Also called Skier
How it works
Jump the rope with both feet at the same time, from one side to the other, like a slalom skier.
skip-hop tipA line on the floor to jump over helps enormously.
Teach slaloms with the All-Access Skip Pass
Everything a teacher needs to teach this skill to a whole class, from skip-hop coach Lee Collinson-James:
- The skip-hop video of this skill, with a feet close-up and ½× and ¼× slow motion
- Step-by-step teaching, from a line on the floor to a steady slalom
- Spot the fault: jumping too wide, with the fix
- A pupil self-check and links to the Blue and Bronze Awards
£149 a year for the whole school, or 6 months free with the whole-school rope set.
Where it fits
Slalom: Blue Award and Bronze Award
Blue Award: Tricks
Part of the Blue Award test.
To pass, a pupil:
- Performs 4 beginner tricks (straddle, scissors, ex, slalom or bell), 4 skips each
- Skips 10 face to face with a partner in one rope
- Sets a 30-second score and beats it
Bronze Award
One of the ten Bronze Award skills.
The skills on this award:
- First: the Safety and Poise checks and the preliminary skips
- Bell
- Slalom
- Twister
- Side straddle
- Front straddle (scissors)
- Combined straddle
- Ex
- Wounded duck
- Side swing
- 180 degree turn
- Then the link: any 8 of the 10 skills linked in one routine, without a miss or error.
In the scheme of work
Where this skill is taught in the skip-hop scheme of work.
- LKS2Lesson 3: Ex, slalom and bellSkills and Tricks · Years 3 and 4
- LKS2Lesson 6: Award day: Blue and PurpleSkills and Tricks · Years 3 and 4
What you need
KS1 2.1m, KS2 2.5m or KS3 2.8m. skip-hop ropes are designed specifically for the skills shown on this site.
SEND and inclusion
Make it work for everyone
Ideas for pupils with SEND, and for anyone who finds slaloms hard. Change one thing at a time.
What usually makes it hard: Moving sideways while the rope turns.
- SpaceA tape line on the floor to jump over, as the skip-hop tip says.
- TaskJump side to side over the line without a rope first.
- CommunicationSay “left, right” or point to the side.
Seated or no-jump version. Tap the feet left and right on the footplates, or lean left and right, in time with a rope turned at the side.
An adapted pass is still a pass on the Skipping Awards. Use your own judgement and each pupil’s care plan. More in SEND and inclusion at skip-hop. Pupil struggling to get started? Try Lee’s tips for pupils who are struggling to skip.