WJF Update for August 9th, 2006

Well, we did it again. Three conventions within a year and a half.
OK, maybe a year and 7 months. WJF 3 took juggling to a new level not
only in skill level demonstrated in the competitions, but in an
unheard of 7K available in prize money and we had medals for all
first place finishers and a trophy for the overall champion. Thank
you to all who donated, especially Duncan Toys and The Passing Zone.
As I've always said, the prize money is very important in becoming
more recognized as a respectable sport, and for encouraging more
jugglers to compete. This year Thomas took home 4K in prize money.
Next year, I'm hoping that we'll have at least 10K - 15K available
for prize money. All the competitors seem to agree that more prize
money translates into more time spent on practice, and an ever
increasing level of juggling skill from year to year.

We were spread out in two locations for the first three days which
now I promise to never do again as it was probably more trouble for
me than anyone else. Organizing everything at the Boys & Girls Club
and then having to get to Palace Station for the workshops and then
back to the Boys & Girls club in 110 degree heat...yeah, not the
smartest scheduling. But I made it and everyone seemed to have a lot
of fun and learn quite a bit too. I redesigned the competition stage
and I like it much better now. We're using a black carpet which still
works well for spins, and even better for highlighting the
competitors and their props and not distracting as the wood dance
floor was in the past. The lighting was pretty cool too. Excellent
for the competitors as usual, and gave a totally new look for the
audience and for video.

This year I featured the isolated endurance competitions and the low
360s as a stage event. It moved much quicker since we had a
preliminary round. I hired a company to make the low 360s ceiling
this year and it was delivered to the convention on the first day.
Prelims was our first time trying it out and I don't think anyone
practiced their low 360s until the actual competition. Vova pulled
off an exhibition of a low 5 club 5 up 360 in singles with an amazing
recovery to qualify the pattern, hitting the ceiling with almost
every throw after the 360 and catching clubs everywhere but on the
handle. That's what this competition is all about. Pull it off no
matter how you get it. Just get it. Vova also demonstrated an
impressive run of 7 clubs in the isolated endurance competition,
beating Thomas Dietz, Toby Walker and Wes Peden. But Wes took
everyone to school in the 5 Club Backcross Isolated Endurance
competition, getting around 30 catches while standing still on a
chair. THAT, is how you prove you can do 5 Club Backcrosses. In my
opinion.

The Diabolo competition was very impressive as well, with the
exception of a disqualified mockery of the competition by Carey
Pickford Jr. But aside from that temporary interruption, William Wei-
Lang Lin returned to defend his title and did so with yet another
amazing display of diabolo manipulation. $500.00 was awarded this
year to first place in the diabolo competition.

I haven't watched all the tapes yet, but I remember being very
impressed with Brett Sheets and Joe Showers in the Intermediate
competitions. I'd heard their names before but never seen their
juggling. These are two competitors to look out for in the near
future. I hope to see them at the next WJF competitions.

The Advanced Competitions...simply amazing. To see 5 competitors who
all belong in the competition, all who could win, is something that
just has never existed in juggling before 2004. And each year the
skill level reaches new heights. Of course Vova is way ahead of
everyone in clubs, however the competitions don't always result in
the best juggler winning, but rather the juggler who executed their
routine best in competition. And this year drops resulted in much
higher deductions. The reward for connection bonuses needs to be
modified as well to prevent easy connections from scoring too highly.
But Thomas Dietz pulled off an amazing ball routine. I think I may
have seen the basic pattern for about 5 throws total in his entire
routine. Wes always amazes me with his high level of skill combined
with his creativity. He had some amazing and difficult connections
with three, four and five clubs. He pulled off 5 club flats with ease
for a qualifying run and a 4 club 4 up 360 right into scissor throws.
He also had some great three club body moves (Not body throws, body
moves where he rolled the clubs in various different ways around his
upper body). Kristian Wanvik made his competition debut at the WJF
and brought a new style of juggling and some original moves to the
competition. In the 6 ball freestyle competition, he pulled off a
transition to a ball balance on the head and a 5 up 360 with the ball
still on his head and then back into the pattern for a qualifying run.

Rings

Thomas and I have been jokingly threatening to beat each other in the
ring competition this year. We weren't aware of anyone else competing
so we were planning on competing against each other. He told me that
he upped his ring practice by an hour. I continued to not practice at
all and deal with organizing the convention and mailing out orders.
By the time I picked up Thomas at the airport, I felt that I probably
shouldn't compete because I just wasn't prepared. Of course Thomas
wanted to go straight to practice after his flight from Germany. No
rest, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00. So I took him to
practice and we traded off attempts at trying to impress/scare each
other with what we could do with our ring juggling. As the convention
started and continued on, I was more and more convinced that I
wouldn't be able to compete in the ring competition. Mainly because I
was operating one of the cameras for the video shoot. I told Thomas
this and he seemed disappointed. We had to have a ring competition,
as the overall championship includes the ring score as part of the
calculation. It's in all the other competitors best interests to do
all three to increase their chances of winning the overall title. So,
at the last minute I decided to compete in the 5,6, and 7 ring
freestyle, the ring endurance, and the advanced ring competition.
It's quite hard to warm up when you have to tape the person you're
competing against right before you compete. We allowed some warm up
time before each competitor started their routine, but not much more
than a minute at the most. So after Thomas finished his ring routine,
I locked my camera in a wide shot, and ran down to compete. My
routine went better than I thought it would, although I had to bail
on most of my connections. Not too many drops though. Most
importantly for myself, I pulled off a 7 ring 5 up 360 back into a
qualifying run and then a pull down on my first attempt. I believe
that's the first time that move has ever been done in a juggling
competition with rings. I think it's also the first time the camera
operator got 1st place in one of the competitions. Let's see Plotkin
beat that.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but you'll see it all on the video
within the next few months. No word on TV Air dates yet. When we have
info on that it'll be available on the WJF website.

Yes, Vegas was hot, the gym's air conditioning wasn't the best,
especially when we had to turn it off for the ring competitions, the
bathrooms were a mess, and it was a couple of miles from the hotel.
But, we did have shuttle busses, the best group of technical jugglers
on the planet teaching workshops, giving exhibitions, and competing
against each other, 7K in prize money, and free pizza for everyone on
the last night. I'm working on getting the location for the 2007 WJF
Summer Convention this month. It's possible it'll be on the east
coast next year in a well air conditioned facility similar to the
Riviera. In the meantime, we have the 2007 WJF UK Open in April,
hosted by the BJC. More info will be available for that later on this
month.

We'll be working on a complete overhaul of the WJF website this
month. Expect the new site to be launched by the 1st of September.

Other than that, expect some even bigger things for juggling to come
in the following year. Thanks again to all of you who came to the
convention and helped out. Hope to see you all at the next one!

Jason Garfield
World Juggling Federation
President