Teaching children sport was something I never would have dreamed of doing in my 20s or 30s! I was always “middle of the road” in PE and had only recently discovered the joys of keeping fit when I met up with Tracey, 7 years ago. I also couldn’t hula hoop at all!
I had completed a teaching assistant course but was struggling to find work as I had limited childcare and two small children. Tracey asked me to give Hoopstarz a go and the flexible hours were perfect for me. Both Tracey’s and my other colleagues’ enthusiasm and belief in what they were doing was infectious and after only a few sessions shadowing, with a bit of home practice, I had mastered the basics. This was enough to enable me to deliver my own after school club sessions.
The great thing was I didn’t need to be fantastic at it as I had an endless supply of willing demonstrators amongst the children that I taught. Roll on 7 years and a lot of the tricks I can now do were practiced during after school sessions and mastered at the same time as the children, which gave us all a fantastic sense of achievement.
I believe that learning alongside the children is the best confidence builder ever for all involved. We have the pleasure of seeing this happen not just with ourselves in clubs but with the children and their class teachers on Hoopstarz days. We just love sharing the Hoopstarz buzz!!
Following the theme of learning through play from our last blog, I was really interested to hear at the PE conference about how moving and learning are connected and how moving our bodies improves neural pathways. It prompted me to review the definition of active learning which I found to be – any learning activity in which the student participates or interacts with the learning process, as opposed to passively taking in the information.
We see these neural pathways being built on every day in our sessions as we can see huge improvements in many of the children’s hooping ability from the beginning of a session to the end. We feel this is enabled by spending the minimum amount of time showing the children what to do and giving them as much time as possible to practice.
“Don’t learn to do, but learn in doing” – Samuel Butler. Author
Faye D x
Following our recent attendance at the Tees Valley School Sport and PE Conference, I have been inspired to write a few pieces based on some of the points that were raised that really resonated with us and what we incorporate into our Hoopstarz programme.
Our programme is not only a fantastic way for the children to explore what their body can do through the games that we play but is also a chance for them to build on their learning in numeracy, literacy, social skills and problem solving. We love to see the children really enjoying themselves, counting, discussing and building while standing, crawling, running and jumping!
A teacher at a school we were in recently commented on how well behaved her class were being during our session as a lot of them really struggled in a sit-down classroom environment. She said that she would love to see more opportunities for the children to learn in this way.
The above was inspired by the following quote from the conference – “let children learn, not by making them work harder but by making them play harder.”
Faye D x
It has been 5 months since I started working for the KidzRFit and Hoopstarz team and not a day goes by where I don’t feel lucky to be a part of it. Of course I love the fact that I spend my days teaching children new hula hooping skills, especially when they master a trick, keep the hoop up by themselves for a duration of a song or the look of amazement when they can see how you can use hoops in playground games. But that’s not the only perk.
As I was a teacher in my previous career, I am able to see all the other benefits Hoopstarz brings to children.
I particularly like how hula hooping is a leveller, therefore making it accessible and inclusive to ALL children, even the quietest of children come out of their shell in the sessions to showcase their newfound skills. As soon as the music starts and everyone pushes the hoop around their tummies you can see the smiles and faces of determination light up the room.
I also thrive off seeing the sessions incorporating so many areas of the curriculum!
How?
Stay tuned for next week’s blog to find out!
On 16th November 2019 we held our first discovery day!
For those of you who don’t know, a discovery day is an event that gives people an opportunity to learn about a business, meet the people involved and, in our case, find out how they can get involved.
We were all a bit nervous, but very excited to see what the day would bring! We set up our presentation room, got out our hoops and stuck the kettle on in anticipation for people arriving. Once everyone was accounted for, Tracey began by introducing herself and the rest of the team (a friendly bunch of faces if we do say so ourselves) and started off the presentation with her fountain of Hoopstarz knowledge.
Midway through the morning we moved out into the atrium area and led a miniature Hoopstarz session; starting with the basics of how to stand and move the hoop, then to jumping, to criss-crossing, to balancing, to spinning, to all sorts of fun hoop games and more! A laugh a minute!
For the rest of the morning we enjoyed coffee and delicious cakes (provided by our amazing Devon) whilst Tracey finished off the presentation and answered any and all questions people had about starting up their own Hoopstarz franchise. The event was a huge success, we always love an opportunity to share the magic of Hoopstarz with more people and our first discovery day was definitely sprinkled with that magic.
Hoopstarz Team x
Since becoming one of the Kidz R Fit and Hoopstarz team in September I have always had the lush company of one of the other team members when setting off into schools or heading to festivals and it gave me a great insight into what sort of sessions I would be teaching and a fab opportunity to shadow some of the sessions and get some experience in!
It was always lovely having the safety net of another person there but I knew the time would come when I had to brave it alone and although it did scare me a bit I couldn’t wait to start taking the control of planning and delivering my own sessions in schools.
Last week was the week!
My week started with a Hoopstarz day in the school I used to teach in for 3 years while being a primary school teacher. I was very excited but I could feel the nerves setting in the night before and on the morning my mind was buzzing with thoughts of the different games, tricks and songs I was going to use for each class. My mind was instantly put at ease when I started driving through the school gates and I saw the caretaker, a friendly face always helps! As I was setting up my music and hoops in the hall, my nerves had vanished and I was ready to start! The whole day was amazing and I was on such a high after it. The children and staff loved every session and we had so much fun. I don’t think I could have picked a better school to have gone into for my first solo session as I felt so comfortable there and it was lovely to catch up with all the children and staff. I was also able to stand back and think – “yes this is definitely what I should be doing!”
I did another two Hoopstarz mornings which, again, I loved doing! I was a bit less confident at the start as I felt like it was my first day again. It was a school that I wasn’t as familiar with so I didn’t have that as a ‘comfort blanket’. Tracey came to observe me on these hoop days so again this added to my nerves a little bit more as I wanted to show her my absolute best! I was so glad she came as she was able to give me some tips and advice which made the following day even better and I got great feedback from the children and staff!
My week ended with a staff meeting and office day. Office days were something I was definitely not used to doing and although I didn’t know any of the systems at the start (so I felt like a rabbit in headlights) I now really look forward to them. I have taken a role of promoting the companies on social media so I am always busy with that as well as contacting schools. It’s also a great chance to catch up with everyone which I will benefit so much from since I am also going out to schools solo now too! This week I was able to discuss the new project I have helped create for November called ‘Move-ember’. I have loved being put in charge of a project and being able to get creative with it, such a great feeling to be trusted with something so important!
Overall, it has been an amazing week, I loved every second of teaching and I can’t wait to teach more Hoopdayz, Playground Starz and hopefully some PE sessions in schools! I love being part of such a brilliant team and being able to deliver such fun, uplifting and active sessions to children is something I’ve always wanted to do so really feels like a dream come true!
What is your name and tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Devon Foxall and I am the newest member of the Hoopstarz team! I rent my own flat in Gateshead I have lived there for 4 years now and I am still optimistically hoping that a puppy will come and join me as I LOVE dogs. I also love keeping fit, I go to the gym to weight train 5 times a week and have lots of friends in the bodybuilding and fitness industry, very rarely you will find me without my fitbit! At the weekends you can usually find me on long walks, having food and drinks with friends, chilling with a face mask and having spa afternoons or participating in activities such as boxing, yoga, trampolining and crazy golf. I also have a big passion for baking (got to have balance, right?) I am always testing out recipes and regularly bake weekend cake boxes, tray bakes and celebration cakes for friends and family.
How did you get involved with Hoopstarz?
I recently started a Level 2 child fitness qualification and I was searching for a company I could go to in school holidays so that I would be able to use my new skills. I came across Hoopstarz online. I spoke to Tracey over email then we met, and she was able to offer me an amazing opportunity- to join Hoopstarz and help the team build the franchise. I decided to hand in my notice as a teacher and begin a new journey!
What are you most looking forward to about working with Hoopstarz?
I don’t know where to start here because I have been super lucky to join a supportive and positive team and they have got me SO excited about everything. I can’t wait to put my passion of working with children together with my passion for fitness. I’m excited to see children gain confidence, enjoy themselves and improve key skills outside of the classroom within the Hoopstarz sessions.
Where do you want to be in 6 months?
In 6 months, I want to have perfected all the hula tricks, practice makes perfect so if you see a girl hula hooping around the streets of Gateshead… don’t be alarmed, it’s me! I also want to be delivering my own Hoopstarz days and events as well as hopefully going around the country helping franchises deliver sessions!
Tell us how you feel after your first official few days at Hoopstarz!
Happy (so so happy), positive and excited! I have loved every second so far and I can’t wait for the future with Hoopstarz (:
Last but certainly not least, it’s our Managing Director and founder of Hoopstarz, Tracey!
What is your name and tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Tracey Davison Managing Director of Kidz R Fit and creator of Hoopstarz! Happily married to my very supportive husband, Phil, and Mam to my two amazing children, Alexander and Hannah.
After having worked with unfit and overweight adults I realised that most were unfit and overweight because they hadn’t enjoyed PE or exercise as a child. I decided to do my fitness qualifications to teach children and launched Kidz r Fit in 2007. I started out with only two hours of work but I was determined to make a success of this, I really wanted to make a difference. We delivered PE, after school clubs, we worked in nurseries and did a lot of work with the Children’s Centres. Back then there was no Hoopstarz!!!
How did you first get involved with Hoopstarz?
I was given the opportunity to go on a hula hooping workshop which was to target children and those who didn’t participate much in PE. I loved this workshop and my mind started working overtime with ideas on how this could be turned into an exciting programme that schools could use to increase activity and also to engage the disengaged pupils and those who may excel more with something non-traditional. From there Hoopstarz was created and continues to evolve with new ideas being added. Hoopstarz is like my third child, I am really proud of what I have created and how much enjoyment it has brought to thousands of children. I never get tired of teaching it or talking about it. I still get a buzz every time we get a comment from a child or feedback from a teacher. It really is an amazing programme!
What is your favourite thing about working for Hoopstarz?
There are so many!
Hoopstarz has helped my business grow and I am so proud that we are known widely now, because of Hoopstarz, as a reputable, highly recommended company.
I love the reaction of the children when they are able to hoop and do tricks, the squeals of “Tracey look at me I can do it!” never gets old.
When a teacher comes over to congratulate you after a child has been focused and engaged throughout their session and would never normally participate, brings tears to your eyes, we are just doing our job
The amazing people who have been part of the Hoopstarz Journey, my fabulous team both past and present. Without them Hoopstarz wouldn’t be so successful, their passion, belief in and enthusiasm for the programme is what has brought us to the point that we are able to franchise.
What is your favourite memory of working for Hoopstarz?
Hmmm so many…………Probably our very first Hoopstarz Festival, the absolute buzz from this was unbelievable, seeing 100 children hooping together, smiling, being active while having fun and all because of something I created, AMAZING!
Why would you recommend starting up a franchise with Hoopstarz?
I may be biased but it is an amazing opportunity to run your own successful business with a fantastic support network. An amazing programme that is tried and tested, you are getting the chance to help improve the health and well being of the next generation. It is a very simple business if you work hard it will offer huge rewards both personally and financially. If you want a job that doesn’t feel like a job this is the business for you.
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