Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Lindsay Clements SBCC student and hula hoop crafter Jaime Powell found her love of the hoop during a String Cheese Incident concert.

Media Credit: Lindsay Clements Powell makes her hoops out of PVC pipe and sells them at the Cabrillo Boulevard weekly art walk.

It's another picturesque Sunday afternoon and student Jaime Powell can be found doing a long-forgotten, yet immensely enjoyable, classic childhood activity.

And thanks to her, everyone else visiting the weekly art walk on Cabrillo Boulevard will be reunited with the joy of hula hooping, where her mother runs a booth selling the toys redesigned for adults.

It all began five years ago at a String Cheese Incident concert in Las Vegas, when Powell picked up the awe-inspiring hoop.

As her "hula hoop guru" friend further coaxed her into the growing subculture of hoopers, Powell began learning the tricks of the trade and even started making her own.

It wasn't long before her family picked up on the hobby, and she found her world filled with the rings--made from PVC pipe, a special connector piece, Gaffers tape, and other embellishments.

Though Powell now finds making hula hoops a bit repetitive and boring, she still thoroughly enjoys performing, instructing, and indulging in the increasingly popular sport.

"You can do it with your friends, put on some good music, you can take [these hula hoops] anywhere practically," she adds with a smile as she whimsically swivels the black and gold circle around her body.

Indeed, she finds them to be a perfect supplement to her favorite hobbies, which include hiking, being outdoors, and biking. Likewise, many may discover it's a great way to get some exercise when typical workout routines get dull.

Requiring hand-eye coordination, rhythm and agility, hula hooping may be just the thing for someone looking to improve his or her overall physical condition. According to Powell, it is most rewarding simply because "picking up a hula hoop is fun."

For those unexposed to the art of hula hooping, it may seem like a rather simplistic activity. However, people like Powell have helped it evolve far from what it was on the elementary school playground.

Beginners must first be able to keep it around their hips, and then may learn to become mobile while doing so. Once accomplished, they may move on to much more impressive tricks.

Soon, the hula-hoop connoisseur will put her media design talents to use as she plans to design a Web site that will make her hoops available beyond the Santa Barbara borders.

The biggest hurdle so far? Figuring out how to ship the awkwardly shaped objects.

Before she conquers the world via the unique sport, Powell will continue to instruct her own free hula hopping class at Alice Keck Botanical Gardens at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday beginning March 12.

Money is no comparison to Powell's incentive for spreading the hobby; she does it simply because "when you're doing it you're smiling, when you're an on-looker you're smiling…You can't help but smile."

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