Local athletes have been skipping their way to the World Jump Rope Championships

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 11, 2025.

Skipping is often thought of as a children’s activity, but two university students are hoping to make leaps and bounds in the sport as they prepare to show off their agility at the World Jump Rope Championships in Japan this summer.
Deanna Fisher and Samuel Kliever, who are both attending the University of Lethbridge, will be competing in events at the competition, but each had their own journey to make it to the world stage.
Kliever began his journey as a skipper about 10 years ago, after seeing a spectacular demonstration at school in his hometown of Penticton, B.C. He decided he had to be part of the action and joined a group shortly after.
When he began his journey with his group, The Black Widow Rope Spinners, he was one of few boys in the sport, but he quickly found home competing in the sport.
After the pandemic, Kliever and a few members of his group decided they wanted to push the limits of what they could achieve. Through their determination they found themselves winning provincial titles, then national titles and then on the world stage in Colorado in 2023 where they won silver in the Double Dutch Singles event.
Kliever says it was inspiring to see the amazing talent which was present in the competition.
“It was really eye opening being able to see the athletes at that range and at that massive ability and talent was so cool to see and inspiring as an athlete.”
Kliever then graduated and moved to Lethbridge to pursue further education at the university, but says he felt like his journey as a skipper wasn’t quite finished.
“I didn’t feel like I had personally achieved the best I could at that point in my life and I felt like there was something still missing.”
He then decided to join a virtual team with Jacob Nussey, a former national champion from New Brunswick, and Casey McAvay, who became their head coach. They train individually and via facetime.
Right before competition they get together and practice for only two days, spending about nine hours per day perfecting the routine, but also making sure to prevent injuries.
Kliever says it takes a lot of trust in their own skills to pull of the tricks effectively, however, it feels like second nature.
“We trust (that) we’ve done the tricks enough in our jump rope careers to this point, we can say we’re going to set this (trick) here in the, we’re going to set (another trick) here in the routine and we know we can go through that because we have the experience of doing it so many times on the floor it just kind of comes naturally.”
Kliever’s team, the Mission Skip Stars, have their eye on the prize and hope to medal in the Double Dutch Singles event.
While Kliever’s journey to the world stage was one of determination, Fisher’s was one of patience.
Fisher competed virtually in the 2021 World Jump Rope Championships but chose to not compete in the 2023 championships as she took a break from the sport.
She says she decided to take the break for mental health reasons.
“I was pushing myself too much and it got boring and I didn’t enjoy practices anymore.”
As she watched her friends compete, she says she was disappointed, because she knew she could have made it, but it was what she needed to reignite her passion for the sport.
“I was really disappointed because I knew I could have done that, I could have qualified, I could have been there and I didn’t, so that year I decided I (was) going to put everything I (could) into this sport.”
Fisher began training for Japan summer of 2023, as soon as Worlds finished that August. Unfortunately, her training was cut short when she broke her foot and tore two ligaments in her ankle.
Ligaments often take a year, if not more to heal, but miraculously Fisher was able to get back on her feet and work towards qualifying for worlds.
Fisher says she was right on track, being able to pull record scores in the province when she got the news she had a first-degree tear in one of her ankle ligaments causing her to have to take three weeks off right before world qualifiers.
She says taking the time off to heal was hard, because she knew while she could push through and rest after, it wasn’t for the best.
“I was just devastated and taking that three weeks off was very hard because I could have pushed myself through it and reinjure myself more and then taken time off, but I knew that wasn’t for the best.”
Fisher went to qualifiers, severely under practiced, but willing to put in her best effort.
To her surprise, she qualified for two out of the three events she tried out for even though she felt as if she did not perform as well as she could have.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck Fisher again, just a few weeks after qualifiers when one of her closest friends unexpectedly passed away.
Fisher says while she is very excited to wear the maple leaf, she knows it will be tough but hopes to make her friend proud.
“I’m just so excited to represent Canada, Worlds is going to be a pretty tough time for me because in December I lost one of my closest friends,” says Fisher. “She has known me before I even started skipping.”
Fisher is hopeful that one of her events lands on her friends birthday July 31.
Throughout her journey Fisher says she has learned to not compare her journey to others.
“It’s a ton of patience and learning to not compare your journey to other journey’s,” says Fisher. “There’s people at worlds who have been skipping for 20 years and are just insane, or people that are skipping for only two years and are just insane and my journey doesn’t look like that, but I was never in the sport to compete at a world level, I was in it to have fun and to meet friends.”
Both Fisher and Kliever agree that some of their best friends have come from the skipping world.
Kliever says he is very thankful for the friendships he has made through the skipping community.
“Whoever would have thought that (my teammate) Jacob would be my best friend,” says Kliever. “A kid who lives out in Nova Scotia-a five-hour flight away and it costs hundreds of dollars of flights just to see him, that we get to be best friends and we get to compete together and we get to have that really unique goal of competing on the world stage.”
Just as with any sport, being able to compete on the world stage is a costly expense for these University kids.
Kliever says just for the chance to compete it costs $1,000 per athlete, not including flights, accommodations or food.
Kliever’s team currently has a go fund me with a goal of $9,000 to support the three athletes dreams of participating on the world stage and hopes one day to be able to give back by giving kids in Lethbridge the chance to participate in the sport he loves.
“I know one day when I can afford to support somebody else, that’s what I will be doing,” says Kliever. “When I can no longer jump and move my legs anymore, I hope I will be spending my time and my money into investing towards athletes at a young age.”
Kliever and Fisher have also shown interest in business sponsorships as they represent not only Canada, but also Lethbridge on world stage.
Both of them also have plans to grow the skipping community in the future, with Kliever in staying in Lethbridge after graduation to share his love for the sport.
The World Jump Rope Competition run from July 27-Aug. 3 and will be live streamed on YouTube.

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