Story and Photos by ACACIA RODRIGUEZ

For Local 299 member Stanley Douglas Brown, double dutch is not a game. The Recreation Supervisor has coached double dutch since 1981 at the Sorrentino Recreation Center in Queens, where it is one of the largest member-based programs in the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The “Stan’s Pepper Steppers” founder has taught more than 5,000 children how to jump and has won more than 500 double dutch championships.

“You’ve got the game of double dutch and the sport. We do both, but I teach the sport,” Brown said.

With its roots in telephone wire and rhymes recited near open fire hydrants, double dutch has remained an accessible means of exercise and community building. It can be practiced on the sidewalk, street, or gymnasium floor.

Brown and the Pepper Steppers have a tradition of competitive double dutch excellence. They’ve appeared on The Wendy Williams Show, ESPN, in Seventeen Magazine, and even the film Do The Right Thing. The small recreation center in Far Rockaway houses a dynasty team. Stan’s Pepper Steppers have repeatedly won state, regional, national, and world titles. International jumpers from as far as Japan and Moscow have come to learn the ropes from Brown himself. His team members have gone on to establish their own groups throughout the nation.

“What’s the key to success? You ready for this? Patience,” Brown said. “If you don’t have patience, there’s never success.”

Stan’s Pepper Steppers have cycled through many iterations: “The Starlights,” “Senior Sensations,” “Foxy Four,” “Step by Step,” “Stanley’s Angels,” and “The Pepper Steppers,” which became Stan’s Pepper Steppers when a judge called out the team to distinguish them during a competition roll call. At practices, jumpers of different ages proudly wear the name emblazoned on T-shirts and team jackets from previous competitions.

Double dutch runs in Brown’s blood: his daughter, granddaughter, great granddaughter, and wife attend practices and jump. Participants, taught by generations of returning Pepper Steppers, have started as young as three years old. Everyone learns skills that support the team as a whole. For four decades, Brown, flanked by his team members, continues to run his practices for a spectrum of skill levels, including a jumper in their 60s and participants in the Special Olympics.

“You gotta have an open mind, appreciate the process in what you’re doing, take pride in learning, and never be afraid to be a student,” he said.

Brown has coached 11 sports at the recreation center, including track, boxing, and basketball. Each has given him the ability to be better at double dutch. He incorporates conditioning from track to build stamina, flipping tricks from his martial arts practice, and ambidextrous coordination from boxing. Basketball is what first led him to double dutch.

“I went to the park to play basketball and these girls were jumping rope on the court. I asked if they could go to another section of the park, and they said ‘no.’”

Brown was challenged to a jump, thinking double dutch was a simple game to learn.

“I couldn’t get in the rope, I couldn’t get out of the rope, but after that, it was basically history,” he said.

From then on, whenever he saw the girls turning ropes, he jumped in to learn.

Brown continues to build teams that inspire youth to socialize, work hard, and be responsible. The double dutch program has given mothers and their children opportunities to spend quality time together at the center. In May, Brown plans to train after school program coordinators so they can present double dutch as part of their Parks Department programming.

As of press time, Stan’s Pepper Steppers planned to compete in the American Double Dutch League State Championship and the Double Dutch Holiday Classic at the Apollo in December. Win or lose, Brown embraces the positive.

“With all the championships we’ve won, winning is something we can do and have done. For argument’s sake, so is losing,” Brown said. “To me, what constitutes a winner is a person who finishes what they start.”

Members interested in learning more about double dutch at the Far Rockaway Sorrentino Recreation Center can call 718.471.4818 and ask for Stanley Douglas Brown.