A day in the life at Zappos is never normal. There is always something unusual and crazy going on to keep each day interesting and new. With the start of the 2008 Olympics Zappos held its own Olympic competitions. I competed in our Hula Hooping event. I must admit I didn't do well with the little toy hoop that I had. I was only able to keep it up for 1 min 58 seconds. The winner was using a different toy hoop with water inside and kept it up for 30 minutes finally just stopping since she had blown everyone else away.
This few minutes of my life inspired me to start looking into hooping. I wanted to run out and buy a hoop right away. A good hoop, a Wham-O Hoop, not these cheesy things we were using. I soon found out that Target and Walmart think that hooping is a summer sport only and had clearanced out all of their hoops. I then turned to the internet. It was while researching that I found out that a Wham-O hoop wasn't what I needed at all. I needed a professional hoop. An adult hoop. No toy hoop would do.
Now an obsession began. Who do I get a hoop from? There are so many good ones out there. So many interesting companies. So many fun DVD's. I finally decided that the hoop I needed was a polka dot one from Philthy Hoops. Now to just wait for a paycheck to come along so I can afford one of these awesome hoops. In the mean time I continue watching hoop video after hoop video. Reading site after site (see a short list below). I finally came to the conclusion that as much as I want my Philthy Hoop, I need to start making hoops. I love making things. I will get a Philthy Hoop in the future, but for right now I need to be crafting this new found hobby.
I then went on the journey of finding the materials in Las Vegas. After several phone calls that led to dead ends I turned back to the trusted internet. So now you may be asking where did you find these hard to find materials. Well, I would be happy to share that with you. I looked at many hoop making sites and found that 160 psi 3/4" poly tubing is the size of choice for most adult hoops and a connector made by Genova. I finally found these mystical pieces of hooping material at Ideal True Value. The SKU's for Ideal True Value are listed here: SKU: 300084 black 3/4" x 100', 160 PSI Working Pressure, Coil Polyethylene (other lenghts/colors:400ft black, 100ft white,300ft white) and SKU: 232785 3/4" Poly Coupling by Genova.
For directions on how to make a hoop check out Jason Unbound or any of the great links on Squidoo.
Hooping Sites
Hoopnotica An amazing video is on their home page.
Keep Googling and you will find many more. Ohh and the YouTube videos. LOL!
Update 11/05/08
I forgot to say that I get my colored tape from IdentiTape. They have an awesome selection of tapes and a great hooping reference page.