theWJF.com

Upcoming Events

WJF Update for Monday, December 28th, 2009

WJF 6

Preparations for WJF 6 are underway! We are currently reviewing venues to hold our event. As soon as we know the dates and location we will let you all know in an email update, our website, on our facebook and myspace pages, and through our twitter account. It'll be hard to miss even if you're not paying attention :)

Special Guests

In the meantime, it's time to start thinking about who we want to bring to WJF 6 as both a competitor, workshop leader, and practice exhibition performer. We would like you all to give us suggestions as to who you would like to see at WJF 6. Please recommend at least one male and one female juggler. After we get your suggestions, we'll set up a poll on the WJF forum to determine the most likely sponsorship recipient. Please email all suggestions to wjf6@thewjf.com.

Juniors Sponsorship Program

For those of you who are 15 years old or younger and would like to compete at WJF 6, start working on your juniors routines and get ready for the Juniors Sponsorship Program Video Competition later on this year. Past winners have received an all expense paid trip to the WJF convention! More information coming soon.

Donations

A big part in helping us bring in special guests is through the help of our supporters. A combination of monetary donations and air miles have helped us bring over jugglers such as Falco Scheffler, Joelle Huguenin, Toby Walker, and Adrian Pole. There are many different ways you can support us. The donation page of the WJF website has a drop down list of the most common areas of support:

http://www.thewjf.com/support.php

If you would like to sponsor a specific competitor or one that is chosen through suggestions from our fans, please let us know and we'll make sure your donation is applied in whichever area you want.
For donations of over $500.00, please email us for different delivery methods.

Other Ways to Help

This year it is my goal to increase the attendance level of our main convention. The more help I have with this the more possible it will be for this to become a reality. I will be working very hard on this over the next year. You can help me increase our exposure in one or more of the following ways:

1. Get your friends, classmates and teachers interested in juggling.

2. Show your classmates the WJF videos during class and give your teachers a break! Or if you're a teacher, show the WJF videos and give your students a break! Then give them a quiz on juggling terminology!

3. Try to convince your teachers to give their students a break during class with juggling practice. Juggling breaks in class help students to regain their focus on studies after just a little juggling. You can teach the whole class how to juggle during this time. Let me know if you need beanbags for this and I can arrange a special wholesale rate.

4. If any of your classes require you to present a report, do it on juggling. If you need help, email me and let me know what the assignment is and I'll give you an interview if it requires one.

5. Introduce juggling to other sports. If you're on a baseball, football, soccer, or other team sport, teach all your teammates how to juggle. It's a fact that juggling improves eye-hand coordination, so this will help your whole team improve.

6. Perform in school shows. Either talent shows or other assemblies, offer to juggle to add some entertainment and variety to the show.

7. Start a lunch time and/or after school juggling club. I can offer wholesale rates on bulk orders for the club if requested.

8. Offer free performances for libraries, community centers, boys and girls clubs, and other schools to not only increase awareness of juggling and the WJF, but also to get experience juggling in front of an audience. If you're interested in competing, you need as much practice in front of people as possible.

9. Try to get your friends, classmates. coworkers and teammates to attend WJF 6! The more attendees we have, the more exposure we get and the better event we can produce.

If you're out of school and working, you can try to implement this at your work. Pass around the WJF videos and see what your coworkers think. If you work in a store, see if your boss will let you juggle to attract or entertain customers. Or juggle for your coworkers. Be creative. See how you can get them all interested in juggling. Soon you could be working with a group of jugglers.

And of course if you get anyone interested to the point where they want to purchase equipment and/or DVDS, please direct them to www.thewjfstore.com.

The goal in all this is just to get more people aware of juggling in the areas you are able to make a difference and to increase the difference the WJF can make on the world. If we just have half the people who attended previous WJF events doing this in their schools and cities, that would be a tremendous help. Even if each person is only responsible for convincing two or three people to attend WJF 6, that's great progress! So please do what you can, and keep me updated on your progress.

WinterBlitz Report

I was tremendously impressed with the talent present at the WJF WinterBlitz as well as the new faces that have great potential. The workshops went really well. I actually saw improvement during the workshops and following days. I was really impressed with the improvement from Weston Robarts, Nathan Herz, Daniel Brown, and Noah Malone. Jon Brady and Vova Galchenko put on an amazing 5 club and 5 ball competition and it was extremely difficult to determine a winner. Only one drop each and both with a high degree of difficulty. Their practice exhibitions were equally inspirational. But the junior competitors are evolving. They are better jugglers at their age than our advanced competitors were at the same age. That means in a few years, we're really going to see something amazing. Maybe sooner. Look for the WJF WinterBlitz DVD in January.

New Instructional Videos Coming Soon

I will be producing some new instructional videos for online viewing soon. You will be able to purchase these videos in sections at a reduced rate. If you have any suggestions for what you'd like instruction on that isn't covered in Etudes for Juggling, please let me know. Email your suggestions to info@thewjf.com.

That's all for now. Thank you all for your support and let's all work together to make WJF 6 another amazing event!

Jason Garfield
World Juggling Federation
President

The World Juggling Federation is sponsored by Duncan Toys. Visit them online at www.yo-yo.com for all your skill toy needs.