Firecrackers Have a New Coach but the Same Fan Pleasing Show

New coach Shaun Hamilton says the Firecrackers will still put on the same entertaining show UK fans have come to love today.

Fans at this afternoon’s Kentucky-Alabama game at Rupp Arena will be treated to the best halftime show of the year with the Firecrackers, a jump rope team from Ohio, performing again.

The team was formed in 1990 by physical education teacher Lynn Kelley and she guided the team to national prominence with appearances on national TV and performances at major college basketball games.

However, Kelley won’t be with the team today. She retired after last season and Shaun Hamilton, a jump rope legend and an adjunct professor and doctoral student nearby University of Dayton, is the new coach.

He actually started helping Kelley when he was 16 years old and living in Texas. His jump rope career started in 1989 and he won U.S. national titles in 1999 and 2003 and a world championship in 1999. He co-founded the World Jump Rope Federation in 2009 and has been the federation chairman since 2010.

“I would fly up from Texas when I was 16 to help the team and then I  moved to Ohio. The next 10 to 12 years I choreographed everything for the team. I would create routines and Lynn would drill them. I would step back in when things were in full swing but not have to do anything because they were so good,” Hamilton said Friday.

Hamilton knew Kelley had talked about retiring for several years but no one, including Kings school officials, thought she would do it.

“When she finally did leave it shocked everybody. I just could not in good conscience let the program go away when they could not find a coach,” Hamilton said. “The kids and parents have put so much time and energy into spreading the joy. Unfortunately I have seen programs across the world go away. I want to keep the program growing and going forward.”

Hamilton says UK fans will be in “for a treat” today just like they have seen in past years from the Firecrackers’ dazzling, acrobatic show.

“We have two young boys on the team which is a big step for us,” Hamilton said. “They are quite small and hungry to learn. They provide a spark to keep our energy up. One of the boys is a tumbling maniac. He can do flips all day.”

The 20 team members range in age from 7 to a junior in high school.

“I had to go out and recruit because a lot of people had no idea what would happen to the team when Lynn left and it took me a while to get on board,” the new coach said. “At first I figured I was too busy to do this. By the time I realized I had to step in, the juice had worn out of the community. But we are good now.”

The Firecrackers have performed at college games at Cincinnati, Navy, Butler, Indiana, Belmont and Xavier as well as a NBA game for the Pacers. They still have shows scheduled to do at Purdue and Miami (Ohio) as well as the Big Ten Tournament and a NBA game in Cleveland. Hamilton also hopes his connections as a professor at Dayton might help the team get a chance to perform at the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Dayton.

Hamilton once worked for the Houston Rockets of the NBA and also has helped with competitions around the world. He’s already thinking of ways for the Firecrackers to be even more “engaging with fans” at performances next year.

“Instead of just halftime, maybe we could go before the game and have kids come down and jump with them and then watch them perform at halftime. We could even do something at timeouts,” Hamilton said. “I just wanted to let the first year play out and do what we can while I was learning and observing.”

Kelley always felt Rupp Arena was a special place for her team to perform and consistently praised everything UK did for the Firecrackers.

“Rupp Arena is legendary and it is a privilege to walk in the arena and perform for thousands of fans. That is a big honor,” he said.

Anything special fans should watch for?

“There is one thing at the end that usually brings the house down and the crowd goes nuts that I think fans will really, really like,” he said.