HAZEL CREST | With jump-ropes slapping the cement in time, members of the Pink Panthers Double Dutch team leapfrog over each other, wave, grab each other's legs and run in place at a frantic pace.

With practices three times a week, the girls prove double dutch is a competitive sport, not just child's play. A lot of hard work and effort go into it, said 15-year-old Shareefa Williams.

Williams, of Calumet City, recently learned how to do the splits while the ropes are whirling. It took her a year's worth of practice to get back up fast enough, she said.

"When you jump speed it's like running track," she said. "You have to run so fast and just stay there. There's a lot of gymnastics. It's more than just jumping a rope.

"It keeps you fit and you have to have teamwork with the sport," she continued. "It can't be just you. You have to have turners and jumpers."

Coach Joyce Dickerson, 41, of Homewood, said she started coaching the team five years ago because her daughter is an only child and there was no one to turn the ropes. She also wanted to build camaraderie among girls and find a healthy way to exercise at a time when many schools are cutting physical education classes, she said.

"(Physical activity) is so vital for the kids' health, especially for the mind," she said.

Joining the Pink Panthers a year ago has helped her lose weight and get in shape, said Tytiana Goodson, of Riverdale. "I'm stronger and faster," the 9-year-old said, adding that the team also has helped her get over her shyness.

The team, which practices in Hazel Crest, has 25 members during the summer and more than 50 during the school year from all over the south suburbs, including Calumet City, Hazel Crest, Homewood, Flossmoor, Matteson, Chicago Heights, Olympia Fields and Riverdale, Dickerson said. Their ages range from kindergarteners to high school seniors, she said.

The girls jump in and out of the ropes like rabbits during warm-ups and giggle when the occasional teammate gets tangled in the ropes.

Although it demands effort, Loren Jones, 12, of Homewood, said it's fun and not as hard as it looks.

"We will teach you how," she said. "It's like one big family, like a sorority group. We are like sisters - we all stick together."

The result of their teamwork is gold medals in the Amateur Athletic Union Olympics two years in a row, Dickerson said. The team hopes to one day compete internationally and is looking for sponsors, she said.

The girls have gotten to meet other teams from Africa, China and Puerto, Rico, Dickerson said.

Traveling and competing against thousands of girls from all over the country and the world is one of the best parts of being on the team, Jones said. Last year, the team competed at the Apollo Theater in New York City, she said.

"You get to do new things, go places you've never been before," Jones said.