July 20, 2016 Article

The Old Coot is a skipper.

By Merlin Lessler

I was skipping in Hickories Park the other day. I looked around first, to make sure no one could see me, an old man acting like a fool. You would think I wouldn’t bother since I do so many dumb things in public view, but skipping seemed a little too far off my script, so I was cautious. Besides, I wasn’t sure I could still do it, at least without tripping and executing a perfect swan dive onto the pavement. But, the memory of covering ground, so fast, with so little effort, beckoned me. I was possessed. 

I was a jogger in my “pre old-coot” life. I gave it up years ago, but try to take it up again every few years. After a few days the delusion wears off; my knees, back and hips get together and sit me down for an intervention, bringing me to my senses.

Skipping though, as I remembered it, was effortless and gentle on the frame. So, off I went, down the lane toward the bandstand on a quiet weekday afternoon. It made me wonder if kids still skipped these days. I don’t see them doing it. They did it all the time when I was a kid, though it was more of a girl thing then. So was jumping rope, but the boys in my neighborhood did both. We were blind to the sexist norms of the day. Heck, Beatrice Krupa was the best player on our sand lot baseball team. She could hit farther, catch better and run faster than any of us. She shattered the “boys only” myths of the era.  

But, I drift from the subject at hand – skipping. I started checking around to see if it was alive and well. I’ve learned that just because I don’t witness something doesn’t mean it it’s not happening. A lot of things just don’t register on my radar screen. When I asked “mature” adults  (50 years old or older) if they thought kids still skipped, their immediate response was to skip away from me and back again to prove they could still do it. I launched a small skipping craze with my inquiries of older adults. But, they couldn’t answer the question. Like me, they hadn’t noticed. So, I started on younger adults. Ones with kids. Most said their kids skipped, once in a while, but they didn’t think it was a very popular activity. 

Then I asked kids. The first thing I got was, “Why are you asking this?” Then, like the older crowd, they skipped off to show me they knew how to do it. When I asked if they did it a lot, the common answer was, “No! Why skip? Running is faster?”  I think I’m on to something. Adults like to skip. Kids like to skip. But, neither group does it very often, if at all. I suppose if there were skipping classes with skipping shoes and clothes it would be popular. We’re a society that likes our physical pastimes supported by commerce: special equipment, proper attire, organized activities. What the heck; a skipping craze would be good for the economy.

Oh yes, I forgot to finish my Hickories Park skipping adventure. It turned out fine. I didn’t fall, and my knees, hips and lower back didn’t get together for an intervention. I won’t do it on a big stage; I’ll be a closet skipper and do it now and then. How about you?

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