Meet Robbin Ebb & Joy Jones – Founders of DC Retro Jumpers & Double Dutch 4 Fun

Meet Robbin Ebb & Joy Jones

Founders of DC Retro Jumpers & Double Dutch 4 Fun

by Anthony D. Diallo

Robbin Ebb remembers vividly going to work out at a DC Department of Parks and Recreation center in 2004 with her friend, Joy Jones, and seeing Jones start DC Retro Jumpers, a jump rope exercise program designed for adults, that would thrive and become a popular Double Dutch and fitness movement within the metropolitan region.

Ebb is the Lead Instructor and Director while Jones – the founder – remains a “happy participant.” Their friendship and collaboration created a wholesomely dynamic program, enjoyed by adults, which emanated from a childhood hobby. DC Retro Jumpers is now an exhibition team of adult jumpers whose motto can be found on their website – dcretrojumpers.com – “Not everybody likes to exercise, but everybody likes to play.”

History of DC Retro Jumpers

“We started off as a team of eight middle-aged adults with weekly jump rope sessions. We are good at teaching. When we get somebody who has not jumped rope in a long while and she may be hesitant, we teach them to get right back into it. The same thing with somebody who has never jumped rope before in his life and who may think he cannot do it. We teach him the ropes and how to do it,” said Jones, now sixty-seven and semi-retired. She works for the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) as a Library Associate.

She has a few tips for those learning to Double Dutch for the first time. The first piece of advice is to bounce a little bit, look straight ahead, and not at your feet. Jump rope to music if possible. It makes it easier to get your rhythm and timing. Finally, reminisce about a fun childhood experience. The memory, Jones attests, need not have anything to do with jumping rope.

Double Dutch 4 Fun

Ebb is a former substitute teacher in the District of Columbia who worked in physical education. The Ward 7 resident has lived in the Marshall Heights for the past 21 years. Ebb was so enticed and enamored with DC Retro Jumpers that she started a similar program – Double Dutch 4 Fun – in 2012 especially for schoolaged children.

“Sometimes I have 12 to 24 kids on a field at one time. [On June 29th] we had fifty kids in camp. I am in the midst of recruiting even more students from pre-K to sixth grade to join us,” said Ebb, 57, who uses her successful “bunny hop” method to teach adults and children alike how to jump Double Dutch.

“Some just want to jump single rope while others want to do Double Dutch. It doesn’t matter. They are both fun and you get exercise either way.” Double Dutch 4 Fun has been in no less than two hundred schools, campuses, and events in the area. Included in those learning institutions are Anacostia High School, Ballou High School, Kelly Miller Middle School, Sousa Middle School, Ketcham Elementary School, and Savoy Elementary School to name a few. Like DC Retro Jumpers, Double Dutch 4 fun is constantly being invited to appear and participate in various programs and events. Their dance card stays filled.

The four lady cultural ambassadors. Left to Right: Joy Jones, Carlyle Prince (Ebb’s sister), Myra Martin Morgan and Robbin Ebb.

Visit to the Soviet Union

In September 2018, the DC Retro Jumpers served as cultural ambassadors to Russia. The culture ambassadors, which included Ebb, Jones, Myra Martin Morgan, and Carlyle Prince (Ebb’s sister), displayed their Double Dutch skills in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Belgorod.

They spent a total of 10 days in Russia with their handler, Mary McBride, who heard about the group, saw them in person, and immediately invited them to go along with her band to Russia as cultural ambassadors. McBride is the Founder and Executive Director of The Forum for Cultural Engagement.

One of those performances occurred at the Spaso House which is the elegant home in Russia where the