The way 15-year-old Adele Rosenthal describes some of her past injuries, you’d think she’s a tomboyish pigskin junkie – and not the powder-puff kind.
“I once injured my radial nerve when I landed on my wrist,” said the Los Altos High School freshman, motioning up and down her forearm. “I hurt my back, I take a pounding on my knees.”
But those aren’t football injuries. She’s describing the ups and downs of jumping rope.
Wait, what?
The energetic Rosenthal has quietly – or maybe not, when you hear her talk a mile a minute – become a nationally ranked jump-roper as part of the Santa Clara-based Sol Jumpers, a team that competes in USA Jump Rope competitions.
Last year she earned her spot as the top jumper in the state in her age group and has been ranked alongside the top-10 jumpers in the country for the past several years.
Rosenthal is set to try out Thursday for a spot in the regional USA Jump Rope Championships, scheduled March 24 in Pasadena. A successful effort next month could propel her ranking even higher.
“Jump roping is so unique, and I’m not a normal person by any means,” the former tennis standout said before starting a two-hour practice last week. “I like to find things that aren’t normal.”
