By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
The Double Dutch Divas, a local non-profit organization that has taken an age-old children’s activity and turned it into a health and wellness activity for all ages, has taken jump roping to new heights.
According to Double Dutch Divas Founder and CEO Angie Mosely, during COVID, people were desperately looking for activities to participate in to help bring a sense of normalcy to their lives in a time when it was anything but normal. Working to instill a sense of community, camaraderie, and health consciousness all rolled up into fun, the Double Dutch Divas started out as a movement among friends and family that quickly became an outlet for community members to commune and still adhere to health recommendations set by health officials during the pandemic.
“The way Double Dutch Divas was established was simply hanging out with friends and wanting to get some exercise during COVID. The world got put on hold, and we were stuck in the house,” says Mosley. “The way that I work is I do not like to just sit around, because an idle mind is the devil’s playground.”
“Instead of sitting around the house eating and not exercising, I wanted to do something that involved exercise and because it was during COVID, we had to do something that adhered to social distancing. So, jumping roping, double dutch to be more specific, made all the sense in the world,” added Mosley.
Mosley and her cohorts would meet regularly down at the hydroplane pits on Lake Washington and began working out. Soon, as passersby noticed the activity, word got around, and the group began to grow.
Mosley says that the welcoming environment created a safe space for women of all ages to let go of their fears and join the fun.
“Sometimes there are women who don’t necessarily like working out in front of people, or like sweating or are self-conscious, but we don’t care about those things, and more importantly, we don’t judge,” says Mosley.
Jamila Merritt and her ten-year-old daughter Amor Merritt joined the Double Dutch Divas soon after their first experience. Merritt, who double dutched as a little girl, loved the sport and wanted to introduce her daughter to it.
“This is an amazing group of women that are definitely focused on giving back to the community,” says Merritt. “I had been doing double dutch since I was a little kid, and so I wanted to get my daughter involved in doing double dutch because it was something I loved to do when I was her age.”Double dutch is still a welcomed sight on playgrounds, sidewalks, and school yards in Black communities across America.
Double dutch took off in New York in the 1930s. When David A Walker of the NYPD saw that girls in his neighborhood had fewer opportunities to play sports, but had perfected double dutch with their rhymes and creative moves, he envisioned the game’s full potential. In 1973, Walker developed a set of rules and competitive double dutch was born.
According to Mosley, double dutch is more than a sport or an activity; it is an outlet that people can enjoy and that can impact other parts of life.
“It builds confidence,” says Mosley. “It provides hope for the hopeless, it helps with anxiety, helps people get out of depression, to know that they are going to be around others that are exuding a sense of joy or happiness.”
The Double Dutch Divas thrive on the idea of community involvement and activism. They provide an age-old activity as parents are looking to bring playing outdoors back as an alternative to being in the house or on the phone or computer all day. To them, double dutch provides a sense of healthy well-being, and more importantly, the children love it.
“Getting kids to be active again instead of sitting in front of the TV or on tablets and computers and stuff,” says Merritt about the importance of Double Dutch Divas. “We don’t see kids as much in the summertime out playing, riding bikes, playing with their friends and jumping rope. Bring it back to something so basic, it’s really simple and the kids just love it once they catch on to it and they want to do it all the time.”
Amor agrees with her mother and says that she loves double dutching.
“It’s really fun and helps me to learn to set goals,” says Amor. “But it is really fun and I’m getting good at.”
“Double Dutch is really easy to learn, and you should really try it one day,” adds Amor.
