Vernon Tornadoes

"Demonstration and Teaching" 
Rope Jumping Team
from 
Vernon Elementary School
Vernon, Vermont

Team and Coaches Bio:

The Vernon Tornadoes Demonstration and Teaching Rope Jumping team was started at the Vernon Elementary School during the 1980-81 school year. The team has put on from 10 to 14 school programs each year for the past 27 years. The school program includes demonstration of skills and then a workshop which allows the Vernon students an opportunity to teach other students some of their learned skills of rope jumping. For 18 of the 27 years the team was sponsored by the American Heart Association in conjunction with their Jump Rope for Heart program.
From 50 to 99 Vernon students in grades 2 to 6 have participated on the team in each of the 27 years. Each Tornado comes to morning practices two days per week from 7:30 to 8:30 AM. The students begin practicing in early November and continue into March when their "Really Big" Show is presented in Vernon with the whole group showing off their "stuff". Most school trips include about 18 to 20 of the students traveling by bus during January, February and March. Students need to meet requirements of their classroom teacher in order to make these trips. ("It's a great carrot" according to one of the teachers). Some of the younger jumpers put on performances at schools closer to Vernon and at local nursing homes.
The coaches are John and Peggy Stetzel. John is the physical education teacher at Vernon and Peggy is a paraprofessional in the kindergarten in Vernon. John works with the 4th,5th and 6th grade jumpers while Peggy directs the 2nd and 3rd graders. Peggy has her bus driving license which helps to make the trips possible. We always have a male & female chaperone for the older kids trips when parents aren't available. She is a super teacher and a great bus driver.
John started the team after moving to Vernon in 1980 from his previous job in Wilmington. In the 70's, after attending a physical education conference and seeing a demo team perform, he started the "Junior Jumpers" in Wilmington (Deerfield Valley Elem.). Actually the cook in Wilmington was the first to show John "Double Dutch" rope jumping.Besides running the team, John has served on state and national rope jumping committees.
Peggy became part of the team when her daughter was on the team. She took over the Tornadoes when John was on sabbatical in Arizona in 1987-88. She kept it going and has been a big part ever since.

Interesting Tidbits about the team:

1. Each year we try to do an overnighter which will include all of the sixth graders. On this trip we try to go to an area where we can do 4 school shows and stay with host families.
2. The team has been a demonstration team from the beginning because we want to go to schools and share skills and not "beat them". (We show for about 35 minutes and have a hands-on workshop for about 25 minutes at each school we visit.)
3.At one point we were sponsored by "Jump Rope for Heart" . Now, this year's team is partially sponsored by "Communities Against Tobacco" with the "Super" support of the Vernon School and its school board.
4. Members of our team have performed in seven states and at two national Physical Education conferences.
5. Students work hard at learning skills but they don't realize how much it is helping their fitness levels.
6. The name came about because we wanted to pick something that spun quickly, but more important our initials are the same as our state----VT ---Vernon Tornadoes.

In conclusion--------------as has been said in the past:
Keep em jumping,
John Stetzel