When British sailors were passing by Hawaii and saw the hula dancing in the 14th century has thought the hoop games the kids were playing back then in England and the dances were similar, hence the word 'hula hooping' became. But, did you know that, there is evidence to say that hoops were used by kids from even Egyptian civilisation? Woah, that's quite a time for them to be around, tried and tested! Don't you think? Earlier of course, they were made from sticks, rattan cane or something similar tied together with rope.
Native Americans were using a similar style of the hoops for story telling and playing as well. As the circular shape did not have an end, it symbolised the circle of life for them. Isn't it ironic that the same thing helps us m akes our life better now (no pun intended)?
Anyhoo, fast-forwarding to a couple of years later, after the manufacturing was streamlined in the 1950s, going from bamboo ones to plastic ones, every Australian kid was twirling one around their waist. In the 1960s, a US company named Whamo-O was the leading manufacturer of these hula hoops. But there were unable to patent the product as it has been in the society for centuries! But they trademarked the name "Hula Hoop" somehow. It was so popular after a while in 1980s they had hula hoop championships happening in more than 2000 cities with more than 2 million people participating in them. Wait, what? How much participants does the Olympic have? In 1980 it was around 5000, according to the Google expert! Anyway, some serious research on hula hooping has also been done. The explanation of the dynamics of hula hooping won the 2004 Physics Nobel Prize to Michael Turvey of the University of Connecticut and Ramesh Balasurbramaniam of the University of Ottawa!
Now now, there are more advance technologies and people are more creative thinkers than ever before! The hula hoop has evolved so much more from being a simple bamboo or rattan stick curled up to being made with durable long-lasting materials and also added with weights to make them effective and smart fitness products for even adults.
With more people across the world discovering how fun and entertaining the hula hoops are, it is our believe that hula hoops are here to stay. Just like the circle of life, hula hoop will make its journey, but it will never end!