Dad and son’s skipping feat
Kilcoole father-and-son-duo Uladzimir and Timofei Hrapelman are on their way to 100 days of their ‘skip and smile’ challenge.
Each morning and evening they use their skipping ropes for 50 repetitions apiece, and smile while they are doing so.
Their goals are to spend time together, and to ‘remind the world about the value of regular physical exercise, and inspire to develop a mental robustness through smiling more’, according to Uladzimir.
‘Both of these things are so simple and easy to implement into one’s life, but we all are guilty of not doing them regularly,’ he said.
Timofei (7) is having a great time with his dad, as they update their progress on YouTube and Facebook.
His mum Tatiana is enjoying the fun from the sidelines.
‘It is quite a daring act in perseverance from a seven-year-old’ said Uladzimir.
‘Hopefully ideas like that will inspire many other people to think about how they can implement small positive changes in their lives.’
They are selling skipping ropes at their site skipandsmile.com, with all proceeds to go to Wicklow-based charities working with disabled children at the end of the ‘Skip and Smile’ adventure.
It all began when Timofei saw his father doing some skipping exercises in order to strengthen his ankles as part of his marathon training.
He joined in, learned how to skip, and they had plenty of laughs. ‘Our simple plan was made right there and then,’ said Uladzimir. ‘ Timofei and I decided to do 50 skips, twice a day, every day, for one hundred days. And in order to make it as fun as possible, we added a secret ingredient: smile when you are doing your skipping.’
They started on Thursday, December 1 and will finish on Friday, March 10. They are inviting others to take part and keep in touch on Facebook and YouTube.
At the end of their 100-day adventure they will have a big party in their home with plenty of skipping and smiling.