Don Disney has promoted fitness all of his adult life. First as a physical education teacher, then as coordinator of athletics for Howard County, and now as facilitator for health and physical education for the El Paso (Texas) Independent School District.

He knows that fitness doesn't require memberships to fancy gyms or expensive workout equipment. A simple jump rope will do.

As a young teacher, that's the tool Disney used to help students walk his talk.

Dr. Kenneth Cooper's 1968 book, "Aerobics," struck a health-conscious chord and in the early 1970s people all across the country were lacing up their sneakers and jogging for calorie-burning, heart-thumping exercise.

Disney wanted to get the kids in his classes at Atholton Elementary School moving, too, so in 1974 he started a Kangaroo Club.

Admission was simple.

"If they could jump rope for three minutes, without making a mistake, they got their name on a list and they got an award," he said.

That endurance club was the genesis of the Kangaroo Kids precision jump rope team, which officially formed in 1978.

"Looking back you can see how timing, an idea and then a couple of ideas together all met in one spot," Disney said.

Disney's father taught him how to jump rope, which was the first seed of the Kangaroo Kids' inception. The elder Disney jumped rope as a conditioning exercise for boxing.

The second seed came from the University of Maryland's Gymkana Troupe, a gymnastics performance group.

"Two of my professors ran (Gymkana) and I was so impressed with watching them, I would go down and work out with them," Disney said.

The third element came from Jim McCleary, a physical education teacher at Elkridge Elementary, who was good at choreography and who was doing Jacki Sorenson aerobic dance classes with his students. This introduced lively music.

"That's when I got the idea to take his aerobic dance and combine it with rope jumping," said Disney, who trademarked his creation, Jump Aerobics. "When I introduced that, I kind of knew there was something special to it. Not only did the kids get a kick out of it, but it motivated them to jump rope on their own."

They jumped rope at recess and after school.

Disney remembers seeing kids out on their driveways with their ropes.

"It was the thing to do," said Christy McCauley, a former Kangaroo Kid.

There are 21 basic jumping skills, including cross-steps, wobbles, twisters, sidekicks and double unders, but hundreds of variations and combinations.

"Everyone wanted to try to come up with a new skill for our next routine. There were different tricks and we were all trying to outdo each other," McCauley said.

She once spent four solid days in her basement mastering jumping rope and a pogo stick at the same time. In one weekend, she wore out the rubber tip at the base of the pogo stick. "My dad says, that's the moment he knew I was competitive."

If Disney liked the new trick, he named it after its inventor and put it in the next show.

"Don really, really cared about the kids. He never made the kids feel bad and he was always there helping them accomplish their goals and feel good about themselves," said Betty Pramik, whose daughters, Kendra and Kristen, were early members of the team.

Initially, all of the Kangaroo Kids were from Atholton Elementary. In the early 1980s membership was opened to the county.

The club was tapped to be the official demonstration team for the Maryland Chapter of the American Heart Association, and Disney received the Founders Award from the AHA for his involvement with Jump Rope for Heart. The Kangaroo Kids once raised $30,000 for Jump Rope for Heart in a single day. That effort drew them national attention and a segment on the "60 Minutes"-like television show called "Kids World."

There were demonstrations at physical education conferences and the halftime shows at athletic events, including University of Maryland men's basketball, the Atlanta Hawks, the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Blast. They also performed at nursing homes, the opening of the Route 29 footbridge connecting east and west Columbia, at the Columbia lakefront and at the nation's capitol.

"One of the highlights of my motherhood was going to the capitol," Pramik said.

Before every performance, Disney would present a talk on the importance of physical fitness.

"He called us Fitness Ambassadors," McCauley said. "Every weekend, we were doing a show somewhere."

The Kids strive to turn the rope 120 times a minute. The rule of thumb is that 10 minutes of rope jumping equals 30 minutes of running at a 7-miles per hour pace.

"Although it seems just as a physical exercise activity, the kids get so much more -- discipline, teamwork, confidence from performing -- and it carries over into other aspects of their lives," Jean Hodges said. Her daughters, Jenny and Gail, were on the early teams.

Hodges' role with the Kangaroo Kids started as interested parent and evolved into trip coordinator and coach. She and McCleary took over the club in the mid-1980s when Disney left teaching to become assistant physical education supervisor at the central office.

"Don started a dynasty," said Hodges, but Disney wants to share the spotlight.

"You've got to give them credit. Ideas are one thing but to take it to the sustainability level, that is incredible," he said.

The Kangaroo Kids recently turned 30. McCleary has been head coach of the team since 1983. Hodges has retired to Delaware and no longer coaches, but she helps McCleary give workshops.

Disney hopes to bring jump rope and lacrosse to his new home in Texas.

"That's on my to-do list," he said.

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