
<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-127" style="margin: 5px; float: right;" src="http://schoolnewsnz.fastrackdev.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Jump_Rope.jpg" alt="Jump Rope" width="200" height="150" />The Heart Foundation&#8217;s iconic Jump Rope for Heart programme is this year celebrating its 25th year of encouraging physical activity and fundraising in schools.</p>
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<p>Mangawhau Primary School in Mt Eden is just one of the hundreds of schools taking part in the programme&#8217;s 25th anniversary year.</p>
<p>Sports co-ordinator, Martin Rodwell will lead the programme for his students and says he has his own fond memories of participating in Jump Rope for Heart when he was at school.</p>
<p>&#8220;I remember doing Jump Rope for Heart every year when I was a kid at Leabank Primary. Now I&#8217;m the sports coordinator at Mangawhau Primary and I think it&#8217;s fantastic that Jump Rope for Heart is still around for the next generation of Kiwi kids – including my son Jaylen who is in Year 3 at Mangawhau,&#8221; says Rodwell.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a fun, economical and easy way to get children enthusiastic about fitness. It noticeably improves their hand-eye coordination, and I&#8217;ve noticed that these skills transfer to other sports and activities such as rugby and tennis.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know many others in my generation have similar fond memories of Jump Rope for Heart – it&#8217;s just such a classic programme. As well as the fitness benefits, the programme raises money for your school and the very worthwhile Heart Foundation charity,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Jump Rope for Heart is provided to schools free of charge and children are encouraged to participate in a personal skipping challenge, which includes a sponsor-driven fundraising component called the Skip-a-thon challenge.</p>
<p>To help celebrate the 25 year milestone, the Heart Foundation is offering schools a 25 per cent rebate of the total funds raised.</p>
<p>Jump Rope for Heart manager Ali Northridge says many schools have already chosen to use their rebate to grow existing heart healthy initiatives within their school.</p>
<p>&#8220;More and more schools are choosing to make healthy lifestyle education a priority and the rebate can go a long way towards ensuring a school&#8217;s own physical activity resources are maintained for their pupils,&#8221; she says.</p>
<p>Since the programme began in 1985, more than 2.2 million Kiwi kids have learnt how to skip, keep active, and most importantly, love their hearts through skipping.</p>
<p>Northridge says that this year the Jump Rope team predicts that in Jump Rope for Heart&#8217;s 25th anniversary year, more than 90,000 Kiwi kids will be counting the beat in the name of heart health.</p>
<p>&#8220;The programme is proving more popular than ever but it has still been wonderful to uncover this amazing sense of history behind Jump Rope for Heart,&#8221; says Northridge.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve worked out that since it began, New Zealand children have skipped for 110,976,318 minutes &#8211; that&#8217;s the equivalent of 212 years worth of skipping. And in terms of distance, together they&#8217;ve travelled 1,997,574 kms, or nearly 50 times around the world,&#8221; she says.</p>
<p>The popular curriculum linked Jump Rope for Heart programme is available to all primary and intermediate schools throughout New Zealand.</p>

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