Central Middle School students are hoping an old-favorite childhood game will propel them into a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
And it will involve a whole lotta hoppin’.
On March 8, about 900 Central Middle School students are inviting 400 of their fellow Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. students from CSA Lincoln to stop by for a friendly group hopscotch event — for 10 minutes.
That’s how long Central teacher Alan Birkemeier says is needed to break the official record of 621 students playing hopscotch at one time set on April 17, 2015, in Douglas, Georgia by Satilla Elementary School.
“That’s why we picked this one,” Birkemeier said of choosing hopscotch over, say, other types of contests such as the longest hopscotch course in the world. “The students saw this on a CNN Student News broadcast and did the math. They said, ‘We have more kids than that. We want to go for this.’”
With 1,300 students playing hopscotch simultaneously for 10 minutes on Central’s track and greenspace area, the BCSC students will shatter the Georgia school’s record by double the number of participants.
And if the 140 students on Birkemeier’s team succeed in organizing this massive game, their record will be official. According to Birkemeier, who did the official application process with Guinness earlier this school year, Guinness has authorized the official attempt and provided its list of rules that must be documented.
Birkemeier’s students will be in charge of drawing the hopscotch grids with chalk, with two to four kids who will be playing on each grid during the event. Those who are waiting to play are considered to be playing, much like baseball players who are on the bench are still part of the game. But getting as many students through the hopscotch grids is the ultimate goal in the 10 minutes.
If you’ve forgotten what a good game of hopscotch looks like, it involves hopping through a set of square grids using a marker such as a stone, bottlecap, shell or button.
The first player stands behind the starting line to toss his or her marker in square one. The player hops over square one to square two and then continues hopping to square eight, turns around, and hops back again, pausing in square two to pick up the marker, hop in square one and out. All hopping is done on one foot unless the hopscotch design is such that two squares are side-by-side. A player must always hop over any square where a marker has been placed.
If you’re imagining 1,300 kids doing this at the same time, as Birkemeier says, organization is paramount. Volunteers will be in charge of every 50 students, who will have duct tape of different shades on their arms to identify which team they are on, and each student will have a numbered bracelet which will be collected to prove the record, the teacher said.
Birkemeier is seeking donations of duct tape, sidewalk chalk for the hopscotch squares and anyone who might be willing to provide a meal for the volunteers who are working with the students. There might be an opportunity for a disc jockey willing to volunteer to play “hopscotch” inspiration songs like “At the Hop,” “The Bunny Hop” or other songs to keep the students moving.
A rain date for the following week is being planned, in case the weather doesn’t cooperate, Birkemeier said.
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Volunteers are needed to assist with Central Middle School’s Guinness Book of World Records attempt at hopscotch.
Donations of duct tape, sidewalk chalk for the hopscotch squares and anyone who might be willing to provide a meal for the volunteers who are working with the students are also needed.
If you are interested in helping, email Alan Birkemeier at [email protected] or contact him at Central Middle School at (812) 376-4286.
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