Creating Hooping Community Where You Live
by Philo Hagen
Once you’ve discovered the wonderful world of hooping on your own, the next step is discovering the wonderful world of hooping with others. For some of us that isn’t much of a challenge. Doing some simple searches here on hooping.org and Facebook for the biggest city near you may result in pinpointing others nearby that share your hooping passion. If you’re even luckier you might find a whole hooping community with weekly or monthly hoopjams and events. There might just be a whole platoon of hoopers anxiously waiting your arrival!
In other cases, however, such searches may reveal the lingering cyber remains of something that did indeed happen, but has since vanished. Perhaps someone was really gung ho for hooping and when they moved away it all fell apart. Maybe a hooping community grew then fell under the weight of personalities and power struggles. Or perhaps doing that little bit of research will confirm what you already suspected – there really isn’t anything hoopening near you and there never has been. That doesn’t, however, mean all hope is lost.
If you’re looking for hooping community it could be that others nearby are just waiting for someone to be their next great local hoop community trailblazer, even those who haven’t even heard of hooping yet! But how do you go about creating a hooping community where there isn’t one? Well, dear hooper, it’s actually easier than you might think.
Having started a couple hooping groups myself, and a third we are currently getting rolling in Los Angeles, I not only have my personal experience to share on this, I’ve spent a great deal of time over the years doing independent, casual and random surveys too. I’ve picked the brains of a myriad of hoopers trying to bring people together to better understand what works and what doesn’t. With all of that in mind, here are my five simple steps to create a hooping community where you live. And if you build it, they will come.
1. Check Your Motives. Before getting started on the road to bringing the joy of hooping to others where you live, when it comes to creating community I think it’s best to take a little inward journey first and ask yourself, “Self, what do you really want and expect to get out of doing this?” If your answer is anything other than simply having a community of local hoopers to share the joy of hooping with, my advice is to take a closer look at that. Other agendas lingering behind community building intentions have been known to sink some efforts, sometimes even before they begin. But if you’re coming from a place of humility and a desire to simply be of love and service, it’s not something that is rather obvious to those around you, but it appears to be the most effective ingredient in really bringing others on board.
2. Commit Yourself. When we first started hooping our heads often said things like “You can’t do that” and “It’ll never work”. One of the first things we needed to do was change our minds from “I can’t” to “I can”. The same thing is true for building hooping community. You may have a list of reasons why you’re not the person and another list of why it can never happen where you live. I’m here to tell you that in spite of whatever your head may be telling you, you can. The game changer is to go within and make a commitment to yourself and the universe that you’re here to help make that happen. Change your mind, change your world. After all, you’re the most powerful tool that you’ll be bringing to this community building exercise. When you’re committed others will not only see it, but they’ll see that it’s an effort worthy of their support. And I’ve found that if we are committed the right path will eventually reveal itself to you. It might take awhile. It took several months of Bay Area Hoopers meeting weekly in a park before a third committed member really came on board, but guess what? Bay Area Hoopers is still going and thriving today 13+ years later.
3. Block Out Your Calendar: When you choose the time and day you’re going to want to pick a time that works for you. After all, you’re going to be the person showing up and making it happen and you really need to ommit to a regular schedule. Of course you want other people to come so choosing a day and time when most people are generally available is certainly helpful. Whatever time and day of the week you decide on though, create space in your calendar and commit yourself to being there every week or every two weeks consistently. Weekend afternoons tend to be best, although a weekday evening can work really well – particularly in the summer months. Whatever day you choose block out two hours on your calendar every week, and don’t worry. Once the group gets going you’re certain to find the people who will be more than happy to cover for you when there’s a conflict or you’ll be away on vacation.
4. Location Location Location. The right location can really make your event so choose it with care. First, do a little research of your area. If you want your community hoop jam to be as attractive to as many people as possible you can do it for free in a public park or building that is relatively central for everyone. They may be a great spot you never even noticed. Once you host your first hoop jam you’ll begin to see your whole town or city differently. I think it’s great if your event is easily accessible by public transit and has relatively easy parking. I also strongly recommending choosing a location that has a certain degree of public visibility. Why? Not only so those that show up can easily find you, but so other people passing by can see you and join in the fun. I’ve met some of my best friends and favorite hooping pals simply because they came by and I rolled them a hoop to play with. Other important things to consider are access to a public restroom, a large grassy area that is relatively flat, a certain degree of shade for the hot sunny days of summer – and if you’re really looking for a super mega bonus location, see if there are places nearby to grab a coffee, a quick lunch or a bite to eat together afterwards.
Now if you live in a big city like I do, Los Angeles, you might benefit from having an event that travels to different locations each time. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but thanks primarily to our lovely traffic, it’s nice to not have to drive every week or month to somewhere inconvenient. It’s nice if we can bring it closer to everyone’s direction every once in awhile. Beneath this is also an underlying principle of consideration and fairness. That being said, however, some of the most solid hoop jams I know of do indeed happen in the same place every single time. They’re solid and predictable. The most important part is that on any given Sunday afternoon or Tuesday evening people know you’ll be hooping.
5. Be a Great Host/Hostess. Bring a nice stack of extra hoops and have them available for others to use. Encourage your members to bring hoops to share as well, and please, please, PLEASE be sure to have hoops in a variety of sizes – including extra large – so that anybody who wants to give hooping a spin can do so. Keep in mind that what might be extra large for you may not be big enough for someone tall and/or plus size. After all, you probably got your hooping start by spinning up someone else’s hoop for awhile at an event or festival, right? Now you get to be the person who brings the joy to the lives of others.
Now here’s a bonus tip: when people stop to watch your group hoop, don’t ask them if they want to give it a try. Take one of the extra hoops and roll it over to them. While there are some who, if asked, will respond with an immediate “I’d love to” – more often than not you will encounter those whose minds are still set at “I can’t”. That all too practical adult observer will respond negatively without even being aware they are doing so. “I can’t do that,” they will say, adding, “I’ve never been able to, and I never will.” BUT, if you can get them to actually touch the hoop I have seen time and time again that the power of the plastic circle has a tendency to change things – and then it really becomes anybody’s guess whether they will actually give it a spin or not. You can place extra hoops at the outer edge near potential bystanders too so they can easily access them, maybe even with a little “Join us” note on the pole their resting on.
Another piece in terms of being a good host or hostess is to take a little time to get to know the people that come. Introduce yourself. Find out their name, where they live. Were they just passing by or did they hear about the group some other way? As your hooping group begins to grow and you start to make new hooping friends, it can become rather easy to get lost in the flow of our own hooping, the music, the catching-up conversations with those you already know and care about. So try to keep one eye open for the new person and extend that welcoming and helping hooping hand. If you’ve already done a lot of it that day ask someone else to go introduce themselves to that new girl. It can seriously increase the odds that they’ll be back for more, especially when you tell them when and where the group meets next.
6. Musical Democracy. The first thing that will attract people to your hoopjam will be the hoops. People will see them and they’ll look and they won’t believe their eyes and they’ll get closer. A close second, however, will be the music so turn it up nice and loud. When it comes to the music you’re playing, however, remember that not everybody likes the same soundtrack. Years ago, before moving to Los Angeles, I attended two hooping groups here that didn’t last. One was organized by a congenial blonde who ruled her boombox with an iron fist. A resentment over her lack of musical democracy (and taste according to some) was responsible for a second hoopjam a hundred yards down the beach. While one group spun it up in the grass to Top 40 favorites of yesteryear, the other devoured a steady diet of sand and hard driving techno. In the end they both folded. Lucky for you, however, it’s never been easier to have musical democracy.
The new hoopLA group we’re launching is using an Apple Music playlist. The service, which is only $9.99 a month, gives you access to literally everything available on iTunes. I put a call out for people to tell me what they’re favorite songs to hoop to were and easily added them to a hoopLA playlist without having to buy anything. I even added a song to our playlist at the last jam when someone requested it. These days I just open the playlist on my iPhone, set it to shuffle at random, and hit play. The end result is instant musical democracy and if you didn’t hear the track you love this week, you’re sure to hear it next time. If you’re looking for something to play your music on and you’ve got a little cash check out the ion Tailgater. I really love this sound system with an nternal rechargeable battery that lasts for hours. It’s bluetooth so it can connect to your Apple Music playlist on your phone seamlessly too. Need I say more?
7) Beware the Business Pitfall. While having a weekly community hoopjam might be a great way to help market your hooping business, be careful. I’m a big believer in the attraction rather than promotion model when it comes to creating community. If you’ve got some cool moves attendees will be drawn to you. They’ll want to know how you learned what you’ve learned and those one-on-one conversations are great opportunities to tell them about your classes. If someone wants to buy a hoop people at your jam will likely point you out as the person to talk to as well. But making a lot of announcements and telling people about what you’re selling can distract from the beauty of creating community itself. We all know the difference between a hello that wants something from us and a hello that wants something for us. Plus, other problems can develop later on if someone else in your area decides to start a hooping business of their own too. My surveys have shown it’s unlikely they’ll send people to your hoopjam anymore than you would send someone to theirs. If you can start yours in a neutral way, however, it’ll really help prevent these sort of issues from happening later on.
If you follow these simple steps it’s quite likely that a year from now you will find yourself surrounded by a host of new friends. You’ll have fun people in your life that are truly enjoying life too! You’ll have a YOUR TOWN NAME HERE Hoopers Facebook group to follow your events where others can find you. You’ll be sharing what you’ve with others eager to learn, and you’ll probably be learning from others too! Pretty soon you’ll be talking about joining a local parade or organizing a local event for World Hoop Day. Perhaps best of all, you’ll also one day realize that you’ve become a change maker. You’ll helping people to find themselves and their joy again, spinning them into the center of their own rotation. You will see people lose weight. You’ll get to see the incredibly priceless smiles come from those who are hooping for the very first time – and they’ll all have you and your hooping community group to thank for it. So go for it future hooping community trailzblazer. What have you got to lose?
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Philo Hagen is the Co-founder and Managing Editor of Hooping.org. He’s been spinning things up online and off since April 2003. Co-Founder of the Bay Area Hoopers and LA Hoopers hoop groups, Philo has performed internationally and has won Hoopie Awards for Male Hooper of the Year and Video of the Year. He lives in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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