Forbes Flyers jump around, get around

The Forbes Flyers jump around; flip around; fly around; get around.

Get around? Sure. Places like South Africa in 2008, England in 2010 and Sweden in 2016. Precisely trained and practiced, they do eye-popping ropejumping maneuvers that put them in demand all over Connecticut and in various competitions.

Last Saturday (May 6) they appeared at Brookdale Litchfield Woods on Torrington’s Goshen Road to set up tables and sell various goodies to people who brought items to be appraised by experts in what might be described as a local version of Antique Road Show.

The Flyers used the occasion as a fund-raiser. They also gave a demonstration of their skills, wowing observers, as they do every time they perform.

Slim, pretty Janice Harrington of Bloomfield is the Fly-

ers coach and mentor. She is the wife of Anthony Harrington, whom Hartford Whalers fans remember as the man who once sang the National Anthem prior to games at the Civic Center in Hartford. Janice started the Flyers in 1994 at Forbes School, after coming to Connecticut from Virginia. She is a graduate of Washington D.C Teachers College.

Rope jumping was a playground activity when the coach was a kid, and Harrington says she loved to do it and could hold her own with any challenger. “But it was not recognized as a sport, which it is, at that time,” she said. “I’m hoping some day it will become an Olympic sport.”

As the “activity” gained recognition, Harrington was encouraged to start a team at Woodburn Elementary School in Falls Church, Va. When she came north to marry Anthony, she got a job at Forbes School and, with the encouragement and support of the Forbes principal, Ms. Josephine Radocchio, started the Flyers.

(Side Street: Janice had many good things to say about Miss Radocchio, none of which surprised me. I have known her since she was a teacher at Torrington High, and a number of my children were lucky enough to be assigned to her classes.)

The Flyers keep flying. They will fly to Orlando, Fla. in late June to take part on Disney World property in a national competition sponsored by USA Jump-rope, which Harrington said “is the national governing body of rope jumping.”

She added, “Thirty members of the Forbes team have qualified, but only 19 of them will be able to go because the kids have to pay their own air fare and 11 of the 30 can’t afford it.”

The Flyers will take part in two workshops this month — first a Girl Scouts event in East Lyme and then at Pine Point School in Stonington. The end-ofyear show is scheduled for June 2, at Forbes School.

Three Flyers — Ian Henry, Abby Navin and Ali Bottari — gave me a demonstration Saturday, and patiently answered some questions. Ian, who has graduated from Forbes but is still a member of the team, is also a dirt bike racer. He is almost fully recovered from an accident sustained a few months ago. He pulled up a pant leg to show a scar on his lower calf, near the ankle. “My bike turned over in a race and I was inactive for quite a while,’’ he said. “I’m back now, though.’’

When the three of them began their demonstration, it was obvious he was all the way back.

Ali and Abby, both eighth graders at Forbes, are athletes who have taken part in several other sports, but when jumping rope, they are in their element.

I hadn’t seen the Flyers in action before this and still haven’t seen a complete show or competition. I intend to make up for it because, while I’m just taking notice, I’m, thankfully, not too late for the dance.