What’s in My Hooping Bag?

[Hooping.org columnist Shea Brock tells us what's in her bag.]

by Shea Brock

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a very serious addiction, to magazines.  I can’t help it. It goes back to my days as a Mass Communications Major (pre degree change) when one of my professors told me if I wanted to work for a magazine one day I needed to do as much research as possible. I totally took it to heart.

My favorite type of magazine is the smutty Hollywood gossip magazines. Give me an In Style, People or Entertainment Weekly any day of the week and I am happy as a pig in mud. I love all the who’s wearing what articles, but my favorite has to be US Weekly’s “What’s in your Bag” section where celebrities empty their purses and man-bags to show you what they love. Reading it recently it got me to thinking…. When I started hooping years ago I had just my one hoop: Betty. But as the years went on I found there were all different types of hoops out there, enough to meet my many hoop moods. So I set out to acquire and make a plethora of personalized circles to play with, gave them all a name and settled them in my home.

So, what’s in My Hoop Bag?

1. Betty: She’s my original (who had a tape face lift) 45 inch large hoop. She is my first and my main go to hoop when I am learning new tricks. She is also the hoop I first hand to new students just learning. She is nice and easy going.

2. Dallas: She’s my medium hoop made out of blue, silver glitter and white tape. She sparkles like the uniforms of the Dallas Cheerleaders I grew up emulating, hence the name.  She came to me when I needed something a little smaller to start really working on booty bumps and stirring the pot. She’s also one I hand out in class a lot.

3. Miss Priss: She’s my extra large pink and purple stripe girl. I created her when I first started chest hooping and needing something a little bigger and slower. When I started leg hooping I reinforced her insides making her extra grippy so I could hoop in pants in the winter. Now she is outfitted with my quick wicks and will become my fire hoop in the coming weeks.

4. Lottie: Ahhhhh, the most expensive of the bunch. She is my collapsible 44 inch LED hoop. I wanted a hoop whose LED’s didn’t flash on and off, one that just stayed stable. It was a present to me and I have not had one problem with it in the past two years. She is the one everyone wants to play with. She is the life of the party.

5. The Teal Twins: My first twin hoops. Love them. They have been a lovely little purchase. I have really been giving my upper arms a workout this summer. They are the perfect addition to the family, and saved me mentally and psychologically when I was recuperating from my back surgery.

6. The Badass: My first foray into water hoops. It was given to me by my friend. She is 1 inch thick, 160 psi and 54″. She really allowed me to slow down my chest and shoulder hooping, allowing me to really focus on proper body mechanics. She is also a great abs workout. I always feel it the next day when I break out The Badass.

7. Clarkson: My newest and biggest hoop is Clarkson. When I returned to hooping after back surgery I discovered that all the hoops I had were hurting my back. I needed something big and slow and since I had loaned out The Badass I decided to make a bigger remedial hoop. I used an extra large hoop from class and added an extra few feet. She is almost as tall as me and a real bear to fit in my car, but she has given me my life back. She has allowed me to hoop without pain. I love her for this.

I love it when people who have bought hoops from me come back and order more. They laugh and tell me it’s an addiction and that their husbands and friends tell them they have too many hoops and need to quit. I disagree. I believe hoops are like shoes, in a way. There is the appropriate time and place for different types of shoes, and there is the appropriate time and place for different types of hoops. Some days are a Dallas kind of day where I want to just rock out hardcore, and then there are Badass kind of days where I feel like slowing things down. There are Teal Twins days where I just want to zone out and not have to concentrate on anything other than what’s spinning in my hands. And there are Betty days when I am teaching someone to hoop and need something old and reliable. So, that’s what’s in my hoop bag. Now, what’s in yours?

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Shea Brock of Boro Hoops lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA, where she’s slowly building an army of hoopers so she doesn’t have to hoop alone.

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