If you think hula hooping is fun, this story is for you. 🤩
At the Chennai Hoopers school in Chennai, India, young students love to express themselves through fun dance moves... and they have broken multiple records too!
Recently, three students from Chennai Hoopers, together with their teacher and parents, travelled to London to visit our office, hungry for more records.
In just 5 years since the school was founded, an incredible number of students have broken records like:
- Most hula hoop rotations around the neck (211)
- Most hula hoop rotations around the arm in one minute (220)
So last month, eight-year-old Mamathi Vinoth, 13-year-old Balasaranitha Balaji and 12-year-old Janani Saravana, came with just one goal in mind... to break as many recordsas possible!
More specifically, they were going to attempt nine records. 😬
The records combined hula hooping, gymnastics and roller-skating skills.
“I’m excited and happy about the record attempts,” said Mamathi, the youngest of the three. “And it will encourage me to do more records in the future.”
“It’s very exciting, but I’m also a bit nervous,” added Bala.
At the end of their attempts, held in front of various GWR team members, all three girls managed to break at least one record each.
However, after they didn't succeed in breaking 3 out of the 9 records, they decided to try again and really give it all they had.
Once they chose to not give up, no one could stop them. 💪
And indeed, they finally succeeded in breaking all nine records!
Janani
12-year-old Janani broke three records:
- Most elbow passes with a hula hoop in one minute (46)
- Most single-leg raises while hula hooping around the knees in 30 seconds (15)
- Most elbow passes with a hula hoop while wearing inline skates in 30 seconds (15)
Janani started hula hooping after she saw her older brother and decided she wanted to follow in his, and her mother's, footsteps.
In fact, Janani's mother is Vijayalakshmi, the main teacher at the Chennai Hoopers school!
Some of Janani's hobbies are reading horror stories and combining gymnastic tricks with hula hooping. 🤸♀️
Bala
13-year-old Balasaranitha Balaji, started hula hooping more recently, during the pandemic.
“I had more free time and I was bored,” she explained. “I thought it was just another hobby, but I like it a lot now.”
Bala now holds five world records. In London, she broke three:
- Most hula hoop rotations around the neck on inline skates in one minute (174)
- Most hula hoop rotations around the shoulders in 30 seconds (53)
- Most hula hoop rotations around the knee in the arabesque position in 30 seconds (104)
And her previous records were:
- Most elbow passes with a hula hoop in 30 seconds (25)
- Most hula hoop rotations around the knee in heel stretch position in 30 seconds (97)
Mamathi
At just eight years old, Mamathi is the little one of the team!
She is very confident, loves combining hooping and gymnastics, and is great at encouraging others to try out her passion.
On 19 January, she broke the following records:
- Most hops while spinning a hula hoop on the ankle in one minute (110)
- Most Hula Hoop rotations around knees while in dancer pose in 30 seconds (62)
- Most hula hoop rotations around the knees on inline skates in 30 seconds (76)
The three girls are very grateful to have Vijayalakshmi as their teacher.
“I’m incredibly proud of the children," she said.
She is an experienced and passionate hula-hooper herself, who started her very own hula hoop school in 2018.
In less than 5 years, her school became renowned worldwide! 🌎
The three amazing athletes love performing together and dream of one day competing in the Olympic Games.
We hope all their dreams come true, and we are sure that, through hard work and determination, they will achieve great things.✨
So... feel inspired to start a career in hula-hooping yet?!
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