CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. — Glowing in their black girl magic, full of confidence and swag the women of the 40+ Double Dutch club came to Clearwater to slay. They also proved double dutch is not just for kids and teenagers.
“This is what we do,” Co-founder Pamela Robinson.
They do much more than ‘just” double dutch. These ladies get down. They work out while jumping. Some, like Janice “Gucci” McAdams, run while jumping. And they don’t miss a beat.
“When I turned 50 I was led to run a marathon,” McAdams said. “Now I just use jumping rope and running as a way to continue doing it.”
McAdams is now 56 years old. In fact, the only two requirements to join the 40+ double dutch club are you must be a woman and you must be 40 or older.
Robinson created the club back in Chicago in 2016 with her best friend, Catrina Dyer-Taylor.
“I was going through a really difficult period in my life, and I was in search of a happy place,” Robinson said “I told Catrina I wanted to double dutch like when we were kids. She said to come over, and we don’t get anyone else to join us, we will tie the rope to the fence, and we’ll double dutch together.”
A group of friends joined them, then more joined, and now they have thousands of members all over the country and chapters in Germany, Canada, and Israel.
The main purpose of the club is to help women spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.
“It was a joy to see that were were women my age jumping rope,” said Shereina Alexander.
Alexander started the Tampa group when she moved here two years ago. She said they now have 30 members, and there’s another Tampa group that just started as well.
“It’s improved my agility. I feel younger,” she said. “I feel better. We keep each other on track.”
They also pride themselves on being able to teach anyone how to double dutch in less than a minute. We witnessed them do out with one woman watching them on Clearwater Beach.
She said she never jumped rope or double dutch a day in her life. They told her to count and jump, and she was jumped in seconds.
“God has led us to bring joy to women over double dutch, so that’s what we do,” said Robinson.
