IU juggling club practices new skills, tricks at St. Louis Jugglefest

The last one standing after combat wins.

Having the most people standing was the goal of the IU Juggling Club last weekend at a competition in St. Louis. This event was one of many that the IU juggling club participated in at the festival. The St. Louis Jugglefest was duked out Friday through Sunday at Washington University with workshops, competitions and a show put on by talented jugglers.

“Everything went very well,” said sophomore Carey Wagoner, president of the IU juggling club. “IU was able to take home seven trophies. It was a lot of fun and very successful.”

The IU juggling club’s vice president, Alan Thompson, said he enjoyed the show, which included individual and team juggling, hula hooping and a Norwegian girl who did contortion juggling.

“My favorite act of the night was the Washington University Juggling Club passers,” Thompson said. “They did a very solid four-person passing sequence.”

The competitions measure both patterns and endurance for individuals and teams.

“Festivals are usually two-day events,” said club adviser David Heald, who has been a part of the club since 1999. “I generally know most of the jugglers who come, but there’s always going to be someone or something you’ve never seen.”

The IU juggling club practices regularly at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building on Sundays and Thursdays, working on skills and preparing for festivals like the one in St. Louis. Overall, members practice about six to 12 hours per week.

Wagoner said he enjoyed being able to practice for an extensive amount of time.
“We were juggling 10 hours, two days straight,” Wagoner said. “You really see a lot of improvement.”

Another highlight was all the talented jugglers with whom the club got to meet and practice, Thompson said.

“My favorite part of the festival was passing with Peter Kaseman, possibly one of the best juggling passers in the world,” Thompson said. “We did several patterns that I had never seen done before and would otherwise not have been able to do with anyone else in the Midwest.”

IU’s jugglers benefited from juggling with a new group of people, the members said.
“It was great to be around all the amazing jugglers who can add to my trick repertoire,” Wagoner said.

The IU juggling club has four consistent members this year, while others occasionally come and try it out. Anyone is welcome to join. A normal practice begins with people warming up individually. They often work on passing as well.

“A lot of the time, we run through every trick we know,” Wagoner said.

Club members picked up juggling for many different reasons and learn in different ways.

Thompson learned juggling from a book when he was in high school. He began learning to become a better baseball player but said he realized it was a fun pastime on its own.

The members normally juggle with clubs, which look like bowling pins. They also use balls of different weights and sizes, and occasionally rings, torches and machetes.

Wagoner said some benefits of juggling are that it helps the juggler not drop things as often, helps improve different skills useful in sports, sets them apart from others and is a good form of entertainment.

“We throw everything in our house, fragile or not,” Wagoner said.

Heald said it is a lot easier to learn how to juggle these days because of access to the Internet and Web sites like YouTube.

“Seeing the possibilities and how to do it is half the trick,” Heald said.