done. I can’t remember any of the rest of them.

Dizzy Skips (01:18)
Yeah, right.

Well, it’s a brain teaser for me. It’s fun to watch. Like, and I, it made me wonder if you’re a puzzle person, like if you’re somebody who likes puzzles. Yeah. Well, certainly some of those wraps like you get wrapped in so many different ways that I visually am like, how’s she going to get out of that? I have no idea.

Eilidh Smith (01:28)
yeah.

Yeah, I do.

Hmm.

It’s it’s planned madness is how I like to call it. So like, I’ll think, I can do like an arm wrap and maybe put my leg through that wrap of the arm wrap. And then kind of just think of like before and after and during. And then I just think, I can do this other thing. Maybe add that onto it. Maybe add a release or whatever.

Dizzy Skips (01:50)
Yeah, that’s great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, interesting.

So Eilidh, you’ve been jumping rope for quite a while. I think on your profile it says you’re 25, right? And you’ve been jumping since 2020.

Eilidh Smith (02:10)
have

Yep,

I have. It’s been a long time, five years.

Dizzy Skips (02:18)
Yeah, wait, how what got you started? What got you interested in jump rope?

Eilidh Smith (02:20)
It was kinda weird,

cause it was during Covid and my mum wanted me and my brother to do something and she saw an advert for these ropes so I actually took to it, my brother didn’t really like it but I took to it straight away and I started, it was like a Nike wire rope, funnily enough and I started doing stuff and I was like, oh this is cool and I saw Rush Athletics, his ropes and I was starting to watch him and the croc, the, what’s it the?

Dizzy Skips (02:38)
Okay.

Eilidh Smith (02:49)
The Jump Rope Dudes. I started watching them and I got my first proper rope from Rush Athletics and I was like oh this is awesome and I started getting into that boxer style footwork kind of stuff which is totally not me anymore. But I got into that and I got that rope and I started learning double unders and things like that and then I got an advert for Chris’s ropes and I was like oh they’re beaded.

Dizzy Skips (02:52)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (03:16)
What is this? I looked into it and it said you could create your own. I was like, oh, I’m doing this. And then when it came, I was like, oh, this is sick. So when it came, I was like, I wonder what I could do with this. And his Trickionary, some of his stuff he was creating way back then came up and I was like, oh, this toad. Let me try that. What is that? I can do a cross. I’ll try the toad. And then when I saw the mic release, I was like, this is ridiculous.

Dizzy Skips (03:20)
Yeah, totally.

Hahaha

Mm-hmm.

I know, right?

Eilidh Smith (03:43)
this is how you release in the rope and catching it but I kind of was at that time that’s why I’m speaking to Chris he was helping me with the mic release and then somehow within the space of four days I do not I got it in four days the mic release I caught it and jumped it

Dizzy Skips (03:45)
Yeah.

My, my, that’s pretty great. Like I, I know I’ve talked to people on the podcast who are like, yeah, I worked on it for a year, six months,

Eilidh Smith (04:09)
I’m a very very quick learner with a lot of the things I do. It’s just the way my brain works. I’ve got ADHD so I’m constantly like that. That’s like with my combos it’s the same. Even from the beginning I was learning stuff really quickly and Chris was like, you’re so fast learning stuff. And me as well.

Dizzy Skips (04:19)
spin. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I’m curious if you don’t mind me asking, how do you find the ADHD affects your jump rope or your jump rope affects your ADHD?

Eilidh Smith (04:42)
It’s

more my ADHD with remembering. Like I will be working on a combo and it will just go. It’ll just go out my head. And I’m like, for f*** sake, where’s the combo? What was the combo? And I’ll end up having to pause the recording and go back to my phone and look at it and I’m

Dizzy Skips (04:51)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (05:00)
I don’t remember.

Sometimes I’m not recording and I’m doing a skill. Like today I was doing something and I was like, what was that thing I was going to do? Then it came back to me so I was like,

Dizzy Skips (05:08)
Mm-hmm.

Do you get the kind of focus, like when you’re jumping rope, do you feel focused? Like you look really focused.

Eilidh Smith (05:19)
I’m very focused. You see my concentration face? With the tongue in my mouth and that. It’s been commented on a lot throughout the years of me jumping my concentration face.

Dizzy Skips (05:19)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it’s great.

Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, I’m sure I have a little bit of a concentration face. I know several people in the community who are just lovely people and as soon as they start jumping rope, they get serious and they’re all down to business, you know? Yeah. So the first rope that you got from Rush Athletics was at like a PVC rope.

Eilidh Smith (05:35)
it will be.

yeah.

Yeah,

was a PVC rope that was like, I it was like four millimetre or something.

Dizzy Skips (05:53)
Okay. And so when you got the one from Chris, it was your first beaded rope.

Eilidh Smith (05:57)
It was my

first speed and it was so much heavier and I noticed that difference right away like the way I was able to move it was easier. My Rush Athletics rope didn’t last that long because of the nature of the rope. I was using a mat but it just because it was so cold at the time of when I started jumping it just didn’t stand a chance.

Dizzy Skips (05:59)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

I did that to an Elevate Rope. Like one of my first PVC 4mm Elevate Ropes snapped it because I was jumping outside.

Eilidh Smith (06:22)
Yeah, and then, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (06:24)
So now are you primarily beaded?

Eilidh Smith (06:27)
Yes, the only time I’ll use PVC is for my multiples. So like my triples and stuff. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (06:30)
Okay, like when you’re doing double-unders and stuff

like that. Yeah. I watched a video of you earlier that tickled me where I, you were trying to do a TJ and you’re working on it. You’re working on it. And when you land it, it surprised you and the look on your face and you were like, holy yeah.

Eilidh Smith (06:48)
It’s

always the problem, like how did I really do that?

Dizzy Skips (06:50)
I know. Yeah, you had some choice words and it just made me giggle. It was terrific. when you started jumping, how long did it take you until you decided I want to get serious about this.

Eilidh Smith (07:01)
It was 2022, the start of 2022. I had had coaching with Chris for about a year, just getting my basics, understanding all the skills and the theory behind it, like the acronyms and stuff. So once I was at a point where I’m like, OK, I know what I’m doing now. I went with Nate. So it really got serious very quickly and I progressed so fast.

Dizzy Skips (07:10)
Okay.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, Nate’s fantastic.

Eilidh Smith (07:26)
just starting out small and

moving towards like my multiples have just skyrocketed over the last couple of years when I was with him. I mean…

Dizzy Skips (07:33)
So

can you, what, go ahead, sorry.

Eilidh Smith (07:36)
Yeah, I mean, from not being really able to do a double-under cross very well to being able to do like a TJ by like 2023.

Dizzy Skips (07:43)
Mm-hmm. Can you talk a little bit about the coaching that you had with Chris and then also the coaching you have with Nate? Like, what does that look like? Was that a weekly thing? Was it Zoom?

Eilidh Smith (07:52)
So with Chris it was twice a month, think it like an hour. I found it to be really good and Chris is one of the best guys I’ve come across in the jump rope community. He’s so supportive and I love his company and the message that he has behind it as well. Just trying to get everyone to jump. I liked his way of teaching, especially for the theory because I’m very much the same.

Dizzy Skips (07:56)
Okay.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eilidh Smith (08:14)
I like the theory behind all the different jumps and stuff. And then when I went with Nate, it made it bit easier for me to understand what was going on. If Nate was like, oh, do an EBCL or whatever, I wouldn’t be like, oh, what the f*** is that? What is that? So, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (08:15)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah. I

have not met Chris yet. One thing I’ve heard about him is that he’s really into the, the physics of the rope, you know, and that really comes through, which makes me happy. The science nerd in me is like, yeah. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (08:39)
yeah, he’s…yeah.

I actually really like that. The science

and the way the rope moves, like the arc and that. Even when I first started the make-release it was just those tiny tweaks of where it was in the air or where it was positioned on my wrist and then it just clicked and then…

Dizzy Skips (08:49)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Yeah, it’s crazy how sometimes, you know, what seems like a small adjustment like that, like, don’t throw the release out quite so far, just keep it in tighter to your body. Like, wow, it’s a game changer.

Eilidh Smith (09:12)
keep it to slide, yeah.

I it is crazy, isn’t it?

Dizzy Skips (09:17)
Yeah.

And Nate, of course, Nate was on a few episodes ago and yeah, he is just, he’s an OG. Like he’s, he thinks deeply about jump rope too. And yeah, he’s very into the body mechanics and stuff and so much fun to talk to him about that. So are you meeting with, you mentioned to me via text the other day that you were still working with Nate. What does that look like?

Eilidh Smith (09:24)
yes.

Well not this month

but definitely next month I’ll be getting back to it again. It’s just kinda to help build my combos and just we’re trying to do longer combos instead of the short ones that I tend to do. Which I quite like and then the creative combos that we come up with I love doing that stuff so…

Dizzy Skips (09:40)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So when you’re, are you working on, like I mentioned at the beginning that you’re a wrap master. Are you working on a lot of wrap related stuff or are there different types? Okay.

Eilidh Smith (10:03)
Actually no. There’s

some wraps but it’s mostly like say a mic release to like a 180 Texan into like a Toad or something completely ridiculous. Or some leg cross or maybe into like a double or a triple and then just carrying it back to like a cross. It’s kind of just mixing those skills you wouldn’t normally see.

Dizzy Skips (10:16)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (10:26)
So I think it’s so cool.

Dizzy Skips (10:28)
So everybody you heard it here first, Eilidh’s gonna do a 180 double Texas toad TS cross double-under back flip. Right. Yeah. So can you talk about why you jump rope? I’m, yeah, why do you?

Eilidh Smith (10:38)
T.S. backflip just for Aaron, yeah?

Why a jump rope? That is a question.

Dizzy Skips (10:48)
Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (10:49)
Mostly just for my mental sanity to be honest. It keeps me going. It stops me from overthinking and getting too bored. Because I find I always have to be doing something. A jump rope is like the cam in the middle of it. It just kind of helps me.

Dizzy Skips (10:53)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eilidh Smith (11:07)
I don’t know, all my problems seem to just wash away when I jump. It’s like I don’t think about anything other than just what I’m doing at that moment. I don’t think about work, I don’t think about the stresses of my life at that current moment. Just jump, wrap, wrap away and chill out.

Dizzy Skips (11:13)
Yeah, that’s magic, isn’t it?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So speaking of work, like what is it that you do?

Eilidh Smith (11:26)
I work in the UK, it’s a Tesco’s, it’s just a supermarket and I help with the home deliveries. I pick out the items and then it gets sent out. It’s not exactly, it’s not most fun job in world but I don’t mind it. I’m… No, I don’t. No. It’s a lot of moving about.

Dizzy Skips (11:33)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it’s probably don’t have to take it home with you, right? Like you get to leave it at the office, so to speak. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mentioned at the beginning, you’re in Scotland, but where in Scotland are you ?

Eilidh Smith (11:59)
I’m near Inverness, if most people know where that is, I don’t know. Aberdeen, Glasgow, where it looks like a weird L. I’m just in the middle. I’m very north.

Dizzy Skips (12:01)
Okay.

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Okay. And so you have snow on the ground now.

Eilidh Smith (12:12)
Yeah, well not right now. It’s actually been hot and sunny which I’m… I don’t want it to be. I don’t like it.

Dizzy Skips (12:18)
You don’t like the hot and sunny?

Eilidh Smith (12:20)
It’s like I like it but like I don’t. I don’t know. It’s just too warm just now for me. I like it April. Just give me a couple more months and then can get warm again.

Dizzy Skips (12:23)
Yeah, too warm. Yeah.

Yeah, I grew up mostly in Alaska and then I live in Minnesota now and so I have had my fill of cold weather, you know. I can imagine before too long living in a warmer climate.

Eilidh Smith (12:32)
Mm.

Thing is, I don’t think I could live in a warmer climate. just, I know. I’m just not made for it.

Dizzy Skips (12:43)
Really.

I just like the idea of like getting out of bed, putting on shorts, you know, not a ton of clothes and then going outside and jumping rope in the sun.

Eilidh Smith (12:51)
Yeah,

I mean yeah in the winter it does get a bit tedious having to go out and put two t-shirts on, put my hoodie and my body warmer and my gloves and my neck thing and my hat and I’m like ugh. And by the time I do that I’m like I don’t want to go out anymore.

Dizzy Skips (13:04)
Yeah.

I, yeah, I’ve had, I’ve had that internal conversation as well, where I’m making deals with myself, you know, And sometimes when it’s really cold, I’ll take a hot shower and get right from the hot shower, like into long underwear. And then, yeah, I mean, cause honestly, when it’s really cold, sometimes it’s hard to keep your muscles loose. Even, even you stretch and all that sort of stuff. And then if you’re not constantly moving, I have to restretch, know, just kind of.

Eilidh Smith (13:17)
that’s smart.

yeah, definitely.

I do find when it’s been really cold I have to just do doubles and footwork or leg crosses because wraps just they keep you warm to an extent. Like when the weather’s okay just now and it’s like no it’s more like rest kind of things but it depends how you do them.

Dizzy Skips (13:40)
They don’t get your heart rate up as much, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. So, can you talk, we mentioned your beaded rope and how that was heavier. So the heaviness of it gave you more feedback and did that make it easier for you to learn?

Eilidh Smith (13:57)
Yes.

Yeah, it gave me a lot more feedback than the PVC at that time. So was able to kind of feel where the rope was around my body. Especially for like any of the crossing tricks really and the releases, I was able to feel where it was. And then when I started learning these like floater handle pass release thingies, I was able to feel where it was in the air and don’t have to…

Dizzy Skips (14:02)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (14:21)
you know, worry about this PVC just dropping dead to the floor.

Dizzy Skips (14:24)
Yeah, that’s one of things I love about heavier ropes is just that extra feedback. it, I think at first I thought, you know, if you’ve got a heavy rope, it’s just going to make it harder to do the trick. But in actuality, I think in a lot of ways it can make it a lot easier because you don’t have to work so hard to figure out where the rope is. Like when you’ve got that four mil PVC rope whipping around you,

Eilidh Smith (14:29)
Yes.

Definitely.

Dizzy Skips (14:45)
Since you don’t have as much feedback, you have to pay more attention to your wrists

Eilidh Smith (14:49)
I know nowadays I’m more in tune with where it is but at the start I just couldn’t have like figured it out for the life of me.

Dizzy Skips (14:55)
Yeah, yeah, I don’t know how many times I’ve slapped myself in the back of the head at 100 miles an hour.

Eilidh Smith (15:00)
Dude! PTSD.

Dizzy Skips (15:02)
Yeah, I tried it.

Eilidh Smith (15:03)
I’ve done TS’s where

the ropes come and just hit me there, I’m like, ugh, I’m gonna go inside now, you

Dizzy Skips (15:07)
Oh,

yeah, Yeah, that’s a painful one. The ropes to the face. Outside of coaching, have you used other resources to learn? Like…

Eilidh Smith (15:13)
they suck. They

So Chris has done workshops in the past. I think he did two last year and two years before. Maybe one year before that I can’t remember. But I’ve learnt a lot at those because I’m with loads of people that have the same common interest. And then there’s these competitive jump ropers like Mike Fry and all that coming over to give us these lessons that we wouldn’t normally get in person if we don’t normally be online.

Dizzy Skips (15:24)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Eilidh Smith (15:45)
So yeah, the workshops is the one thing I really enjoyed and the meetups, just meeting up with other people, they’re common interest.

Dizzy Skips (15:53)
Yeah, you’ve got

some fun videos on your Instagram feed of meetups like you with a whole bunch of people and it just looks like a blast. I saw Lauren Jumps there and several other people and doing combos together. Like there’s one with you and like three or four other people where you’re all doing combo at the same time. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (15:58)
Mm-hmm. it’s so fun.

Yeah, it’s so cool. There’s nothing

quite like a meetup.

Dizzy Skips (16:14)
Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (16:15)
Just the

happiness and the endorphins that is going around everyone is just so good. I can’t wait for the ones this year as well, so it should be fun.

Dizzy Skips (16:24)
Yeah, I wish I could come to the one that’s in London on the 5th. Yeah, I would love to do that. Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it this year, but maybe next year, yeah. But I definitely have it on my radar to get to a meetup this year because I think that would be fun. I don’t know if you heard the episode with Foley on it, @doc.jumps.

Eilidh Smith (16:28)
London. I so wish you could come, that would be…

next year.

You should, you should.

Dizzy Skips (16:47)
Like she was talking about meetups and how she sort of had that same feeling like, eh, I’ll go to the meetup, but you know, maybe I’ll get there not quite when it starts and you know, whatever, but that it was like an amazing thing. And I thought one of the things that she. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (16:57)
Yeah.

It doesn’t really matter when you turn up either, you can just turn up

and just jump for as long as you want and leave or you can stay to the end and go out for food afterwards which is what I normally do.

Dizzy Skips (17:12)
Yeah. One of the things that she said that I thought was so cool was that there’s basically this common language among us, you know, like we don’t have to tell each other what jump rope means to us or how, you know, exciting it is or whatever. We don’t have to get that look that you get from your friends or your parents where you’re trying to explain to them like I did a T.S. and they’re like, that’s great. Right.

Eilidh Smith (17:23)
Exactly.

god, I know, yeah. I did it and they’re like, what the fuck is that?

Dizzy Skips (17:37)
So about the meetups, can you describe how, I’m sure you’ve gone to different meetups that have been structured differently, but how long are they and what are you doing? Are there actual classes?

Eilidh Smith (17:49)
Typically

it’s not class, it’s literally you just turn up and chat with folk and jump, make combos, just chill out and just… I don’t know, have a good time. There’s no pressure to do anything, can just… the music’s on and you’re just doing whatever. You could be chatting, you could be doing flow-rope, you could be…

Dizzy Skips (17:57)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (18:09)
Jump rope, double darts, wheel, any of the kind of stuff because there’s no pressure on you. And they’ve even had like kids joining in that walked past. So it’s quite cool.

Dizzy Skips (18:18)
Nice. Mm hmm.

That is cool. There’s a cool video of you on your Instagram jumping rope in the middle of a double Dutch rope. So jumping double Dutch. And then I think you do a release in the at the end of it, too. I go Eilidh.

Eilidh Smith (18:26)
See how that is hard? I can’t

tell you how bloody hard that is honestly. knocks the wind out you.

Dizzy Skips (18:37)
You made it look easy, like jumping rope while you’re jumping rope and then doing a release was…

Eilidh Smith (18:42)
I would like

to shout out the Jump Rope Sisters for that because they actually helped me at one of the first workshops that Chris put together. They helped me do that and I’ll be forever grateful because I love double dutch now. I was like I didn’t really like it before but now I love it.

Dizzy Skips (18:50)
Yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah, I did it when I was an elementary school kid, you know, but I’ve never done it as an adult, but it…

Eilidh Smith (19:07)
when you

get tummy up does you need to do double dutch it’s so fun

Dizzy Skips (19:11)
it looks like it would be amazingly fun.

So talk about your ropes a little more. Like how many ropes do you have? Do you have a favorite?

Eilidh Smith (19:18)
Yes, well at the moment I have got a favourite because it’s new. It’s the one by Elise from Canada. The Canada rope. But my all time favourite one that I’ll go to is my mic Monday one from the set. I love that rope. Yeah, mic Monday is a series she did and it was a specific design of rope she made. I just love it.

Dizzy Skips (19:22)
Okay.

Okay.

mic Monday?

okay. Okay.

Eilidh Smith (19:40)
I don’t know, it’s just like the perfect length and everything.

Dizzy Skips (19:40)
Yeah. What do you? Yeah. How do you size your ropes?

Eilidh Smith (19:45)
And I go by beads.

Dizzy Skips (19:46)
Yeah, you count them. So what’s your length?

Eilidh Smith (19:47)
Yeah.

I think it’s 75? Might be less. I normally leave like, ah, but three beads between the handles. And the first couple of beads.

Dizzy Skips (19:53)
Yeah? Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I learned early on that that was the way for me to do it was not to like try to size every rope originally each time. Like you learn like these beads are one inch beads. I need 84 of them, you know.

Eilidh Smith (20:11)
Yeah, exactly. when I did it the first time and I just counted how many beats on it, it was just like, I can do that now, it’s fine. I don’t need to worry when I size my other ropes.

Dizzy Skips (20:18)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. Do you, are all your ropes like roughly exactly the same size or do you have some that are a little longer? Okay.

Eilidh Smith (20:25)
Not actually, I’ve got some that are longer for

certain wraps and learning like harder skills and I’ve got short ones for doing doubles and triples sometimes for my form but then I also I now use them for wraps like because my wraps have become so like my forms become so tight in terms of my wraps I’m able to use them

Dizzy Skips (20:33)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

So the wraps are very interesting to me. Like so far, you know, my, do a few arm wraps here and there, but like you don’t see a lot of wrapping. I don’t do much in the way of leg wraps or anything like that. Or they’re inadvertent. I do leg wraps when I trip myself up, right? But is it, I just am so curious about like, what is it that you’re getting from the wraps?

Eilidh Smith (21:00)
That was fair.

yeah. Don’t know, though.

I don’t… it’s kind of weird. I don’t know. I don’t know. I think that just it’s like a puzzle for my brain. I just I don’t know. I just love them. I love the like crazy things I can get into with them.

Dizzy Skips (21:15)
Why are you obsessed with them?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, well you do get into some crazy things. But it’s so cool. It’s so, it’s interesting to watch. It is a little bit of a brain teaser. It’s like me watching aaronjumps.365 do crisscrosses like a machine gun. Yeah, and I mean, he is like a machine gun, just one after the other and your wraps are the same way. Like you’re just tied in a knot until you’re not.

Eilidh Smith (21:37)
His crosses are crazy good.

yeah.

Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (21:47)
So what about, are there other mental health benefits, like you mentioned focus or sort of not thinking about other stuff, but what other benefits have you got? Not necessarily just mentally, but physically as well.

Eilidh Smith (21:54)
Yeah.

Actually

physically I’ve noticed my stamina and my endurance is very good. If I was to go on a run I’d be able to cope with because my stamina is so good from the jumping. I’ve found that I’m actually able to jump higher than I used to because obviously there’s certain thing you need to do, you need to go up.

Dizzy Skips (22:06)
Mm.

Right.

Yeah, yeah. You know, one weird side effect that I haven’t really talked about, but that I found, so certainly stamina is one, but lung capacity, like my lung capacity and the effect, like I am no professional singer, but I sing a lot in the car. I sing when I’m out in the park, you know, skipping, right? And, and just being…

Eilidh Smith (22:28)
yeah!

Mm-hmm. I can believe that.

Dizzy Skips (22:41)
being able to hold a note for a lot longer or to have more in it. It’s weird. It’s like jump rope has helped my singing.

Eilidh Smith (22:47)
It’s like you

can kinda go jumping while actually talking to yourself or singing to yourself. I’ve noticed that. I could be like mid-trip on it I’ll be speaking to myself in the air.

Dizzy Skips (22:53)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, or sing to the rest of the park.

Yeah.

Yeah, I’m doing the same thing. And then I also get so into the music that I, you know, like will sing out loud or I, I made a joke and it wasn’t actually really a joke. This really happened. I was out at the park the other day and I was skipping to this country song. “I Had Some Help” – and

I’m just really into the song and I’m flowing and I’m always jumping to music and gets to the chorus and the guys yell, I had some help and I yell, I had some help. And then I look around the park and there’s, you know, mothers with their kids and there’s ladies walking their dogs or whatever. I had some help.

Eilidh Smith (23:36)
hilarious. I love it. You’re just in your own little zone. I just love it.

Dizzy Skips (23:37)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I get in my little bubble.

Eilidh Smith (23:41)
They’re just like, yeah, just chillin’ out of my rope,

don’t mind me singing along.

Dizzy Skips (23:45)
Yeah, yeah, this lady came up at the park the other day with a dog and said, I’ve seen you out here before. Are you are you like a fitness trainer or something? said, No, I’m just a jump rope nut. I just I jump rope for mental health and fitness and love it. It’s like, that’s so cool.

Eilidh Smith (24:00)
it. funny. I’ve had people come up to me be like, are you an athlete or a competitive? I was like, no, I just do this for recreational fun purposes. I’ve had a lot of that in the gym, but then I also get the weird looks like, what the fuck is she doing? Why are you doing that? I’ve had a lot of nice interactions as well. Where I jump now in my front garden, I get a lot of people walking by.

Dizzy Skips (24:10)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm Yeah. Well,

Eilidh Smith (24:23)
and they smile at me, and I’m like, aww.

Dizzy Skips (24:23)
Mm-hmm.

That’s nice. Yeah, I don’t know as an adult, like seeing people jump when I when I did, you know, get on like YouTube and started seeing Lauren and Kaydee and all these other people like, my gosh, that is just the coolest thing. And if I would have been walking down the street and seeing someone do that, I would have been the guy who stopped on the sidewalk and was just like, my God, can you teach me? Right. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (24:46)
Yeah, jaw dropped.

Dizzy Skips (24:49)
So, also, think I’ve seen you as part of Kathy Jump’s community, right? Yeah. Yeah, she’s pretty fantastic. I love Kathy. Yeah. She’s, I love her footwork too. She’s got some really great footwork stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And she’s got such a fun attitude as well.

Eilidh Smith (24:53)
Yes, I was.

I love Kathy, she’s great.

she’s just mesmerizing to watch. I just love her flow.

yeah, she’s so awesome. It’s funny, I’ve actually been talking to her recently about these like behind the back swings and how ridiculously annoying they are. when you do them they come and whack you in face.

Dizzy Skips (25:10)
Have you been to…

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, she and I talked about jumping backwards and taking it to the face. Like, that’s why you wear sunglasses, not because you think you’re cool, but because you want to protect your eyes.

Eilidh Smith (25:24)
Alright suits.

I swear I wear my, like

I was just telling you I had my hood up and I’m like thank god I had my hood up or else I would have had a black eye.

Dizzy Skips (25:35)
Yeah.

Yeah. So,

Are you, do you use any apps or anything like that to, to learn? Have you used trickshion area or any of those kinds of things?

Eilidh Smith (25:42)
Yeah, I’m on the Trixie

Ray Plus since Chris announced it, but I’ve been helping in behind the scenes a lot with that, which has been really cool. So I’ve kind of been seeing it just blow up and people just loving it.

Dizzy Skips (25:48)
Okay. Yeah.

Neat. So helping behind the scenes with like certain wraps and stuff.

Eilidh Smith (25:58)
Yeah, so I’ve actually been uploading all of my wraps onto that app for people to access for free. Not for free, but…

Dizzy Skips (26:02)
Okay. neat.

Yeah. For Tricktionary. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (26:08)
So when you see like Igma doing her the wraps it’s from the Tricktionary app most of the time.

Dizzy Skips (26:13)
Neat. That’s cool. I, Tricktionary was something that I heard about, you know, I don’t know, several months after I started jumping and started paying attention. For those who might be listening who don’t know what it is, can you describe it?

Eilidh Smith (26:20)
Hmm.

So basically it’s like a library of all of the jump rope skills you can imagine. They’re obviously not all in there yet, but a good majority of them are. There’s now this community page where anyone can upload anything jump rope related and you can go in and recreate that. You can make it different or you can do the same so other people can see how you did it. And the trick of the day thing with the streak is also a thing.

you’ve probably seen. There’s three tricks of the day. You can pick one or all three and then just tick that off and then that starts your streak. It kind of helps you keep consistent. And there’s some people in there that have got streaks over 500. So it’s crazy. But I love it. It’s got challenges you can do with any skill. Footwork, crosses, swings, turns, wraps, you name it.

Dizzy Skips (26:59)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Thanks.

That’s so cool. That’s so cool. I find those kind of things so helpful. I haven’t actually tried Tricktionary yet, but I’ve got Lauren’s Fancy Feats app and I’ve got a few others and a member of Kathy’s crew on Instagram and she’s got all sorts of great resources there too.

Eilidh Smith (27:20)
He said it’s good.

Mm.

yeah.

She’s just got some real good stuff.

Dizzy Skips (27:33)
Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about like what a workout session looks like for you? Are you warming up and then how long are you jumping or wrapping or swearing?

Eilidh Smith (27:41)
So my

sessions alternate. Like today I did mostly double unders or triple unders and maybe a couple of wraps. But I’ll have a session where I just do wraps. That would be my rest session. And then say tomorrow I’ll, I will probably do wraps tomorrow at some point. Because that’s like my rest day.

Dizzy Skips (27:55)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Eilidh Smith (28:01)
And then these sessions can typically last from between five minutes to about an hour, hour and a half. But it’s mostly me looking through stuff to see what I can do.

Dizzy Skips (28:02)
Mm-hmm.

So.

when you get started jumping rope, are you setting out to like, I’m gonna work on a specific trick or a specific combo or something or?

Eilidh Smith (28:22)
No, sometimes maybe if I’ve stream recorded it beforehand but I typically just go in and get myself warmed up. Maybe do a couple of doubles, crosses, leg crosses. And then once I’m actually warmed up I will go into doing what I was planning to do. If it’s just wraps that I’m doing or releases I will just drill the releases so my shoulders are warm.

Dizzy Skips (28:40)
Okay.

Okay.

So your, so your warmup is basically jumping, but just not high intensity jumping.

Eilidh Smith (28:55)
No, it’s

quite low intensity stuff. Just get me started.

Dizzy Skips (28:58)
Okay.

And do you do a cool down at all, Eilidh? No? You’re young, yeah. When you get to be old like me.

Eilidh Smith (29:00)
You

No, to be fair,

actually I’m not supposed to stretch because I’ve got hypermobility syndrome. So it’s basically my joints go like that and they bend further way further back than they should. So when I stretch, it just elongates them and then I’m more prone to injury.

Dizzy Skips (29:09)
what’s that?

That’s interesting.

interesting.

Eilidh Smith (29:20)
That’s also why I bruise quite easily.

Dizzy Skips (29:22)
That’s interesting. does that affect your jumping at all? Like have you been, you’re not more prone to injury while jumping with that?

Eilidh Smith (29:30)
Weirdly enough, don’t think that the only injury I’ve had from jumping rope is shin splints

Dizzy Skips (29:30)
just can kind of…

Okay.

Eilidh Smith (29:35)
I managed to sort them pretty quickly.

Dizzy Skips (29:37)
Good. Yeah, shin splints, no fun.

Eilidh Smith (29:39)
god. It’s funny, touch wood, but I actually haven’t had them since that first time. Which is wild to me.

Dizzy Skips (29:45)
Yeah.

Yeah. Do you, so you said your sessions are between five minutes and an hour. And, does the length just depend upon the day and how you’re feeling, or is it really what you’re doing?

Eilidh Smith (29:58)
Mostly depending on my mood. See if it’s five minutes. If I’m not feeling very well, obviously it’s not gonna be very long. But if I’m in a really good mood, it tends to last up towards an hour. Especially if it’s sunny or whatever. I’ll be like, oh, it’s such a nice day and I’ll just get out and do whatever.

Dizzy Skips (30:00)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

and

Yeah. So are you listening to music at all while you’re jumping? Because you put your stuff to music, I notice. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (30:18)
Nope.

I do. That’s just

pure luck that it matches up. Also when I’m in the gym I do listen to music but when I’m at home I don’t tend to. Not when I’m at jumping.

Dizzy Skips (30:26)
Hahaha

And

Why is that?

Eilidh Smith (30:34)
When I have music on while I’m trying to do something, it just gets on my nerves because I can’t think of what I’m doing.

Dizzy Skips (30:39)
Mm.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Eilidh Smith (30:41)
So

when I don’t have it on, I’m I’m able to think clearly.

Dizzy Skips (30:44)
Yeah. My whole mission is not to think, but you’re doing these crazy puzzles. you’re putting your

Eilidh Smith (30:47)
Well, I mean, yeah, that also works.

I’m like, kinda have to

get my brain somewhat engaged, you know what mean?

Dizzy Skips (30:55)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I work out hard, I treat myself like with food or stuff like that. Do you have any treats that you reward yourself with? Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (31:06)
Sometimes, sometimes. I normally

just have like a fizzy drink or something.

Dizzy Skips (31:10)
Yeah. Well.

Eilidh Smith (31:11)
Most of the

time I just wait until I eat and then I’m like, oh, that’s fine. Maybe I’ll have a chocolate bar after my dinner or whatever.

Dizzy Skips (31:18)
Yeah, cool. Well, I’m not as tame as that always.

Eilidh Smith (31:22)
Well no. I

don’t tend to eat a lot

Dizzy Skips (31:27)
So, Eilidh, you’re also doing the Jump for Joy 100. So what made you decide to do a 100 day skipping challenge?

Eilidh Smith (31:29)
I am.

So basically my jumping was pretty inconsistent the last year I would say because I’ve had life problems. Things not really going my way. But when I saw this I was like I haven’t done a challenge in a while. Because I’ve done Kathy Jumps’ 100 day thing way back in like 2022.

Dizzy Skips (31:39)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eilidh Smith (31:55)
So was like, why don’t I just do another one? Because I seen Peta, she just seemed so lovingly wanting me to do it. So I was like, sure. And everyone else was hopping and was like, Eilidh’s doing it now, you see all her wraps. But no, I actually really enjoy doing it, even if it’s for a couple of minutes every day. Like when I had the flu, I felt dreadful.

Dizzy Skips (32:05)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (32:22)
I just went out and I did it and it just made me feel that little 1 % better than I did if I didn’t do it.

Dizzy Skips (32:28)
Yeah. Yeah, it’s amazing that that effect. know I’ve had I can’t tell you the number of times where it’s been cold out or whatever. And it’s that hassle of getting all dressed up or, I’m not sure I have it in me today. I’m just tired or whatever. And then I just make myself do it. And it just doesn’t take but a minute of bouncing for me to be like, this is exactly what I needed. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (32:48)
then you’re in such a good mood for the rest of the day from it as well.

Dizzy Skips (32:53)
Do you have a specific time of day that you normally jump?

Eilidh Smith (32:56)
No, I just jump whenever I want, whenever I can.

Dizzy Skips (32:58)
Yeah,

So what are your goals as far as jumping goes? You said you’re working with Nate on combos and stuff like that, but like, if we talk again next year at this time, what do you, what do you want to have accomplished?

Eilidh Smith (33:10)
I kind of just want to like keep unlocking stuff because there’s a couple of things I do want to try and achieve like certain skills I would like to get better at. I would like to try and get quads. I think I’ve done like two types but I don’t really do them that often so…

Dizzy Skips (33:17)
Mm-hmm.

So would you describe those?

Eilidh Smith (33:26)
So it’s a quadruple under, it’s four rotations of the rope for every jump but you’re in the air for all four of Doing a swing, swing and open and open. That’s one quad.

Dizzy Skips (33:29)
for every jump.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Eilidh Smith (33:40)
I’d like to be able to string them together at some point. That would be pretty cool.

Dizzy Skips (33:43)
Yeah,

I mean, pretty soon you just will learn to fly, right? Like if you can, if you can be in the air for four rotations of the rope, make it six, make it eight.

Eilidh Smith (33:47)
exactly, who needs that, you know?

Someone’s actually got the world record for eight unders. Mm-hmm. Of continuously doing that.

Dizzy Skips (33:56)
Really?

I wonder what kind of rope they were using.

Eilidh Smith (34:01)
was

wire rope. But they’ve actually managed to do it with a PVC rope and do seven. It’s ridiculous, I know. It’s crazy.

Dizzy Skips (34:07)
Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s amazing to see just the breadth of different types of styles that people have and things that people do, you know, like, like you with the wraps are so amazing. There’s another, there’s a guy that I follow who does acrobatic stuff. Like he’s doing, you know, forward cartwheels while he’s, you know, jumping rope and

Eilidh Smith (34:18)
definitely.

yeah.

Dizzy Skips (34:31)
people who just dance with rope, people who have short punchy routines. I just think it’s so fascinating and so fun to watch.

Eilidh Smith (34:37)
I just like the variety

of this community of people’s styles. It’s so cool.

Dizzy Skips (34:41)
Mm-hmm.

So can you talk a bit about the jump rope community and like you’ve been doing this since 2020 so I guess you’ve kind of seen more of the evolution of the jump rope community on Instagram, right? Can you talk a little about that?

Eilidh Smith (34:52)
Yeah, I have.

Yeah.

It’s kinda, I don’t know what it is. It’s definitely evolved. There’s a lot of people that don’t actually do it anymore. I’ve noticed. There used to be quite a few of us up here, but they don’t do it anymore. Not that can see. But for the most part, in Scotland, yeah. But for the most part, it’s not changed.

Dizzy Skips (35:10)
when you say up here, mean in Scotland?

Eilidh Smith (35:18)
hell of a lot since I’ve been there to start. I know the meetups has definitely changed with lots and lots of different like more new people coming through to jump but I mean I still love it all the same. It’s such a supportive community I mean it’s been like that since day one. You struggle with something little and someone will come and help.

Dizzy Skips (35:24)
Mm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (35:41)
That’s what I didn’t expect when I first created my account, was how supportive a lot of these people are.

Dizzy Skips (35:47)
Yeah, and you get support from literally all over the world, right?

Eilidh Smith (35:51)
yeah,

just everywhere. It’s funny, I’m actually meeting up with someone from Inverness who jumps also. Like next week.

Dizzy Skips (35:54)
Yeah.

yeah?

Nice. You gonna put some combos together? Wrap them up tight?

Eilidh Smith (36:01)
yeah, most definitely. Now she’ll probably

end up getting me doing footwork so…

Dizzy Skips (36:07)
Yeah.

Love the footwork. I kind of am. A little bit.

Eilidh Smith (36:11)
I am not a footward person.

Just a little bit.

See, I don’t understand you, Dizzy, because you put a mat out and then you’re like 50 miles away from it.

Dizzy Skips (36:22)
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. I get that a lot. Like, why do you even take the mat? Honestly, I use the mat during warmups more than anything, you know? Like, I’ll do warmups and then I’ll, I…

Eilidh Smith (36:24)
I’m like, what’s the point?

Dizzy Skips (36:33)
I’ll do jump rope warmups and then I do some calisthenics stuff. And for the most part, I stay on the mat. But the problem that I have is that I put on the headphones and I start playing music and then my dancey pants get antsy. even when I’m warming up, I’m in between pushups and sit ups or whatever, I’m dancing around like a lunatic. Yeah. But yeah.

Eilidh Smith (36:36)
Mm.

and that you’re all over the place.

Hahaha

dancing about I mean yeah it’s like when I’m in the gym

as well I’m like just in them in between a certain I’m like just jamming out to whatever I’m listening to

Dizzy Skips (36:58)
Yeah. Yeah. I love the traveling. I love the moving around and it’s interesting. I’ve been thinking about it more because you know, I like jumping on those limestone benches. I’ve done a whole bunch of jumping on these, you know, benches that are like 18 inches across by four feet or something like that. And, and that you don’t have as much room to travel. It’s more confining, but, there’s something really special about that too. So I, yeah, I can’t wait for the park.

Eilidh Smith (37:01)
Mm.

Mm.

aye. yeah.

No.

I like it when you do it on the

like narrow stuff. I think it’s cool.

Dizzy Skips (37:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, it’s fun. Yeah, I posted a few videos recently of that one the other day when it was snowing and I got up and jumped on.

Eilidh Smith (37:33)
Are you… I don’t get it,

I would not do that. Even if you paid me I wouldn’t do that.

Dizzy Skips (37:36)
I know, your comment

was like, I wouldn’t even go out in that weather.

Eilidh Smith (37:40)
I know

I was like nah.

Dizzy Skips (37:42)
Yeah, no, it’s too fun. I don’t know, I’ve got the addiction, know, like gotta jump and yeah.

Eilidh Smith (37:46)
I know, I can tell.

I’m doing a course right now. A personal training, well I’m gym instructor trained and I’m doing my personal training course.

Dizzy Skips (37:51)
Yeah?

Eilidh Smith (37:57)
I’m already trained as a, I’ve got the qualification as a gym instructor so I can take people for inductions in the gym. And I’m doing my PT personal training course so I’m hoping to maybe do some coaching for jump rope. So, you know, I am qualified to do it so you know if anyone wants to get coaching.

Dizzy Skips (38:04)
Okay. Okay.

cool.

Nice. Yeah, that’s so fun. Yeah, that’s great. So with the training stuff, can you talk about what have you had to learn to… Do you have to learn basic body mechanics and just general physical fitness kind of stuff?

Eilidh Smith (38:18)
Little self plug there, you know?

Yeah so it’s a lot of like we’ve had to learn a lot of anatomy and physiology kind of just how the body moves the biomechanics of the muscles and things like that and the different systems in the body just you know it is I love it I love anatomy

Dizzy Skips (38:38)
Mm-hmm.

But that’s fun.

How long have you been doing that?

Eilidh Smith (38:48)
So I’ve done that for the last year, the gym instructor one. I just started the personal training when it was the end of last year.

Dizzy Skips (38:53)
Okay.

And is that something that you’re doing at a local gym?

Eilidh Smith (39:00)
Now it’s actually an online course and I just have to go to an in-person assessment like once.

Dizzy Skips (39:02)
Okay.

Okay, cool.

Eilidh Smith (39:06)
But

I’ve also got a degree in sports sciences, sports fitness.

Dizzy Skips (39:11)
you do.

That’s an interesting degree.

Eilidh Smith (39:14)
It’s very

interesting, mean I don’t know what use it’s got, but I’ve got it!

Dizzy Skips (39:17)
Well, you’ll be a very well credentialed jump rope coach. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (39:20)
Exactly. So if anyone wants

coaching, know, come at me.

Dizzy Skips (39:23)
come at you, all right. Well that sounds exciting. I know for me, once I found Jump Rope and found the benefits of it were so incredible for me. I just wanted to tell people and.

Eilidh Smith (39:34)
yeah.

Dizzy Skips (39:35)
And

I’m sure, you know, my family are like, yeah, we’ve had enough of that jump rope stuff now. Or they’re like, yeah, that’s great. All of, yeah. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (39:41)
It’s like, it’s the same with me. It’s like I’ll try

and tell my dad, oh I did this today and he’s like, eh. My mom kinda gets it now though because she looks at my stuff all the time. But my dad’s like, eh, Eilidh, okay, whatever.

Dizzy Skips (39:49)
You

Yeah.

Yeah, so you haven’t persuaded mom or dad to jump with you?

Eilidh Smith (39:59)
No, well actually my brother started jumping at Christmas. He managed to do like a couple crosses and jumped a bit. So I was quite impressed with that. He did a swing as well. He wants to keep up, he’s got like no time.

Dizzy Skips (40:05)
Yeah? Good. But it didn’t keep it up. He needs Coach Eilidh.

Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (40:13)
between college and going to work, so.

Dizzy Skips (40:15)
Yeah. So I’m also curious about like your technical setup. Like when you are recording yourself, what does that look like?

Eilidh Smith (40:22)
all

it is, it’s my phone leaning up against the front door.

Dizzy Skips (40:25)
There you go. It works, right?

Eilidh Smith (40:28)
I do have a tripod but I’m too damn lazy to set it up.

Dizzy Skips (40:31)
Yeah. So you just film with your phone. How? And then as far as editing stuff, do you edit all your stuff just on Instagram?

Eilidh Smith (40:38)
I just edit on my phone because

I’ve got the Samsung S24. So I got it last year. So it’s like brand new. I was actually with Apple before but it was just causing me problems. was like, ask about Android.

Dizzy Skips (40:46)
Okay.

Hmm. Got it. So you just do your editing on your phone, like in the Instagram app.

Eilidh Smith (40:54)
I actually use, I think it’s InShot I use, especially for my mini wraps. I’ll edit it on there to add the slow-mo to the normal video.

Dizzy Skips (40:57)
Okay.

okay. Interesting. So that’s just another app like CapCut or something like that. Yeah, interesting. Cool. So what else is next for you? Like when’s your next meetup?

Eilidh Smith (41:07)
It’s quite good actually.

it’s Bergen in Norway at the end of the month. I can’t wait. Yeah so I’m going to Bergen on the 24th of April. I’m so excited it’s gonna be so fun. And then in May I’m going to Paris.

Dizzy Skips (41:18)
Really? that sounds amazing.

Okay.

That sounds amazing.

Wowzer.

Eilidh Smith (41:31)
I know right? I’ve never been to Paris, I’ve been past it but I’ve never been in it. I’m buzzing for that, I’m staying for three days. then, well I’m travelling by myself but I’m staying with a couple of people. So, a couple of jump ropers. So, I’m gonna lot of talk about jump rope, I’m sure. And then…

Dizzy Skips (41:36)
Yeah.

Wow. Are you going by yourself or are you going with friends?

Okay, cool. Nice.

Yeah, yeah. Are you planning

to go to that one in London?

Eilidh Smith (41:54)
course. It cost me like nothing to go down to London. It’s like cheaper to take a flight to London than it is to get a train to Edinburgh. It’s ridiculous.

Dizzy Skips (42:02)
Wow. That sounds, I so wish I could go to that. That’s gonna be fantastic.

Eilidh Smith (42:06)
I so wish

you’d come. You know the vibes that would be there if you were there to see.

Dizzy Skips (42:10)
Well, I’m hoping that somebody somebody here in the US organizes one that I can get to, you know, like I would love to go to a Kathy Jumps meetup or something.

Eilidh Smith (42:17)
I’m sure they will, it’s… Yeah,

sometimes they’ll… I think Cathy normally organises a meetup in New York, I think.

Dizzy Skips (42:24)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I’ve pinged her about that. So if that comes to fruition, I’m going to do my best to get out there because that would be amazing. Yeah, the world traveler, world jump rope traveler.

Eilidh Smith (42:31)
Maybe I should just fly over to that as well, you know? Sadly. Well,

I mean, I’ve been to Seattle for the jump rope weekend with Elite Jumps.

Dizzy Skips (42:43)
Yeah, I saw some video of that and I know one person who works over at Elite and I wondered if you weren’t… Yeah, right, exactly.

Eilidh Smith (42:48)
There’s Crystal.

Yeah she’s funny, she saw my name written on the board from that weekend and she was like, oh is this your name? was like, yeah it’s me, did that in 2023.

Dizzy Skips (42:55)
Yeah?

That’s amazing.

Eilidh Smith (43:01)
That was like

such a sick weekend because there’s all the Porter Ballard and so many of the competitive jump ropers that I would never be able to see normally. And I met so many of them. They all so cool and amazing people.

Dizzy Skips (43:09)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That’s so cool. Yeah, I moved out to Minnesota from that area and, know, Richard Richard had jumps. He’s he’s out in the Seattle area. And so I was telling him if Kathy Jumps does a meetup in New York, then maybe he’s got to fly out here and we’ll road trip it out to New York. I’ll drive. Yeah, be fine.

Eilidh Smith (43:19)
Mm.

Yeah.

that would be ace wouldn’t it?

Dizzy Skips (43:34)
Well, yeah, so we’re going to have to meet at a meetup before too long. I it may take me a year to get over seas or whatever, but we’ll make it happen. Yeah. Yeah, there’s lots to learn in the meantime. Lots to practice. Yeah. Yes, there is. Well, Eilidh, this has been lovely

Eilidh Smith (43:42)
That’s fine.

definitely, definitely. Always stuff to learn.

Dizzy Skips (43:52)
there’s all sorts of people coming into the community all the time. And I think in the Jump for Joy 100, there’s a whole bunch of people who are like, yeah, it’s my 17th day or it’s my 30th day or whatever, they’re just getting started. Yeah, so when you see people who are just getting started or thinking about getting started,

Eilidh Smith (43:55)
this.

Yeah, they’re like brand new, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (44:07)
What sort of advice or recommendations do you have for them? Whether it be like,

Eilidh Smith (44:11)
I would just say

honestly just stick at it because you will get better. It may take you 5 years, may take you 10 years but or it may take you 5 minutes you just don’t know. If you stick at it and keep going for it and you enjoy it I don’t see why you shouldn’t give it up. Just stop doing it. I just say keep trying. These people that do the mic release that are getting demotivated I just say keep trying because it will happen.

Dizzy Skips (44:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. I know, when talking to Joe De Luca, Papa Joe on the podcast, on that, episode that was released this week, you know, one of the things he just hammered home was consistency, consistency, consistency. And, and I totally get that. And I think one thing that I have done before is

Eilidh Smith (44:41)
yeah.

yeah, 100%.

Dizzy Skips (44:54)
got it in my head that, you know, if I’m gonna get good at jump rope, I need to be able to practice for an hour a day or two hours a day or, you know, something like that. But I think actually that’s, that can be self-defeating. I think, you know, if you get out there for five minutes a day and you just have a routine and you’re consistent and you hopefully warm up a little bit and then, you know, jump.

Yeah, it’s amazing how quickly you can get better. it’s so fun when like those times, like that video I watched of you where you landed that trick and you were like, holy yeah. I was like, that was those little times where you land those tricks and you realize you’re making progress or where you look at a video and you see, oh man, that footwork was way smoother than it felt or whatever. It’s just so rewarding. And for me, it’s like a snowball, right? I see that stuff in my little

Eilidh Smith (45:37)
hmm. yeah.

Dizzy Skips (45:43)
momentum gets bigger and it just makes me want to go back. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (45:47)
No it’s I would just say, honestly just stick at it. Can you ever know? If you get one thing you’re like, but I could actually learn this now and then it just grows and grows and grows. That’s what it did for me.

Dizzy Skips (45:51)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Have you done the rope flow stuff at all?

Eilidh Smith (45:59)
I have, it sometimes, I actually quite enjoy it.

Dizzy Skips (46:03)
Yeah. What do you

like about that? What does it do for you different than jump rope?

Eilidh Smith (46:06)
I don’t know, it’s a very

meditative kind of thing, I would say.

Dizzy Skips (46:10)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (46:10)
If I’m not in the mood to jump

or wrap, I will just get my rope out, my flow rope, and I’ll just do the swings. I like the whooshing sound.

Dizzy Skips (46:16)
Mm-hmm. And when you do that, yeah,

I was gonna ask, you listen to music at all when you do flow rope or no? Do you respond to the sound of the rope? Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (46:22)
No, not with Lola.

Yeah, I prefer to hear the rope.

I actually just like the sound of the ropes anyway, so…

Dizzy Skips (46:32)
Me too. In fact, one of the videos that I made this week, I, when I produced the video, I dropped the volume of the music and increased the volume of the environmental so you could hear the rope hitting. And it’s like ASMR for me, like just that sound, that tapping of the rope. just, it almost just makes me feel more content right away, you know, or safe or happy. don’t know. There’s something about it that’s primal.

Eilidh Smith (46:41)
Mmm.

actually is though isn’t it?

I know right?

Like going back to flow rope, I’m not new at it but I don’t know a lot about it. I can do a couple of swings maybe here and there or a texan, a turn. I don’t know, there’s some right weird names for these flow rope skills but I’m just like, just throw the rope around and see what happens.

Dizzy Skips (47:02)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I don’t have all the names down yet, but did educate me that there are names for flow rope tricks that are different than the same name in jump rope. So like the EB is this, is it the sneak or the underhanded sneak? Yeah, yeah.

Eilidh Smith (47:26)
Yeah, the underhand sneak or something like that, overhand sneak, I dunno. It’s like the swings are not

swings, they’re overhand and underhand or something.

Dizzy Skips (47:34)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. But one thing that I’ve loved about, and I’ve only been doing the flow rope thing for the past week basically, but one thing that I’ve loved about it is that idea of getting both of my sides in better balance. Like I think in general, jump rope has really helped out with that, but yeah, being able to do things on both sides. I guess that’s a question I have for you is,

Eilidh Smith (47:39)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Dizzy Skips (47:56)
when you are practicing a skill or trying to learn a skill, how much emphasis do you put on learning it on both sides?

Eilidh Smith (48:03)
I tried to put quite a big emphasis, like if I’m doing this skill the first time I try to even it out and do it on both sides. Like say take, I don’t know, take the toad for example. If I’ve done it on one side I need to do it on the other side. That’s why people are always so surprised with my releases is they think, do you have a dominant side? But I don’t really. Obviously throwing it on the left is easier, but I can also do it on the right.

Dizzy Skips (48:10)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eilidh Smith (48:29)
I was talking to

Fabian and he was like, it’s not fair you don’t have a dominant side or a weak side because I train things on both sides the same with my wraps I try to do it on both sides it may take me a bit longer on that other side but I can safely say I can do it on both sides

Dizzy Skips (48:34)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, I did you hear the episode with Coach Nate where he was talking about that? I thought that was really brilliant. I think if I could do my best to kind of repeat what he said, was like one of his tactics for learning a skill was like say the EB or EB or a micro release or whatever you do it 10 times on one side and 10 times on the other side and

your dominant side, may land at, you know, say five out of 10 times your non-dominant side. Maybe it’s zero or maybe it’s one or something like that, but you just kind of keep a log of that and you do it for set, you know, 10 times every day. And then at the end of the week, you kind of total it up and you’re not looking to improve every day. You’re looking for your average to improve over the week. And when, so after I talked to him, I, that night I was

Eilidh Smith (49:26)
Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (49:34)
Practicing releases and I had only really been practicing my dominant side and I started trying my non-dominant side and the surprising thing was I wasn’t as terrible as I was with my dominant side when I started, you know what I mean? Like I had the Right Yeah, it still felt awkward and I was kind of like alright this needs to be prettied up but

Eilidh Smith (49:38)
Hmm.

I think it’s because you already have the pattern kind of down so then your brain’s like I can kind of do this. That’s what I found.

Dizzy Skips (49:59)
I landed it a few times and I was like, that’s crazy. But one of the things that I liked about his tip too was that when you get something down on one side and then you try and do it on another side where it’s harder for you, by nature of doing that, it makes the dominant side easier. You go back to the dominant side and you’re like, oh, I’ve got this. Yeah, yeah, super fun.

Eilidh Smith (50:11)
Mm-hmm.

yes that’s a piece of cake yeah

Dizzy Skips (50:21)
Well, Eilidh, this has been so much fun talking to you and I really appreciate your time coming on and talking to me and for your support on Instagram. It’s always fun to see you tie yourself in knots and get out of it. Like, yeah, yeah. Well, I will be there watching and rooting you on.

Eilidh Smith (50:24)
Yes.

This will be good.

Yeah, I will continue to do so.

Thank you.

Dizzy Skips (50:41)
Yeah.