Neither is right nor wrong. It just depends on where you’re from and who you speak to. Skipping rope is very common in European countries whereas jump rope is more common in the USA and Asian countries.

Both ‘jump rope’ and ‘skipping’ are internationally-used terms for the sport we all know and love. The beautiful thing about language is how diverse and colourful it can be.

Put simply, 'jumprope' just isn't a word. If a person says 'they jump rope' the word 'jump' is the active verb, but it is always two written as two words, since it's technically a contraction of 'jump over rope'. As a verb, it literally means to "use (verb) a jump rope (noun)".

In the history of the sport, a lot of skills (both foundational and high-level) have been conceptualised in different parts of the world at the same time independently of each other. Before the internet and social media connected us all, these localised names would stick around.

The world of freestyle jump rope is vast and can be confusing at first. There are many tricks to learn and many new terms and names to remember. Amongst all this new language there are few consistent patterns to be uncovered.

In freestyle jump rope, naming conventions follow some simple logic that helps you understand how a skill is performed, or how a variation of the foundational skill is added to.

In jump rope, a jumper can move the rope fast enough such that it completes more than one rotation around its body in a single jump. Quadruple unders, often simply called ‘quads’, are multiple unders where the rope completes four rotations around the jumper’s body before they land.

The beautiful thing about jump rope is how much creativity there is in all the possible skills and styles that exist. It’s truly endless. However, for someone whose trying to learn to jump rope, this can be intimidating and leave them feeling overwhelmed. Rest assured, all skills can be grouped into eight simple categories. These eight categories help us make sense of the vast universe of possibilities in jump rope. Let’s look at them.