ABC's HOI-19 in Creve Couer, illinois, gives a nod to Hooping.org while noting: "Some people don’t exercise because they find many of the standard forms of activity to be boring. The American Council on Exercise says one way to make workouts more interesting is to use small “gadgets” or “toys” that make activity fun." In their interview with Tina Hemmerle, which is really all about fitness, Tina explains that hooping is a great way to get aerobic exercise. "It builds core strength and improves coordination and posture. It also requires the use of muscles that may not get any kind of regular workout."

While all this is true and good, thinking of hooping as my exercise routine would quite frankly dull the shine. As someone who is extremely busy and typically over-committed with my fingers in far too many projects, hooping is my escape from productivity. It's play time and creating time and space in my life for play time as an adult is as essential to my happiness as water or air.

Oddly enough, when the media is talking with those in the fitness field, the conclusion seems to be that, well, hooping is fun! In the UK, the Swindon Advertiser talks to Jayne Gaffney, pictured, the instructor of Fitness Hooping at the Calne Leisure Centre. Anna Mansell goes to one of her classes and outside of her complaints about breaking a fingernail, she has a great time. She writes, "Although I had mastered little more than the handful of circles, by the end of the class I was keen to come back again. ... I certainly got a good rosy glow to my cheeks during the class, although fitter candidates may find the cardio element of this class is not hard enough. I would suggest it to anyone wanting some form of exercise, as it is a fun class..."

While the secret is out that hooping is great exercise, and it most certainly is that and then some, what concerns me is an ever-growing ideology that having fun isn't a worthwhile endeavor in an of itself. While it's perhaps a somewhat worthy side benefit, it certainly is not worthy as a goal. For me I beg to differ. I want to continue to focus on hooping as my play time, dance time, joy time, bliss time, a respite from my focus on being a human doing back into being a human simply "being." As Shirley McClaine once said, “I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.”