An 11-year-old Thames Valley skipper has become one of the first New Zealand juniors to compete at an international jump rope competition – and returned home with three national records.
Te Puru School student Raeya Edvalson travelled to Brisbane last month to compete at the Queensland State Championships, held from June 12 to 14, alongside three other New Zealand athletes.
Her performances earned her the country’s first junior national records in the sport, as well as qualification for next year’s Junior World Championships in Norway. If she attends, Raeya would become the first junior to represent Aotearoa on the world stage.
Coach Sacha Willetts said Raeya’s achievement was a significant milestone, not only for the young athlete, but for the future of competitive skipping in New Zealand.
“Her achievement is huge for the development of the sport within New Zealand,” she told The Profile. “Raeya is helping to pave the way for New Zealand kids to get involved and showing them what is possible.”
While New Zealand had not previously recorded junior national records in the sport, Sacha said Raeya had now claimed the first three – for the 30 second speed sprint; three minute endurance; and 2×30 second double-under relay with her partner.
“[It’s] a pretty cool claim she’ll always be able to make,” Sacha said. “Her scores were really decent, particularly in the three minute endurance event where her score was 324 – so that’s 648 jumps in three mins.”
Sacha – who is also president of Skipping New Zealand and runs kids jump rope classes each Monday from 4.30pm at the Jack McLean Centre in Thames – also praised Raeya’s work ethic leading into the event.
“She showed strong commitment to improving and mastering her freestyle routine, which included several skills that were relatively new to her. Her results from the competition reflected this.”
For Raeya, the opportunity to represent New Zealand was one she never expected when she first picked up a skipping rope about three years ago.
“I started out the worst in my class, but I worked to be the best and realised that I could excel,” she told The Profile. “Then I was given the question: ‘Do you want to go to Australia and represent New Zealand?’ It would be a big step up but I was really excited.”
Raeya said representing New Zealand on the international stage was an unforgettable experience, and discovering she had set three national records came as a complete surprise.
“When I found out that I set three records for New Zealand, honestly, I was stunned. I didn’t think I did that good, until I did,” she said.
“The most challenging [event] for me was probably the three-minute speed step, because it feels like it goes on for so long, but I managed to push through. My favorite was the freestyle because you get to do different moves, so it’s a bit more interesting.”
Raeya thanked her parents and coach Sacha for helping her reach the milestone, and said she hoped other tamariki can follow in her footsteps in the future.
Skipping New Zealand is working towards hosting the first Waikato Interschool Jump Rope Championships later this year and is inviting expressions of interest from schools throughout the Thames Valley.
DETAILS: For info, contact sachaskips@gmail.com
BY KELLEY TANTAU
Te Puru School student Raeya Edvalson, 11, holds the certificates recognising her junior skipping records. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
