SKILL LESSON · SKILLS · 5 MIN READ
Learn the jump-rope swing–EB–open
Enter a split crossed opening from a side swing, clear it once and bring both hands directly home for an open exit.
EB looks as if the crossover has been asked to move a sofa through a narrow hallway: one hand goes in front, the other finds the route behind your back, and everyone needs to know which doorway comes next. I make the lesson much less dramatic by giving it three named rooms—swing, EB, open—and refusing to furnish the whole house in one attempt.
One crossed doorway, split around the body
In the EB variation used here, one hand forms the crossed opening in front of the body while the other works behind the back. The complete phrase has three jobs: make a side swing, use one EB clearance, then return directly to an open clearance. The hand on the swing side is the hand that travels behind the back for the EB.
Park the EB before you jump it
Build the entrance as a catch
- Choose one side and make a planted side swing. Name the swing-side hand before the rope moves; that is the hand that will travel behind your back.
- As the rope leaves the side swing, guide the swing-side hand behind the back while the other hand remains in front. Finish with the rope caught beneath your toes in the EB order.
- Pause and name what you built: which hand is behind, which hand is in front, and where is the crossed opening? Reset instead of dragging a doubtful catch into another turn.
- Mirror the drill from the other side. The new swing-side hand now takes the behind-the-back route.
- Compare the two catches. Keep the version that leaves the rope and both handle routes easiest to inspect, then use that side for the first clearance attempt.
Think of EB as a crossover with changed hand addresses, not as a pose to force into place. In my teaching version, the swing-side hand scoops behind the back while the front hand keeps its own route visible. Exact reach, handle angle and distance will differ; the practical question is whether the rope creates an opening you can actually clear and then leave.
Clear EB, then bring both hands home
Assemble the three-room phrase
- Repeat one side swing into an EB toe catch on each side. Keep the feet planted so the entrance remains the only moving problem.
- From your clearer side, make the side swing, jump once through the EB opening and land. Return both hands towards their usual hip-side positions together, then catch the rope beneath the toes in an open position.
- Repeat EB clearance–plant–open catch from the other side. Notice whether one hand arrives home later than the other.
- Replace the open toe catch with one open jump: swing with planted feet, clear EB, clear open, then park.
- Finally add the jump during the side swing. Make one complete swing–EB–open phrase, stop, then mirror it rather than hiding a favourite side inside a long run.
When the furniture jams in the doorway
Find the first changed room
- The EB catch has both hands in front: return to the planted side swing and name the swing-side hand before guiding only that hand behind the back.
- The rope catches during the EB clearance: remove the jump and rebuild the EB toe catch, then compare the opening before and after you tried to clear it.
- A side swing appears before the open exit: plant after EB and practise bringing both hands home together into one open toe catch.
- The open exit catches although EB clears: isolate EB clearance–plant–open catch and watch which hand reaches its usual side later.
- The two sides become one muddled sequence: make exactly one phrase from one named side, park, reset and mirror it as a separate attempt.
Take it back to the rope
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