Jumping Jack Hoops
Jumping Jack Hoops is a cooperative that teaches hula hoop workshops and makes custom hula hoops. Most of their workshops have been held at the Forest Park Farmers Market in Springfield where community members can join. Jumping Jack Hoops welcomes–and encourages– people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and experience levels to join their workshops. Co-owners Jackie and Jaclyn are firm believers that anyone can learn to hula hoop and, once you do, you’ll be happy you did! By offering donation-based hula hooping classes, Jackie and Jaclyn hope to share the joy and health benefits of hula hooping.
During a workshop participants warm up and learn the basics, like waist hooping, with plenty of tips and time for practice. Once people grasp the basics, they incorporate more complex moves like lassoing, the vortex, and isolation hooping with one arm at a time. Throughout the workshop dance music is playing and students can feel free to experiment, ask questions, and request to learn different moves. Workshops end with time for each person to teach the class a move they learned or made up and everyone tries to put them all together into a dance. Jackie and Jaclyn create an environment where people can find confidence, joy, stress-relief, and fun through fresh air and moving your body.
In addition to these outdoor workshops for the public, Jumping Jack Hoops has taught workshops for Girl Scout troops, school events, and adults. As the cooperative gains more capacity for growth, it hopes to offer more workshops for birthday parties and adults.
Jumping Jack Hoops also offers custom hoops for sale. Hoops are made out of soldered PVC pipe of which customers can select width and thickness as well as the size of the hoop. They also offer hoops filled with water or rice that are appealing for both the extra weight it provides and the noise it creates when hooping. Each hoop is decorated with quality gaffer tape, or can be left plain for the customer to decorate themselves.
Jumping Jack Hoops was born out of two friends, Jackie and Jaclyn [pictured left], taking their passion for hula hooping to Wellspring’s Co-op Bootcamp in 2018. Here, they learned about cooperative businesses and the resources to run one themselves. Having learned about the values of cooperatives including sustainability, Jaclyn tries to source the PVC irrigation tubes used to make the hula hoops from Facebook marketplace where people often are trying to get rid of extra materials. While Jumping Jack Hoops is not yet a LLC, Jackie and Jaclyn hope it is in their future once they have the capacity to devote more energy into growing the co-op. For now, with minimal cost input, Jumping Jack Hoops is able to remain a non-lucrative cooperative on the side that brings Jackie and Jaclyn joy and an activity they can share with their children and their community.
Contact Jumping Jack Hoops
Contact Jumping Jack Hoops through Facebook Messenger at Jumping Jack Hoops or by phone at 413-237-5737.
Follow Jumping Jack Hoops on Facebook to stay updated on workshops and more!