SKIPPING IS PART OF OUR HISTORY
AS A PASTIME, WITH NO GENDER BIAS, SKIPPING HAS ALWAYS BEEN A STAPLE OF EVERY YOUNG BARBADIAN’S UPBRINGING
by
Katrina Welch
To get people moving while holding on to the Barbadiana lifestyle.” This is the goal of the local family fun skipping challenge which was launched earlier this year by Government Senator Dr Romel Springer, J.P.
An educator by profession, at both the secondary and university level, he is currently the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training. As a husband and father of a teenaged daughter, Senator Springer knows the importance of spending quality family time. He took the opportunity to share with Better Health magazine his personal health and fitness journey as well as the inspiration behind the skipping challenge.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Have you ever been diagnosed with a health condition?
Years ago, when I was in my late 20s, I was diagnosed with mild hypertension which caused me to change my whole lifestyle. At that time, I wasn’t eating well nor exercising at all. Even though it was mild, it was a big concern for me because hypertension appears to be hereditary within my family as I have other relatives who had also been diagnosed at young ages.
How did you seek to address your diagnosis?
For a while I was taking medication and working out, but my blood pressure remained unchanged. I didn’t like taking the medication as my body was not reacting well to it. About five years ago I had a scare when my pressure spiked, and after conversing with a colleague who had a similar struggle, I realised that it was up to me to decide if I would let this condition get the better of me or if I would make the necessary changes to my lifestyle to control it. To beat back my hypertension, I started jogging approximately 5k after work, three times a week.
How are you able to maintain your physical fitness with such a busy life?
Unfortunately, being in the Senate and also working in the Ministry has severely impacted my exercise regime, but after seeing a noticeable increase in weight after just eight months on the job, I made a decision that if I can’t go during the week I would exercise both weekend days.
What is your fitness regime like?
I still use jogging as my main source of exercise where I try to run 3 to 5k two days a week and walk at least a 10k one day. I am also a part of a hiking group called Hyped4Hike which was formed by one of my former Frederick Smith students. We normally hike on Sunday afternoons through St Andrew, St Peter and St Lucy; however, the COVID-19 restrictions impacted on our weekly hikes.
How has your diet been influenced by your lifestyle changes?
At the end of 2018, I changed my entire diet. I cut out a number of things I liked such as bread, cake, sugary drinks, rice and starchy foods. I started to focus on a more balanced, vegetable-based diet. This resulted in me losing 30 lbs in the first year. Then I stopped eating cheese, which was my favourite food and my weakness, but I had to give it up because it is high in sodium. I also gave up processed foods, mauby and ice cream because I was determined not to let the weight and the hypertension get the better of me.
Have you seen any positive results since you modified your lifestyle?
The combination of dietary changes, increased exercise and weight loss saw my hypertension decrease to a normal range. That is what inspires me to keep on exercising because I know it helps to control my blood pressure and keeps me off the medication. Today I checked my blood pressure at home and it was 121/85, which is more or less within the normal range.
Now, let’s talk about the Family Fun Skipping Challenge, what inspired you to launch it?
It came about directly as a result of the restrictions within this pandemic environment. A lot of people were complaining about COVID weight and not being able to go to the gym or being afraid to go. So, I tried to find something that would challenge people to be physically active while at the same time encourage them to stay at home. The skipping challenge has three purposes: getting people healthy, bringing families together and having fun at home.
What has been the value of skipping in our Barbadian culture?
Skipping is part of our history. As a pastime, with no gender bias, skipping has always been a staple of every young Barbadian’s upbringing. We skipped at school and at home with siblings and friends. We would skip and sing songs, show off our skills and challenge each other. It kept us happy and kept our community alive.
How can we reap those benefits of skipping now?
Today, skipping provides an opportunity to reach into the past and recapture aspects of our childhood experiences. People get nostalgic remembering the days when every sheep rope, wire, or anything that was long enough became a skipping rope; and they get to recount these experiences to their children. Ultimately, my aim is to revitalise indigenous cultural pastimes and hence, I have been working to promote and elevate both skipping and road tennis because they both are of cultural and historical significance to us and we need to hold on to them.
What are some of the advantages of skipping?
Skipping as a family provides moments for parents and children to bond. Children can have a lot of fun watching their parents skip. It can be done at any age as long as you are physically able. A lot of people are also skipping, as part of their fitness routines, because just a few minutes can give you full workout. Best of all, it’s affordable.
What has the response been like to the skipping challenge?
The response has been favourable.
It excited a lot of people due to the feelings of nostalgia it evoked and has prompted a number of persons to buy new ropes or dust off their old skipping ropes. Some have sent me videos or pictures as proof of their participation.
A lot of people at varying skill levels are attempting the challenge but many are doing it privately.
What is your vision for the revitalisation of skipping in Barbados?
I don’t want this skipping challenge to be a passing trend. That isn’t the idea. My hope is that long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, we keep this pastime alive and keep it going for future generations. We need to get it back into our schools and even have skipping competitions. At some point, I hope to approach corporate Barbados to sponsor skipping ropes for schools because I am confident that when children see what can be done with a skipping rope, they will want to be a part of it.
I encourage all of you to take up the challenge and I welcome those who are brave enough to post; but even if you don’t post on social media, get to skipping and keep skipping. Do it for the fun, do it for your health, do it for the family and do it for the community.
