I thought a “hula hoop” was a toy you played with as a kid. In my case it was something you rolled on the ground and jumped through, because it wasn’t something I could keep up around my waist. It wasn’t even a toy I liked, it was too hard to play with the “right way” and I wasn’t up for the challenge. Many years passed and I had long forgotten that impossible toy, until I was in my last years of college. That's when I met a friend of a friend, Ruth. She had some hoops, she was pretty good, she made it look so easy. She challenged me to try it, so I did, and guess what?! My awkwardness from my childhood days still stuck with me! She told me I was working too hard to keep the hoop up and I just had to find my rhythm. Unlike when I was a kid, I didn’t give up. I was determined to conquer this waist hooping this time. I was very athletic through school. Just about everything I tried after a couple of tries, I could do it, but not hooping. I just did not have the coordination for this activity. I was very determined I was going to get this, no matter how much practice it took!
Ruth told me I could get the supplies at a local hardware store and make my own hoop. Little did I know, I had to buy a whole roll of the material. So, instead of making one hoop, I made about ten. Which wasn’t a problem I had friends.
I watched a lot of videos on-line to get started with waist hooping. It took me a lot of practice, no joke, A LOT of practice to be able to keep the hoop up. I’m sure I looked like a T-Rex spinning in circles looking at my feet in my backyard. I spun in circles so much, I had brown dirt spots all over the yard. Eventually, I got it, then I was a walking T-Rex. I would terrorize the whole towns sidewalks. I would get lots of honks and waves, it was a wonderful traveling workout. Once I got the waist hooping down, I was just pushing myself to learn more and more tricks, neck hooping, lasso, halo, passing, lift ups and drop-downs. I loved hooping it really helped me de-stress my life. I was a full-time student and working two part time jobs. When life got me down, I would get out and start hooping. It would always put an instant smile on my face. I became a powerhouse learning tricks. Hooping was all I wanted to do between school and work, it brought me so much happiness.
After I had been hooping for a couple of months, and was comfortable and confident with myself. I started showing my friends and inviting them to join since I had plenty of hoops to go around. I taught them everything I knew and I had so much fun sharing this joyful activity with them. I loved my hoop so much, I started taking it to campus with me, hooping between classes and hooping in the halls, which really came in handy for de-stressing my senior year. When it came time to do my senior thesis for my design portfolio class, I had no idea what to do, until someone suggested doing a hoop book. OK a hoop book, I loved book making and hooping, now how do I put these together? I figured it out, I made a really cool hooping instructional book/journal and a series of posters. In the end I got an A on my portfolio and without that piece in my portfolio I don’t think I would be teaching now.
After college I traveled westward and met as many hoopers as I could on my meandering trip to Alaska. Before I got to Alaska, I stopped in Eugene, OR. I took a class with a girl that I had started hooping with in my backyard from college. We lived together for a while and took classes together, it was great, I needed that friendly competition to really push me to try harder, get better and never quit. After taking those classes, I knew I wanted to become a teacher/coach and my dreams grew from there. I wanted to have my own studio to teach from and sell hoops. But, I didn’t have the money to take classes and get certified, so I just continued to recruit friends and teach people in my backyard. My big dreams of spreading the hoop love began to wither and soon became forgotten. Life continued on, new dreams came in the old dreams place of being a wonderful mom to my son, keeping him safe, providing for him and getting a job in graphic design.
I’ve been doing my best at being a mom and I did get a job in graphic design. In fact thanks to my dream of getting a job in my field, I was able to show off my portfolio and hooping book, which lead to the question, “What is hoop dance?” I briefly explained what hoop dance was and why I loved it, they told me if I got hired I would have to bring my hoop in and show them what hoop dance is. Well, I got hired and had to dust all the cobwebs off my hoop and brought it in to work to show off my rusty moves. My co-workers and boss thought it was so cool. I ended up having to show off my skills to other departments in the building. I became such a spectacle, I didn’t bother taking my hoop home. It was now an office hoop.
A few of the women in another department suggested I should teach, they would take my class. I shrugged it off. I didn’t think hooping would be a popular activity where I live. They approached me about it a second time and I gave in. We started practicing in our team room, moving the tables and chairs out every time we needed to practice. It was more popular than I thought it was going to be, so we decided to move to a bigger space and advertised to the public. In my first intro I held, I thought maybe ten people (that I knew personally) would show up, instead I had 30. This was a very happy surprise, after the class they had the option to sign up for the upcoming class and buy hoops. I filled the first class and had to open a second class and almost sold out of the hoops I had pre-made and had to make a few special orders. With the success I’ve encountered so far I’ve continued teaching. I love it, and I love to meet new people and share my knowledge.  I’ve found that the more positive energy you put out into the world , you get back 3 times.
So far I have grown so much and learned a lot from Deanne Love, not just about hooping, but about goals and life. Things I had lost and forgotten, she has helped decide my dreams that I socked away are not too far fetched. “I can and I will do this!”
My goal is to build a happy friendly community of hoopers here in Warren, Pa. I want to work with all age groups. I would really like to get involved with children's programs such as the girl scouts. I was a girl scout myself and I always looked forward to fun activities. For me hooping is at the top of my list for a fun activity. It’s a great activity for building endurance, muscles and confidence. Most of all it’s the perfect way to express yourself. As a kid growing up, I was always shy, even a tad bit as a grown up and I was afraid to express myself. But not anymore, when I’m dancing with my hoop, its like this protective orb no judgment (except from myself when I don’t nail a trick) only pure happiness. Not only am I more confident while I’m hooping but also in everyday life. I love who I am. If I don’t like something about myself, I change it. Everyone deserves self love and confidence, hooping did that for me and I hope to bring that out in others as well.