Whitney Lovel
Mrs. Bailey
Language Arts
After reading “Ready, Set, Jump!” by Allison Friedman and “Skateboarding Taking Off” by Alessandra Potenza, the reader can see the histories of double Dutch and skateboarding have striking similarities and differences. These sports are similar by the way the participants like them and by how popular the two sports are. On the other hand, the sports are different in the spread across the country and when they were created. Overall, the histories of double Dutch and skateboarding are very similar and different in many ways. One similarity between skateboarding and double Dutch is that they both are still popular today around the world. Double Dutch is still popular to this day and is a global sport.
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A police detective, David Walker, saw girls playing double Dutch in 1973 in New York. He was amazed and thought it should become a sport. After time, Walker created a double Dutch league. Word was spread around and then many people knew about it. Within seven years, 50,000 players were in the league. The author reveals, “In 1973, a New York City police detective named David Walker came across girls playing double Dutch…This should be a sport, he thought…Along with fellow detective Ulysses Williams, Walker established a double Dutch league…The two officers reach out out to schools across the country…By 1980, the double Dutch league had grown to include 50,000 players” (Friedman 18-19). This explains that due to Walker and Williams, a league was created that stretched all across the country. This made double Dutch gain popularity which made double Dutch spread faster across the country. Since double Dutch was being reached out to schools across the country, double Dutch was able to spread quickly. On the other hand, after the X Games started in 1995, skateparks went from not many skateparks to nearly 2,000 skateparks. Skateboarding spread across the country due to the advancements in the design of the skateboard. The advancements allow skaters to perform more tricks. This made the popularity of skateboarding increase, making skateboarding more popular and opening up more skateparks. The increase in skaters and skateparks led to competitions. The author states, “...innovations in skateboard design turned skateboarding into the daring, stunt-filled sport we know today” (Potenza 21). Also, according to the author, “Then in 1995, a milestone occurred when TV network ESPN broadcast the X Games–a sporting event that showcased skateboarding…This event helped turn skateboarding into a mainstream sport. Less than a decade after the first X Games, there were some 2,000 skate parks in