KidsHoop.org Website is gone...

Hi Kids, parents, teachers... everyone! I made the decision to discontinue KidsHoop.org in exchange for managing this blog. Moving forward this blog will come to represent all the great news and resource links provided at KidsHoop.org. Please make a note! And, I will see you in the hoop.

Thank you,
Gen

Contact me: 678-459-2751

kidshoop@gmail.com

Skype: JAMGRRL

Hoop Demo in the Gym...

KidsHoop.org blog features a great follow-along story about two friends. Come alone and discover how hooping brings them closer together...

"Wow, Marissa, this is so cool... we're putting on a show for hooping!" May focused her gaze right on Marissa who was standing in the center of the school's otherwise empty gym completing a 'lift-off.' "Yeah, it's so cool, isn't it?" Marissa quickly agreed. Then she added, "Hey, May, let's add this new move I created." And with that she took the hoop which was now on her waist and placed her hand inside the hoop and counted, "1, 2, 3..." and on "4," Marissa grabbed the hoop and pulled it toward the floor and as it spun around her, stepped one foot out and then the other. She kept the hoop moving around herself in the same direction, and then brought it up over her head, still spinning with one hand.

"Oh my gosh, Marissa, when did you learn to do that?" May asked. "Well, Hoop Club is online at KidsHoop.org and there is a cool demo there that shows you how. I just practiced and wala! presto-chango, I can do it!" Marissa answered. The two girls joined hands and jumped up and down together joyfully. "The kids are going to love this," said May. "Yeah, they are... this is going to be so much fun!" added Marissa. And at that moment, the gym doors swung open and in walked Ms. Collier, the PE teacher.

This story to be continued... check back soon!

Marissa and May Hoop Stories

First Blog Entry: Beginning of the story of Marissa and May and how hooping brought them together.

Marissa and May both attend Dovermire Elementary School in a small suburb of Orlando, FL, called Casselberry. They are both in the 4th grade and recently started hooping. Although they are casual friends at school, neither one knows the other also hoops.

Today, they are sitting at the same table at lunch-time and Leisha starts a conversation about a man in Canada that she and her family saw that was standing inside a giant hula hoop and rolling around the street while they were on vacation there. Marissa asks, "you mean he was just rolling... like in a circle?" And, Leisha answers, "yeah, it was weird -- it was like you kept expecting him to hit his head but somehow the hoop just stayed up and he didn't. Everyone was clapping. It was fun."

"Well, I hoop," announced May. Everyone at the table within earshot immediately looked at her, expecting to hear more... "Well, I..." she stammered. "What do you mean, you hoop?" inquired Tommy, the freckle-faced red-head boy from 5th grade that was so small he looked more like a 3rd grader. He usually sat with them at lunch for some reason -- "maybe he just feels safe in our group." May mused to herself as they all stared at her.

"Well, what I mean..." and she found her voice... "I actually have a really cool hoop and for fun, I hoop." This past summer, I joined Hoop Club at Maitland Civic Center and there's this lady there named Miss Gen, and she teaches us how to hoop on our legs, our chest, do lift-offs, and..." she was interrupted by Leisha. "Are you serious? They have classes like that?" May responded, "Well, it's not really a class. It is a class, but it's not. It's called Hoop Club and everything we do makes us better -- we end up practicing a lot at home too. So, it's really fun... like a club. But we do learn... so maybe it's a class too."

"Hmmm..." offered Marissa. "That sounds like a cool club. I never told you guys this, but I also hoop... at home. One of my aunts got me a hoop for my birthday. She found it online somewhere... Someone actually made it by hand. It's covered in really bright tape -- it's totally different from any you find in the store at Wal-Mart."

Now everyone at the table was riveted on Marissa. "Wow," she thought... "I can't believe everyone is so interested in hooping. Or that May goes to a club for hooping." "Uh, look everyone, I don't know if I'm very good, but I would like to learn more about May's club." She looked directly at May... "May, can I go to the club & just visit... maybe try it out? Is that allowed?"

"Well, yeah, Miss Gen calls that a drop-in. And drop-ins are totally cool. You can bring your hoop if you want -- It sounds like you have the right kind. Those are the kind we use. Miss Gen makes them herself. Here..." and she grabbed a scratch piece of paper from her lunch bag... and wrote down www.kidshoop.org... you can visit this website to learn more, or you can have your Mom call over to the Maitland Civic Center and they'll tell you about the times, and everything..." "Oh wow, thanks, May. I want to come to hoop club!"

"Wait a second," piped up Tommy... "is this a club just for girls? When Leisha was just talking about the guy in the big hoop in Canada, I thought that sounded like fun. Can boys learn how to hoop like that?" "Oh, I'm not sure," replied May... you really need to talk with Miss Gen. But..." and she turned to face Marissa who was sitting across from her, "Marissa, you can come by my house after school if you want and we can hoop together. I can show you some of the stuff we do at hoop club. Do you want to do that?" "Yeah!" beamed Marissa.

---THE END (for now)---

Look for another entry very soon!
Written by: Gen Cole, MS, Fitness Instructor, Hoop Club for Kids, Maitland Civic Center, 678-459-2751, or info@kidshoop.org