You Say Jump, They Say 'How Fast?'

(CBS)  On Sunday, Dec. 2. the 16th Annual Double Dutch Holiday Classic unfolds at the Apollo Theater in the middle of Harlem. It is an annual event produced by the National Double Dutch League. Teams come from Europe, Asia and across the United States to compete in this uniquely urban sport that combines agility, speed and strength.

Though the history of double dutch places it's invention in New York City in the 1700s, surprisingly, a Japanese team named GM7 has won best of show at the Apollo for nine of the last 11 years (A team from Brooklyn won the other two years). In fact, nobody can remember the last time a team from Harlem or the Bronx competed in the classic, although competitive double dutch jumping started in 1973 at Intermediate School 10 in Harlem.

One group of top contenders will be the Bouncing Bulldogs of Chapel Hill, N.C., coached by Ray Frederick. He told CBS News National Correspondent Michelle Miller that he and his team have even traveled to Japan to see how the jumpers there train and to see if there is a way to beat the seemingly unbeatable GM7.

According to Miller, "the sport has spread to the south but hasn't stopped there. Double dutch has become nothing short of an international craze, a sport combining fancy footwork with freestyle acrobatics."

The strenuous workouts are long and hard, but "The [overall] mission is to connect with young people, to travel all over the world, and to make this world a better place," Frederick said.

A local New York team, the Jazzy Jumpers from Brooklyn, came to demonstrate the fine points of their sport at The Early Show. Their coach, Sandy Fortune, also coaches gymnastics, which is the starting point for many of her jumpers. "It takes a lot of flexibility and knowing the rhythm. It's a rhythm. Like dance."

Another coach, Stan Brown, whose jumper are called Stan's Pepper Steppers, trains his team three days a week, two hours a day - and many of the children begin as early as three years of age, he said.