Ember Alexander, an 11-year-old girl in the fifth grade at Norwood Elementary School, set out to make history in the Guinness World Records and did so last week, on Jan. 27, after hula hooping for four hours and 54 minutes, uninterrupted and without the hula hoop falling.
She had planned to break the previous record and made at least two attempts in the last few years. She first began hula hooping in PE class at Norwood Public Schools and then decided breaking the record was something she wanted to do.
She told the Forum last week in an interview she’s basically self-taught, though she only hula hoops at school. She doesn’t really practice much at home.
The daughter of Tera and Brandon Alexander, Ember Alexander is also part of a multi-generational ranching family. As such, nobody questioned why the young lady set the world record wearing blue jeans and a trophy belt buckle she won at the San Miguel Basin Fair.
Ember Alexander does show lamb and steer in the county’s 4-H program, and she also rides horses on her family’s ranch too.
She told the Forum she doesn’t really dance too much when she’s hula hooping, because the hoop has a tendency to fall. Still, she does listen to music to keep her going, and being a big Reba McEntyre fan, she usually listens to Reba.
While setting the new world record last week, her hula hoop did hit her belt buckle five times exactly, but Alexander was able to keep the hula hoop moving, and it stayed up.
Was she sore after nearly five hours of continuous hula hooping? Not really, she said in the interview, but her feet did hurt some afterward.
She said the first time she tried beating the record, it didn’t work, because she got called back to class to do her work. The second time she tried, the video recording stopped, because a phone capturing the event ran out of battery.
This time, Alexander got clearance to miss her classes and had a phone fully charged with power available to complete the mission. She said the last two attempts helped her get her nerves out, so she didn’t feel very anxious last week when she set out again to break the world record.
Alexander added school staff were supportive of her wish, and people checked on her, including school superintendent Todd Bissell. The PE teacher, Abby Thompson, was also supervising; Thompson is the contact person submitting the video and paperwork to the Guinness World Records team.
Despite her telling her family her intention was to break the world hula hooping record, they were still surprised.
“It’s kind of mind-blowing to me,” Tera Alexander said of her daughter’s accomplishment, “but, when she sets her mind to something, she really does it.”
She admitted her daughter is a very driven young woman.
Father Brandon Alexander agreed he was proud, and he was shaking his head last week in amazement while smiling, but rather quiet. Sister McKenzie, in the seventh grade, agreed the whole thing was impresseive.
“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Tera Alexander said.
