I have had a fantastic year, with lots of personal growth, awesome work opportunities, and loving friends and family to keep me company along the journey! 2011 has a lot in store, too.. and if you’re curious about my day-to-day life, follow me on Twitter @christagiles for updates in 140 characters or less!

The big news in my hooping world is that I’m developing a method for hooping students to guide and track their progress! It is still taking shape, but this is the current form:

Skills are roughly divided into families of movement styles, that I’m calling Streams.

The six Main Streams are:
On Body
Lifts and Transitions
Hand Hooping (Spinning)
Hand Hooping (Grip)
Jumps and Step-Throughs
Exits and Re-Entries

The six Secondary Streams are:
Air and Floor
Other Body Parts
Poi Style
Twins
Partner and Group Work
Dance + Performance

The different Streams are intended to give students opportunities to focus in one area of interest, and earn recognition for their efforts and achievement in that area.

To encourage students to become well-rounded hoopers, I have also developed six levels or Circles. To complete a Circle, students must demonstrate proficiency at a set number of skills, perform a short routine that combines those skills in flow, and connect with the greater hooping community through a blog or video post. Click here to see a chart outlining the content of each Circle.


I’m still playing with the recognition system, and I have a lot of examples to choose from! I worked as a full-time lifeguard and swim instructor/supervisor for 17 years, so I’ve seen everything in that environment from badges with report cards to posters with stickers. Other inspirations include the Scouting system of merit badges, and the coloured wrist cords used by the swordfighting school Academie Duello.

Do you want a report card? A poster for collecting stickers or stars? What do you think about earning bands of glitter tape to add to your hoop?

This whole concept actually popped into my head while watching a demonstration by the Academie Duello team, and Devon was kind enough to let me watch some of his students go through their Cord exams at the Academie.

(Side note: Academie Duello is in a GORGEOUS space in downtown/Gastown, and they offer a wide range of courses in swordfighting and other martial arts for all ages and levels of interest… including horsemanship, whee! Go check out their website for more information!)

So at this point, I’d love some feedback! Here are the main questions:

1 - would you be intested in using this program to guide your hoop practice?

2 - are there any aspects of the program that you’d like to see dropped or changed?

3 - what sort of recognition system would you enjoy?


Please drop me a line at christa@christahoops.com with your thoughts, thanks!