Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.
:: The WJF has posted the results of the WJF 6 competitions. They are not releasing a DVD of the event, but they have posted many of the full routines onto their Youtube channel.
:: Jason Donnelly flashes 10 balls in three different ways.
:: The Ministry of M shows off some contact juggling and a little toss juggling in their latest video Two Dots.
:: Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to drop a Fushigi ball off of a balcony? Here is the answer.
The WJF competitions themselves started on Friday, around noon. There were a slew of different categories that first day ranging from beginner, intermediate, advanced, juniors, endurance, 360s, etc. The competitions ran a little long Friday (pretty much the entire day) and they actually had to cancel some of the workshops so they could get all the competitions done. Highlights include Doug Sayers executing a flash of six club backcrosses, Jon Brady casually juggling five clubs at head level, and Lauge Benjaminsen spinning like a top under just about everything he threw. One of the more interesting moments came during the endurance ring competition when Pavel Evsukevich decided to make his last few attempts in ring numbers juggling while also bouncing a ball on his head just for the heck of it. As a whole, the juggling on Friday was extremely impressive, but a little overwhelming in terms of overall run time.
Saturday was ‘Maximum Overdrive’ which was where the top competitors came out and unleashed some of the most intense moves they could muster, even if it took multiple attempts. For most of this show, jugglers came out in threes and did their own seperate tricks. This worked really well in terms of compressing the run time and giving the audience a very extreme visual presentation, so it definitely lived up to its name. Shortly thereafter, they had the Major League Combat championships. There were four types of games during the championships: Zombie Combat, Kill the King, Sumo Combat, and 360s Combat. To my understanding, most (if not all) of these versions of combat are new and were devised specifically for MLC. They went over very well in execution. Team Play ended up winning the championship.
The final day of the convention featured the Battle for the WJF Presidency as well as the long program. As cool as pure single prop based sport juggling competitions are, the long program was a welcomed addition, as it presented more show-oriented routines which added more diversity to the stage. Pavel Evsukevich won the long program with a routine involving juggling 4 and 5 giant balls, and some intense ring juggling. Throughout the show, there were a couple of exhibition performances: a two and three ball “Falcontrol” juggling routine by Falco Scheffler, and a video game-themed performance by diaboloist Ofek Shilton, who worked his way all the way up to four diabolos. Doug Sayers and Josh Horton also performed a very impressive sports-themed team routine that utilized several different props, including tennis balls and a racket. The Battle for the WJF Presidency was interesting to say the least. Noah Malone took on Jason Garfield in a rather hilarious competition with various rounds that ranged from juggling jousting to three club dance moves, with the competition climaxing in a finale of speed balloon sculpturing. It was a very comical and entertaining way to end the convention, with the only disappointment being that Garfield did not actually perform any serious juggling during the performance. Noah Malone ended up sweeping most of the battle rounds to become the new WJF President for a year. It is currently unknown what Malone’s duties as WJF President will entail, but I’m sure the WJF will make an announcement regarding this soon.
This past week I had the pleasure of attending WJF 6 at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. It was a very memorable experience.
My flight arrived late on Wednesday, so unfortunately I missed out on a couple of the workshops, but I still made it down to the pavilion before it started to clear out. The turnout itself was a little sparse, but there were a fairly large number of international jugglers in attendance, which was very cool to see. There were several vendors there, the main one, of course being the WJF table itself who was selling balls, clubs, rings, t-shirts, and DVDs. Sportco and Juggling Fashion also had tables briefly set up with items for sale.
For the workshops, Falco Scheffler taught mess patterns and box patterns. For the mess workshop, he spent time breaking down and teaching Burke’s Barrage, and Rubenstein’s Revenge as well as a couple others. With the Box workshop, he demonstrated and instructed on the diagonal box, upside down box, the swap box, and a few others that made my brain hurt. Pavel Evsukevich gave several fairly straightforward workshops on ring balance, kicks, and head bounce. Jason Garfield himself taught beginning juggling, backcrosses, overheads, and a few other techniques.
The practice space was well utilized with jugglers training, breaking world records (ring and ball passing), and hanging out well into the wee hours of the morning.
Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.
:: A recent science news article outlined a theory by a reputable professor who believes that gravity does not actually exist. Interesting idea, but good luck trying to convince a juggler!
:: Nick Pike returns and performs once more on America’s Got Talent before being eliminated.
:: I (Nathan) will be attending WJF 6 this coming week in Las Vegas. When I return, I will be sure to post in-depth coverage of the event.
Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.
:: Pavel Evsukevich has put out a couple new videos, one new show off reel, and another demonstrating that his insane abilities are not diminished when juggling really big rings.
:: Laura Ernst juggled balls inside a giant bubble during an appearance on the current season of America’s Got Talent.
:: Do you enjoy graphic design? If so, here is your chance to shine. Anthony Gatto is holding a contest on his forum where you could design his next banner and win cool prizes.
This video has been online for a little while, but it’s too cool not to post. What happens when the president of the World Juggling Federation meets up with arguably one of the best ring jugglers in the world and they have some time to kill together while they wait around to meet up with arguably the best club juggler in the world? Answer: this video.
Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.
:: Michael Karas released his new juggling film ‘Spark’ on World Juggling Day. Check out the trailer, and download the film.
:: Cruise ship juggler Nick Pike recently made an appearance on the current season of America’s Got Talent.
There is an interesting phenomenon that is common with many jugglers, myself included. That being that it is hard to define when they really started juggling. Often when pressed as to how long a juggler has been juggling, the response is usually something along the lines of ”Well, I learned the three ball cascade when I was x years old, but I didn’t really start juggling until about y years ago”. Many times there is a gap of years between when a juggler first learns to juggle versus when they actually identify themselves as a juggler (this sort of ties into my previous Tuesday Thought in that regard). So, why the gap in time?
There is an occurrence in life that can be applied to practically any passing interest that evolves into a serious hobby. I’ve heard in used a lot in bodybuilding, where it is known as the getting “bitten by the iron bug”. This is when a person first really feels the power associated with weight training, and becomes hooked on pumping iron. They may have lifted weights before, but it isn’t until the feeling of that magical pump or visible increase in muscularity that they really become obsessed. I think a similar thing can, and does, happen with jugglers.
Someone may learn to juggle a three ball cascade early on in their life, but not really know of juggling beyond that. A three ball cascade is easy enough to where some people can learn how to do it out of sheer boredom on a Sunday afternoon, and then lose interest. There is little dedication involved and on the surface, once you can keep the three balls in the air for more than a few throws, you’ve seemingly mastered your goal. However, if later on in someone’s life, something triggers a re-interest in juggling, they already have the basis of three balls down, so it’s that much easier to move onto new things. Using that base and experimenting around results in new possibilities and opens up a whole new perspective on juggling altogether.
Beware the juggle bug. Once it bites you and shows you what you are capable of, there is no turning back.
