DAYTON, Ohio — When it comes to getting a great cardio workout, you can always count on jump rope to break a sweat.

A lot of people think of it maybe as even just a warm-up.

However, if you’ve ever seen the pros pick up a rope, it’s easy to see that it goes from zero to one-hundred… fast.

Shaun Hamilton is a jump rope legend and an adjunct professor and doctoral student at the University of Dayton.

“I was seven years old when I first got started and I moved to town the day before school started and had zero friends,” Hamilton said.

New to the small town of Sweetwater, Texas, he just wanted to try out for the jump rope team.

“I did it to make friends and 32 years later, I’m still doing it,” he said.

In high school, Hamilton played all the sports, including football, basketball and track.

“At first people were like ‘jump rope isn’t that for girls?’ and they’d make teasing remarks, but once they saw the athleticism it takes and the skill it takes, those jokes turned into applause real quick,” Hamilton said.

He and his teams have won National and World Championships and have been featured on major broadcast channels all over the globe.

In 2009 Hamilton co-founded the World Jump Rope Federation and served as its chair since 2010.

He’s the president of the International Jump Rope Union and even invented several skills and tricks for the record books.

“So you spin in the air, take a back jump, and as you’re coming forward in the air, you place your hands in this pretzel formation and open up all before you hit the ground. So quadruple under with one degree forward, SH full twist,” said Hamilton, as he described one of his signature moves.

These days he leaves those kinds of skills in the hands of the younger generation of world competitors and at home at UD.

David Stahl is a senior and has been jumping for about three years.

It all started because of the pandemic.

“The gym shut down, I started jump roping, brought it here on campus and kids started to ask me if I could teach them,” he said.

Stahl started his own club and, with a little help from Hamilton, it’s now going strong, with more than 70 members.

“I suggested to all my friends who are dreading running or any sort of cardio, I say pick up a rope, it only takes ten or fifteen minutes to get a good workout in,” said Stahl.

Single rope and double dutch are the two major disciplines of competitive jump rope and there are two event categories, speed and freestyle.

“All body types are included because you can be a great turner, you can be a great acrobatist, you can be someone who does really well with different style of ropes, there’s room for everybody,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton’s passion has taken him to more than 45 countries. This fall he’s been to Japan, Switzerland and Paris.

“In December I’ll be in China, speaking with different groups and delegations and ministries of sport,” he said.

Right now, 61 countries are members of the International Jump Rope Union.

“There’s no higher voice in the sport than mine and the quest of us getting to the Olympics, those same people who used to laugh and joke, they’re now great supporters and I’m excited about it,” said Hamilton.

The Olympics are the main goal.

“We attend international conferences, we make ourselves visible, above all else we try to improve our product and follow all the statutes as much as possible,” he said.

For Hamilton, teaching in the Health and Sports Department and pushing for Olympic recognition go together like double and dutch.

“Teaching here at UD about sports ethics and sport policy is essential, so I’m combining both worlds here. We’re getting closer and closer every single day, every single year and I’m here for the journey,” Hamilton said.