Now parents tell him they took part when they were young.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was going to be popular, but it\u2019s really nice to enjoy hearing the stories of people really enjoying it, and reminiscing about what Jump Jam meant to them when those songs come on,\u201d the former national aerobics champion says.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a recognisable face as the star of instructional videos that taught the Jump Jam routines for decades. Splitting his time between Tauranga and Auckland, he\u2019s continued to travel the country to coach routines in person since the programme\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could be on a holiday in Rarotonga, and someone says, \u2018Are you the Jump Jam guy?\u2019 and it brings back memories for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brett Fairweather travels up and down the country teaching Jump Jam. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
25 years of Jump Jam<\/p>\n
The concept of Jump Jam is simple: a movement programme for primary and intermediate school students (ages 6-12) that combines dance, aerobic exercise and music to foster a love of being physically active.<\/p>\n
Fairweather, 63, started it in 2001. The idea came to him in 1996 while he was working on Maraerobics, a te reo children\u2019s TV show.<\/p>\n
When Maraerobics lost its funding, he realised he enjoyed working with children and choreography.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, well, the funding\u2019s run out, what am I going to do? I think I\u2019ll try and create my own programme.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a previous career, Fairweather ran Les Mills\u2019 Body Attack programme with young adults and was a world aerobics champion. <\/p>\n
In Jump Jam\u2019s early stages, he leveraged his experience, sending flyers to schools to promote himself so educators knew who they were dealing with.<\/p>\n
The teachers talked, and word got out. <\/p>\n
Schools used to buy licensed resource kits made by Fairweather containing music, video files with training tips and simple-to-learn fitness\/dance routines and choreography notes.<\/p>\n
He has stopped producing new kits, and these days, the focus is on competitions and student development workshops instead.<\/p>\n
Those competitions are a big deal for participating schools, which see teams perform for regional and national titles. They began in 2005 with trials in Tauranga and Christchurch. The first national final was held in 2006.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five years on, about 350 teams an d more than 5500 students take part in the regional competitions each year. Up to 100 will head to this year\u2019s national Jump Jam Challenge finals in October and November, hosted at Cashmere High School in the South Island and Bethlehem College in the North.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t need to be the star<\/p>\n
Jump Jam is a New Zealand invention from a New Zealand creator. It\u2019s not based on any existing programmes worldwide, but there have been attempts to expand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did get Jump Jam going in Perth. It got quite popular over there, and then Covid came along, and we lost the momentum … And the same thing happened in Singapore,\u201d Fairweather says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn New Zealand, it\u2019s still going because it\u2019s been going for 25 years. The roots are very long, so it\u2019s survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brett Fairweather says he knew Jump Jam was going to be popular. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
He credits the longevity to innovation. As the years passed, creativity became a factor, with students and teachers creating their own moves and routines based on Fairweather\u2019s advice, rather than copying him.<\/p>\n
He still spends about four months a year visiting 400-odd schools across the country. <\/p>\n
During playtime, just before school, or during lunch, you\u2019ll see children train for the highly competitive Jump Jam competitions. Students pay an entry fee \u2013 between $40 and $50 each \u2013 and get a branded T-shirt. <\/p>\n
But Fairweather says it\u2019s not a get-rich-quick scheme. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to get financially rich, this is not the industry. However, the rewards from seeing children\u2019s lives change are incredible and worth it 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n
And today, he \u201cdoesn\u2019t have to be the star any more\u201d. <\/p>\n
That title belongs to the kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve inspired them to the point that it\u2019s now, \u2018right, show me what you can do\u2019. And it\u2019s better because it\u2019s really their journey and their growth. I used to think it was all about fitness, but now I understand that it\u2019s also just as much about confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making new friends, getting fit<\/p>\n
\u201cTime to puff, should I be easy on them or tough?,\u201d Fairweather asks Hauraki School teachers Ivy Bright and Sarah Annan with a grin.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a brightly decorated \u201cI Love Jump Jam\u201d poster hung on the back wall of the North Shore school\u2019s hall. It\u2019s 8am, and a group of girls aged about 11-12 are Jump Jam-ing to Bruno Mars\u2019 hit Uptown Funk. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s loud, as the girls are shouting along to the song while adding their own synchronised chants as required by the Jump Jam competition rules. Vocals and chant are just one part of what makes a successful routine. <\/p>\n
The girls are concentrating hard, but the smiles never leave their faces. <\/p>\n
That judging criteria is strict, Fairweather explains later. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the presentation side, are they looking confident? Do they know it? Are they all moving the same way? Are they performing?<\/p>\n
\u201cDo they have [engaging] facial expressions? Do they have interesting things that they vocalise, or that they\u2019ve added in? It\u2019s the confidence plus the technical side.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many, the memories of Jump Jam are most strongly associated with the music. The songs, an eclectic mix of old and new hits, were selected by Fairweather based on trials and what he thinks people will respond to best.<\/p>\n
Early on, the resource kits contained new-release, top 40 hits like Five\u2019s Keep On Movin\u2019 and Who Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men. While they are still around in the competitions today, newer songs like Bruno Mars\u2019 24K Magic and Taylor Swift\u2019s Shake It Off also soundtrack routines across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they sing along to them or they know them, and I think they\u2019re going to be popular, I\u2019ll just throw some moves together and I\u2019ll trial it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fairweather spends about half an hour with each school he visits, providing advice and coaching before the competitions. At Hauraki School, teachers Bright and Annan write down every word of advice so they can help the team prepare.<\/p>\n
His impact on the kids is clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrett is a very energetic and fun teacher,\u201d says team member Charlotte Brown.<\/p>\n
Another student, Madeline Brown, says her favourite things about Jump Jam are \u201cmaking new friends and getting fit\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brett Fairweather hopes to still be doing Jump Jam at 80. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
The competitions, he says, help the kids learn all the skills that go into working in a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning up for training, being there on time, perfecting, going away, coming back, performing on a stage with lights in front of an audience. It\u2019s a whole new big deal for them, and they get so much more confidence when they go through that process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fairweather\u2019s goal has always been the same: try to make exercise fun. And in his eyes, he\u2019s achieved that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you\u2019ve got music and movement, and it\u2019s a dance, and it\u2019s a repetition, if it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s enjoyable, you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for another 25 years of Jump Jam? Fairweather sure hopes so.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be hilarious, wouldn\u2019t it? You know, the Jump Jam guy comes in, and he\u2019s 80,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps me fit, it keeps me energised, it keeps me young when I\u2019m with the children. I don\u2019t feel 63. I\u2019ve had a full knee operation \u2026 but it\u2019s not stopping me. I still go out there and give it everything I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now parents tell him they took part when they were young. \u201cI knew it was going to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[17311,294482,1975,30808,46617,9060,53449,299,294481,565,738,26348,2219,6871,134,221,77277,23902,9933,2882,130,157,111,139,69,4062,11555,2069,17218,25817,93954,765,131,223,210,2044,102,1530],"class_list":["post-597617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-17311","tag-aerobics","tag-at","tag-brett","tag-craze","tag-decades","tag-distance","tag-dream","tag-fairweathers","tag-fitness","tag-funding","tag-generations","tag-gone","tag-has","tag-health","tag-how","tag-jam","tag-jump","tag-later","tag-love","tag-more","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-school","tag-started","tag-stay","tag-stood","tag-tamariki","tag-taught","tag-test","tag-than","tag-the","tag-through","tag-time","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}