- January 15, 2026
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Several presents sat under the tree on Christmas morning in the Kotuby household. They were of various shapes and sizes, but all had that signature mystique of the holiday.
Some were addressed to Kensington Kotuby. One of them, in particular, took the 10-year-old Sarasota resident by surprise.
This hadn't been written on her wish list.
"For a second, I was confused what it was," Kotuby said.
Not too long after unwrapping the Skip-It — brought by Santa Claus — she figured out how it worked. Good-natured fun with the toy soon became a competitive obsession.
She just couldn't put it down.
Kotuby, a fifth-grader at Ashton Elementary, set the Kids World Record for longest time doing Skip-It jumps on Dec. 26, 2025, in the girls' 10- to 12-year-old division. Her 1,154 consecutive skips in 15 minutes and 29 seconds were unprecedented.
A Skip-It is a children's toy featuring a hoop and ball connected by string. The hoop is attached to one ankle while the ball makes a 360-degree rotation as the user skips.
It was first introduced in the 1960s, but experienced a surge of national popularity late in the '80s and during the '90s. Tiger Electronics acquired the American rights from the Paul E. Price Co. in 1988 and modernized the Skip-It by adding a mechanical digital counter.
Time Magazine even named it to an "All-Time 100 Greatest Toys" list back in 2011 as one of 16 selections from the '80s.
"It's an addicting toy," said mother Teri Kotuby. "Once you start going, you just can't stop."
That much quickly became true for Kensington Kotuby. When she started out, there was friendly competition in the family for who could do the most Skip-It jumps.
Her 12-year-old brother, Lincoln Kotuby, wanted to give it a shot. So did her 13-year-old sister, Brooklyn Kotuby. Teri Kotuby got in on the fun, too.
Matthew Kotuby, her father, was bold enough to proclaim he could out-skip all of them. But that statement didn't age so well.
"Once she started getting into the hundreds, I gave up," Kotuby said.
Their family has always encouraged athletic activity and competitive attitudes. Matthew and Teri Kotuby attended the University of Bridgeport, where they were a baseball player and gymnast, respectively.
Kensington Kotuby has been involved with gymnastics for six years and jiu-jitsu for the last four. Both sports have taken her all around Florida, the U.S. and even out of the country to compete.
Both of her parents played with a Skip-It at one point or another during their own childhoods. Her own skills with the toy advanced from beginner to expert faster than anyone in the house could keep up with.
"She kept beating her own record, and all of a sudden, she was like, 'I wonder if there's a world record?,'" said Teri Kotuby. "Then her and her sister looked it up and found out that there actually was."
Thus began a record-setting pursuit. Kensington Kotuby practiced throughout Christmas and kept on going the following day, becoming inseparable from her Skip-It.
There was pain in the process — blisters developed. She had to apply Band-Aids and wear two layers of socks, but remained resolute in her commitment to the feat.
Wear and tear showed on the Skip-It, too. It had to be rescued from the pool multiple times and the padding on the hoop ripped in multiple spots. It even "exploded," per Kotuby, but still works as of Jan. 11.
Persistence paid off when she surpassed the previous record of 13 minutes and 27 seconds. At that point, she had already done 800-plus consecutive skips, but didn't stop there.
She continued for over two more minutes.
"It was all self-motivation," said Matthew Kotuby. "She saw it and she said, 'Hey, I'm going to beat everybody in it and be the best.' And then she just kept pushing herself as far as she could."
World records, though, rarely belong to one person forever. There's often somebody else out there on the brink of doing something unprecedented themself.
Should another person displace her at the top, Kensington Kotuby won't hesitate to try and reclaim her record. She'll set an even loftier goal.
"I'll do it again," Kotuby said. "I'll go for an hour next time."
The Suncoast News Network put together a segment on her record-setting performance, and after it aired on Jan. 5, word began to spread around Sarasota.
Kensington Kotuby was sick at the time. One of her teachers at Ashton Elementary showed the segment to her classmates, so when she returned to school, all her friends shared excitement about her achievement.
Matthew Kotuby has heard from multiple co-workers at Merrill Lynch about it. Teri Kotuby has received several messages on social media in that regard.
Their 10-year-old daughter has become a local celebrity of sorts. And it's thanks to a present she never even asked for.
