Heaping Hoopers!

Hula Hooping is possibly one of the largest phenomenons taking place. Hula hoops are no longer just a children's toy or a random activity at social gatherings; such as school dances and birthday parties. Until several years ago, circus acrobats were the only people known using hula hoops for more than the simplicity of hooping around one's waist, or being crazy enough make it from the neck to the waist without dropping it. Now, hooping has become its own art form and a lifestyle. I'm sure circus acrobats have taken it up about 12,000 notches due to the average 'Hooper' performing similar skills on a daily basis. 

When @HoopersOfInstagram created their page, they also started a hashtag for fellow Hoopers to post their pictures. They feature as many people as possible who use the Hoopers of Instagram hashtag or the link to their profile. Since their first post in July, this particular account accumulated 3,204 followers and counting. The hashtag itself currently holds 6,305

pictures. What started as a profile featuring beautiful pictures of people with their hoops, rapidly developed into a hooping circle. (No pun intended). Many of the Instagram Hoopers are connected and learn from one another, and it's an all around positive vibe atmosphere. We may not all know each other, but I, for example, happened to meet one of my fellow hoopers at LouFest this year. I left a comment on a hooping video and she told me she would be there, too. Once again, look at us uniting! Such a small world!  @HoopersOfInstagram clearly wants the hoopers coming together, and they are a fantastic job. They've come up with several genius ideas that connect the people more and more. Their first idea was the Random Places Hoop

Contest; a.k.a. #RandomPlacesHC. People went all over the place with their hula hoops. Sure, it was a contest, but it didn't feel like a competition. We just wanted to have fun. People were hooping in trees, graveyards, haystacks, Walmart, etc. Hoopers are everywhere! This was an awesome contest; however, their greatest plan of all was September's 30 Day Hoop Challenge. (#30DayHoopChallenge)

@HoopersOfInstagram created a list of 30 different hoop tricks, techniques, and settings for every day of the month. Each day held a specific theme for people to post pictures and/or videos of themselves. The participating hoopers hashtagged anything they uploaded to the challenge page as well as what day of the challenge it was. This was such an exciting idea. If one of the days turned out to be a trick someone didn't know how to do, it encouraged them to learn. Looking at all the videos and photographs was truly inspiring. There were so many different combinations of people and

hooping styles that it wasn't at all a competition. Yes, it was a challenge, but we weren't challenging other people. We were challenging ourselves, and feeling all the enthusiasm and positive vibes from the accompanying participants. By the end of the month there were nearly 2,000 posts on the #30DayHoopChallenge page alone. That doesn't include the people who only tagged the day of the challenge, or simply didn't tag anything at all. People who didn't even know about it until later in the month were catching themselves up just to take part in the fun. We all learned a lot about one another and mainly ourselves in those 30 days. Whether someone completed every day of the challenge or not, they were still a part of something really wonderful. It was an exciting, fun, inspirational, challenging, and above all, abosultely beautiful experience. Hula Hoop challenges are no longer a simple matter of who can keep the hoop going around the longest; they've transformed into a union of people taking pride in their unique talents. 




This challenge was quite a success, and its made me want to take on other similar challenges. More and more people should start getting involved in things like this. More people coming together in a positive light will bring closer connections. If a group of people come together for a specific similar interest, they are destined to end up learning something they didn't know about someone else... Perhaps, it will be another similar interest; which inevitably forms a deeper connection--a positive one.