Difficulty
General Principles
Difficulty judges will make marks for skill sequences performed by the team. A skill sequence is a string of connected skills from one or more disciplines of jump rope / rope skipping (including, but not limited to Single Rope, Double Dutch, Wheel, Long Rope, and Traveller). The judge is ultimately responsible for deciding when a skill sequence starts and ends but should be guided by the athlete's cadence. However, it is recommended that a skill sequence is around 10 seconds long, and if a skill sequence goes on for longer it can be given multiple marks as if it had been several separate skill sequences. Difficulty judges should make their marks based on the average level of skills in each skill sequence.
A difficulty mark can be either a 0, or Level 1-5. For each level 1-5 the judge can also optionally give a plus or a minus mark to turn it into into, for example, a Level 3+, a Level 5-, or neither to make it stay at, for example, a Level 4.
A judge should mark a level 0 when no meaningful rope activity is occurring (for example, empty rope turns, excessive preparation jumps, waiting to enter ropes, performing jumping skills without a recognisable level). Note that intentional show transitions — such as music changes or scene shifts — may be treated differently; see Choreographic Show Transitions.
The proportion of actively involved athletes does not directly determine whether a skill sequence receives a Difficulty mark or not. However, skill sequences with a higher proportion of the athletes actively involved should be given higher marks than the equivalent skill sequence with a lower proportion of athletes actively involved.
Intricate formations, complex skill sequences, skilled integration of music, and a higher proportion of athletes actively involved may increase the Difficulty level of a skill sequence when they add meaningful technical or coordination demands. Combining disciplines within the same skill sequence may also increase the Difficulty level when the combination adds meaningful complexity. Poorly done formations or poorly executed skills may lower the Difficulty level even when the intended content appears difficult.
Repetition: If jumpers are repeating skills or disciplines excessively, it should negatively impact the level the judges' mark for that skill sequence.
Accounting for Form & Execution: The way in which skills are executed can affect how difficult they are to perform. For example, a push-up that is not fully extended or a split that is not low to the ground are much easier to perform than fully extended versions of these skills. Difficulty judges will have the freedom to exercise their judgement and adjust scores for skills sequences containing skills that are not performed to their full extent and thus deserve slightly lower credit.
Multiple disciplines: When multiple disciplines appear within a single skill sequence, the base difficulty score is determined by the dominant discipline. The inclusion of an additional discipline or additional disciplines in a skill sequence may increase the level of the skill sequence but only if it's done in a way what that meaningfully demands more technical or coordination skill without negatively impacting the execution or formations. In other words, judges should not simply award a higher level of difficulty just because a second discipline appears briefly or superficially in a skill sequence.
Holistic Judging: While the primary focus is on the athletes who are actively jumping or turning the ropes, athletes not directly involved with the ropes may also be considered: if their movements are synchronized with rope-involved athletes or serve to enhance and emphasize those athletes' actions, judges may recognize this as contributing to overall Difficulty and award a higher level accordingly.
For details on how to score each discipline, see the following sections:
- Show Freestyle Single Rope
- Show Freestyle Double Dutch
- Show Freestyle Wheel
- Show Freestyle Long Rope
- Show Freestyle Traveller
These discipline specific instructions should be treated as baseline guidelines rather than hard limits on what is allowed to be performed. Disciplines and skills not listed here are strongly encouraged, and judges should determine an appropriate difficulty level in relation to other disciplines or skills, or be taken into account as part of a bigger picture that raises the total difficulty of a skill sequence as part of Holistic Judging.
Choreographic Show Transitions
A Choreographic Show Transition is an intentional, artistically motivated pause that serves to enhance the routine as a whole — such as a change of music track, a scene shift, a costume reveal, or a theatrical moment. Up to three occurrences per routine may be exempt from being scored as Level 0.
Any pause or transition that does not enhance the show is scored as Level 0, from the first occurrence. When evaluating a pause or transition, judges should ask: "does this moment serve the show?" If not, it is Level 0.
Note that music transitions and scene changes are not in themselves considered moments of excitement or crowd engagement. However, if rope skills are meaningfully integrated during such a transition — keeping the rope actively involved — the moment may be recognised as a positive contribution to Difficulty and/or Presentation scoring.
Show Freestyle Single Rope
Single Rope levels of difficulty in Show Freestyle follow the same matrices as Single Rope Freestyle, with the notable exception that you look at the group holistically, taking into account the levels of all the skills being performed to land at an average level of each skill sequence. However, once a skill sequence has been scored based on those matrices and the levels have been averaged, the average level needs to be converted into Level 0-5 by the use of the following table:
| Average SR Freestyle Level | Show Freestyle Level |
|---|---|
| 0.5 | 1- |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 3+ |
| 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 4+ |
| 7 | 5 |
| 8 | 5+ |
- Example 1: 10 × Level 3 → average SR level 3 → Show Freestyle Level 3
- Example 2: 5 × Level 1 + 5 × Level 3 → average SR level 2 → Show Freestyle Level 2
- Example 3: 5 × Level 2 + 5 × Level 3 → average SR level 2.5 → Show Freestyle Level 2+
- Example 4: 5 × Level 7 + 5 × Level 3 → average SR level 5 → Show Freestyle Level 4
Show Freestyle Double Dutch
Double Dutch levels of difficulty in Show Freestyle follow the same matrices as Double Dutch Freestyle. However, whereas in Double Dutch Freestyle the Jumper and Turner difficulty is scored separately, Show Freestyle Difficulty Judges look at the Jumper Difficulty as a base score, and consider the Turner Difficulty as modifiers that can raise or lower scores as part of Holistic Judging.
Show Freestyle Wheel
Wheel levels of Difficulty in Show Freestyle follow the same matrices as Wheel Freestyle, but each Judge judges every athlete in the wheel pair. After scoring a skill sequence in accordance with Wheel Difficulty, it is mapped to a Show Freestyle Difficulty using the same table as for Show Freestyle Single Rope Difficulty.
Show Freestyle Long Rope
Long Rope is defined as ropes that are at least 6 meters long, they can be jumped in any fashion. Long rope difficulty is context-dependent — combining other disciplines with long rope, or multiple long ropes with each other can be more difficult or less difficult.
Long Rope skill sequences are judges based on two factors, defined below. Judges should use these factors, along with the level and judging examples further down to determine the level of a Long Rope skill used as a modifier for another discipline, or for a dedicated Long Rope skill sequence; however, the examples are not strict limits and Judges should use their own experience and knowledge of the discipline, together with the two factors below and the principles of Holistic Judging to determine an appropriate difficulty level. Double Dutch, and the examples below may serve as a general reference point, but judges should take the specific demands and characteristics of Long Rope into account.
- Complexity: the intrinsic difficulty of the skills performed inside the rope(s).
- Dependency: the degree to which the team's collective performance is at risk. It is the product
of two sub-factors:
- Reach: the proportion of the total team affected if a miss occurs.
- Risk: the likelihood that a miss occurs, based on the number of athletes actively performing skills inside the rope(s).
A formation involving more athletes and greater dependence is rewarded with a higher difficulty level, even if the individual skills performed are less complex than in a smaller, more isolated formation.
A single athlete or a clear minority performing or being involved in a high-level skill while others do basic turns do not meaningfully increase the skill sequence level. More athletes actively performing the same skill does raise the level.
In a spider formation, all ropes converge at a single point where one athlete (or a small number of athletes) performs skills. Although all athletes are involved — meaning a miss would have high Reach — only one athlete is actively jumping, so the Risk of a miss is low. Therefore, another formation with fewer crossed ropes but more athletes jumping simultaneously may achieve the same or higher dependency and should receive an equal or higher difficulty level.
Judging Examples
The difficulty of the skills can be referenced from the Double Dutch Difficulty matrices, or in some circumstances, like athletes jumping with Single Ropes inside Long Ropes, the Single Rope Difficulty Matrices. Below are some examples of the formation created with Long Ropes, the skills performed inside them, and the resulting level.
| Formation | Skills | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Double Dutch sets performed using Long Ropes, 4 athletes in each set | Double Dutch Level 2 skills inside each | 3 |
| 1 Double Dutch set performed using Long Ropes, 10 athletes inside | Double Dutch Level 2 skills | 4 |
Here, the second example has greater dependence. The Reach is 10 athletes affected by a miss compared to 4 in the first example, and the Risk is also higher because of the greater number of athletes involved. Therefore the final level of the second example is higher, even though the skills performed inside are identical to the first example.
| Formation | Skills | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Long Rope, 10 athletes inside | Isolated skills that would be a Level 2 if performed in Double Dutch | 3 |
| Spider, 1 athlete performing skills | — | 2+ |
Level Examples
| Level | Example skills |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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| 4 |
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| 5 |
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Show Freestyle Traveller
Traveller difficulty is context-dependent — the combination of movement and rope skills can make a sequence more difficult or less difficult depending on execution and interaction between athletes.
Judges should use the below examples, as well as the Single Rope Pairs Interactions Difficulty Matrix (since Traveller shares similar characteristics of coordinated movement and athlete interaction with the rope) as a starting point for judging Traveller difficulty. However, as with Long Rope these examples should not be considered absolute limits and Judges should use their own experience and knowledge of the discipline, its specific demands and characteristics, and the principles of Holistic Judging to determine an appropriate difficulty level.
Level Examples
| Level | Example skills |
|---|---|
| 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 4 |
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| 5 |
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