By Nathan Rhodes
One of the newer events to be added to the Arnold Sports Festival is jumping up to be noticed thanks to local competitor Tori Boggs.
The event: jump rope. It takes place on the third day of the 26th annual Arnold, which runs Feb. 27-March 2.
Boggs is a sophomore studying industrial design at The Ohio State University. She also happens to be a nine-time world champion and a two-time world record holder in jump rope.
It was love at first sight when Boggs, a native of Parkersburg, W.Va., first saw a jump-roping team perform while on vacation with her mother, Rochelle, in North Carolina, she says. After they returned home, Boggs started jumping almost immediately while her mother learned about coaching, and she soon spotted a newspaper ad about tryouts for a local jump rope team.
Now, years later, Boggs is still constantly improving. Playing soccer and running track in high school helped keep her in shape, as does cross fit training today, “but the best way to develop and master the skills is just to jump,” she says.
It’s not easy to juggle a competitive jump-roping career with a full course load, but not only does Boggs manage – she studies in “bits and pieces,” she says – she has also found time to learn to play the violin, making it her third instrument (Nos. 1 and 2 are piano and banjo). She’s captain of the U.S. National Jump Rope Team and is working to found the OSU Jump Rope Club, the first collegiate jump rope team.
Nathan Rhodes is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Super Pole
Each Arnold Sports Festival brings with it a slate of new athletic events.
One of this year’s additions is pole fitness, the 50th official sport to join the list, which debuts the first day of the festival. Twelve competitors from the U.S., Canada and Mexico with such training backgrounds as gymnastics, circus arts, ballet and modern dance will vie for first place.
“Their awe-inspiring performances will showcase strength, flexibility and grace and include death-defying aerial tricks and spins,” says Carolyn Cull, co-chairwoman of pole fitness at the Arnold. “To compete at this elite level, athletes train several hours a day on the pole and sometimes also cross-train with free weights, yoga, acrodance, etc.”
Other new events include tennis and swimming, as well as the Arnold Classic 212, a bodybuilding competition for men who weigh 212 pounds or less. That’s on top of the usual line-up of events, which includes bodybuilding, weightlifting, boxing, martial arts, Scottish Highland games, archery, gymnastics and cheerleading, as well as Art at the Arnold, the Arnold Fitness Expo, Party with the Pros and more.
