My advice? Don't fret, stick to it and try to stay positive. It takes time for your body to catch on to all of these new things you are demanding of it. Set goals and pick a couple of really basic tricks to master before moving on. Say for three or four days (to even a couple of weeks depending on how quickly your body warms up to it) you work on hooping every day, work on adjusting the speed of your hoops revolution faster and slower on command and keeping it going for longer and longer periods of time without the hoop falling to the ground. When you've got that under control set a new goal. "By the end of june I want to be able to do a lift" or "This month I want to master traveling with my hoop" or whatever...if you meet the goal sooner great, set another...if it takes a bit longer don't get frustrated let it motivate you to push on. As you begin to build yourself a nice little playlist of moves...your muscles will have memory to pull from as you learn new ones and you will find that you pick up tricks easier. It's hardest at first.

Also just so you are aware, we're having a Play in the park day on 7/7/07. Come check it out, hang with me, and all kinds of other skill toy addicts and practice your moves all day. Heres the tribe with more info. tribes.tribe.net/creativityinmotion

Keep your chin up, hun. You'll get there. It just takes time.

Happy Hooping!
~Gypsy