Getting on that plane to New Orleans, Louisiana, I was terrified. I was terrified because I knew that soon I would be standing in front of hundreds of people and judges, doing what was called a “playground activity” for all of my life. No, I was not all alone on that light brown, waxy floor, but it felt as though it was all eyes on me. I had never been in front of judges that important before. I jumped in front of judges for the qualifiers and countless elementary and middle schools for our annual demonstrations in the past, but never anything this important before.

When my mom, dad, sister and I got to the hot and humid city of New Orleans, we had to do some touristy activities such as going on a swamp tour, holding baby alligators, walking around the city, stopping in beautiful little quarters where jazz bands played, riding along the Mississippi River on the Steamboat Natchez, and doing a guided night tour of the most haunted places in New Orleans.

I was the only member of my jump roping team besides my coach that was going to Louisiana because I was the only one who was available to come, which made this experience one hundred times more nerve-wracking because I did not have anyone around my age to confide in, and my coach had done this so many times, it was like clockwork to him. I was doing what I was passionate about and taking it to a level I never thought was possible, which made me feel like I was on top of the world.

Since no one from my team was there, I could not participate in the double dutch, freestyle, pairs, and relay aspect of the competition, which was fine with me, seeing as my strong suit was speed. Speed jump roping is when you have a jump rope, completely made out of wire. Two judges are assigned to a jumper, each with clickers in their hand, clicking it every time your right foot hits the hardwood floor. This is arguably the most nerve-wracking, tiring, and painful division of jump roping, if you smacked your leg with the wire rope.

Waiting behind that blue curtain, which they called “backstage” as if this were a musical, was stomach-churning. It was athletes and coaches only, so my family was not able to go back there, although my mom got a couple pictures by sneaking in through the curtains when there was no staff walking around. I stood there with my coach, doing intervals of speed, trying to get my rhythm, but also trying not to tire myself out before it was my turn to be introduced by one of the judges to the whole gym, and to go into one of those big, square boxes they had marked out with tape, one for each jumper so they would have enough room to move around. Me being nervous, I could not stay in one place, and almost went out of the square a few times.

At the start of the first day, one judge would introduce each team. Their team name, where they were from, and their coaches name. For some reason, my coach and I kept thinking it was our turn to step in front of the blue curtain and wait for our name to be called. We kept stepping out in front of these teams, then having to step back in because it was not our turn, which was extremely embarrassing. After the lady finally introduced us, saying “Skip Its, Boulder, Colorado, Richard Cendali,” I walked out from the blue curtains, and this time, everybody was actually staring at me. I nervously put my head down and walked to my square, holding my coach’s hand and my wire jump rope, and got ready to do my first 30-second speed round.

The competitions I participated in were the 30 second, 1 minute, and 1 and a half minute speed rounds. I ended up placing pretty well for how nervous and tired I was, and how amazing the other kids in my age group were, placing in front of about 10 kids in each round.

Now, skipping to the last day of the competition, I was sitting there with all the kids in my age group, waiting for the final, overall results. I did not think I would place at all. All of them were amazing. Every time they called someone else’s name, I started losing more and more hope. I was thinking she must have had more foot touches than me, he must have gone faster than me, and so on and so forth. But, when they got to 6th overall place in my age group, my name was called. I could not believe it. I thought I was hearing things, and I expected that when I got up to go to the stage to collect my 6th place, AAU Junior Olympic Games, red, white, and blue ribbon, that someone else would go up there instead and I mistook my name for someone else’s, but that did not happen. I got up on there, collected my ribbon, whispered “thank you” to the nice lady who had said “congratulations” to me, and waited for the final 5 names to be called, unable to wipe the ear-to-ear smile that I had off my face.

This was by far the craziest, most amazing experience I have ever had, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.