JUMP ROPE WITH HEART
DISCIPLINE, TEAMWORK ARE CORE OF BOUNCING BULLDOGS’ SUCCESS BY HOLLY WEST | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIANA BROUGH
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HE KIDS AT BOUNCING BULLDOGS SPEND HOURS A WEEK practicing jump rope – but it’s not just athletic skill they’re honing. Coach Ray Fredrick, Jr., who started the gym in 1985, says he’s teaching his approximately 300 students important life skills. “For the boys and girls to practice throughout the year and then, leading into the first week of July, to train at a very high level for six straight weeks nonstop and then to see the fruits of their labor is very rewarding because what it shows young people – same thing in the classroom – if I set my standards very high, then I’m going to reach my goals I set,” he says. Education is a core part of the program. It’s one of the three Es; environment and experience are the other two. Ray checks the students’ report cards and monitors their
Seniors Bella Davis of Carrboro High School and Rebecca Koweek of Riverside High School.
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chapelhillmagazine.com January/February 2018