A bit ropey!
NEW Lanark Primary School pupils had a ropey day recently - when they were visited by former World Rope Skipping Champion Maarten Goedeme!
The ace Belgian performer wowed the kids during his 90-minute visit, which included an enthralling exhibition of his skills followed by a tutorial.
"The children absolutely loved it," New Lanark Primary headteacher Margaret Wilson said.
"They were completely mesmerised by what Maarten did.
"The high number and types of moves he could do were fantastic.
"The kids were able to do very difficult things in a short period of time, because he was so good at manipulating the rope to go along with how they were jumping.
"Maarten had one boy skipping normally on ropes inside double Dutch ropes!"
But Margaret has no doubt what the highlight of the Belgian's visit was.
"It was incredible," she said.
"He was jumping over a double set of ropes while sitting on the ground.
"He wasn't even using his hands or feet for leverage."
Maarten performed similarly magnificent manoeuvres when leading New Lanark Primary's 'Spirit of the Olympics' Lanimer float.
"That was really impressive," Margaret said.
"The road would have been a really hard surface to sit on, yet he was doing all these amazing jumps.
"Maarten was getting a great cheer from the crowd every time he jumped. No matter how many times he did it, it didn't fail to impress."
Maarten also organised skipping workshops for children at the afternoon Lanimer event in Castlebank Park.
His talents have also been displayed to national audiences; he recently appeared with his small rope skipping display team on BBC TV children's programme 'The Slammer'.
Margaret believes New Lanark pupils' skipping skills have improved as a result of Maarten's visit.
"His English was excellent," she added. "He gave the pupils really clear instructions about how to skip.
''A lot of the kids are now excellent at skipping. If we had Maarten in on a regular basis, they would improve no end!"
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Weather for Carluke
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
