WJF II Buddies

The guys, left to right: Nick, Rich, Matt

The gal: Erin

These are some of the non-competitors that I met at WJF II.

The three guys are from England. They were really cool to hang out with, except that they thought Budweiser was a good beer to drink. Fortunately, they also thought Sam Adams was a good beer to drink because I bummed a few off of them. But seriously, I'm glad they came. We enjoyed a some good laughs. I'm looking forward to my trip to Brittain in 2007 for the BJC and WJF IV combo convention so we can hang out again. Cheers mates!

The gal is from Florida, I think. She is a pretty good juggler and mentioned to me that she would like to compete within the next year or so. She just thinks that there should be an all women's division.


Quote of the Day

Heroes are rebels with a cause. Rebels because they challenge the traditional ways of thinking and refuse to follow the herd. They have a cause, a vision, that's larger than life. ~Sharif Khan

Juggling Thingies

I just bought some Juggling Thingies from John Nord in Texas. They are 3" in size, 14 panel ultra leather, and 130 grams.

I really like the feel of these props. They are moderately underfilled with something (?), probably plastic, that doesn't feel like it will break down like millet does.

The reason I bought these is because I have used them before. I borrowed Kurt's from Vanillatown in the 2005 Portland Renegade because they were more visible than my Ruby's Prop Shop bags under the lights. His were a little more broken in... he's had them for 3 years.

They are a lot lighter than my Sport Juggling Co. balls and easier to grab on imperfect throws because they are more underfilled. Both sets of props have their positives and negatives about them. In fact, I think they are exactly the opposite of each other. Either way, I like them both and I think that using different props will help me develop my technique faster than using just one kind.

Quote of the Day

Failure is nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities. ~Napoleon Hill

Ben Thompson

Here is 16 year old Ben Thompson and I at WJF II.

Ben Thomspon's Beginner ball routine was extremely advanced for this division. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I recall Ben getting 16 points or so for his routine.

I talked with Ben a little after his winning performance about which division he planned on competing in for WJF III. He told me he would go into the Intermediate division because he will turn 17 before the next event takes place which automatically moves him out of Beginner.

This is going to make both the Beginner and the Intermediate divisions more competitive. I believe this because Ben crushed the other Beginners and his leaving will be much appreciated by all of them. Also, the Intermediates make up a large group of talented jugglers and Ben's own talent will push this group further.

By the way, Ben is also an excellent club juggler.

Quote of the Day

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. ~Nikos Kazantzakis

Bernie's Driving Lesson

My friend Bernie Garcia told me a great lesson he learned one summer while working for his family as a driver.

Each day Bernie would drive around on the interstate all day from place to place. One day it dawned on Bernie that he had gotten better at driving on the interstate and this was obviously because he spent so much time doing it.

This driving around skill was not a skill that made Bernie happy and so he decided to make sure that, in the future, he spent time doing things that he would be happy getting better at like drawing or painting. He's really good at illustration now. Check out his stuff here.

This is a great lesson for all of us. What a shame to waste our time getting good at doing things that we don't like to do. So go find your passion and then follow it.

Quote of the Day

There is not scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there's only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen. ~Wayne Dyer

Doug Sayers

Here is a picture of 17 year old Doug Sayers and I at WJF II. Doug won the intermediate division balls category.

Doug Sayers is a solid ball juggler and a great guy. I hung out with him a little before I knew that he was competing and he came across as a down-to-earth person.

The funny thing about Doug's routine is that he hadn't practiced it for some time before the event. He even admitted to me that he wasn't too confident in his ability to pull it off.

Hah. That makes me laugh because he won the division with that routine.

Doug's good, real good.

Quote of the Day

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. ~George Halas

Thomas Dietz

Here is a picture of Thomas Dietz and myself on the first day of the WJF event. Thomas is my juggling hero, so you can imagine how great it felt to hang out and talk with him for a while. I had a couple of other opportunities to speak with Thomas and hang out with him and each time was great. He truly is a happy, enthusiastic, talented, and passionate juggler. He has a certain kind of spirit that he brings to the world. I look forward to the next opportunity for us to meet again.

For an idea of what I'm talking about, watch some of Thomas' videos.

Quote of the Day

And life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be. ~Grandma Moses

Sport Juggling Balls

This is my official (unsolicited) endorsement of the Sport Juggling Balls made by Sport Juggling Co.

I bought 7 all-white, 3 inch, 185g, Ultraleather balls in December. I've had them for about a month and I love them. Their size gives them great visibility and their weight gives them great control. The fact that they are filled with millet means they are squishy to the touch and the Ultraleather is "sticky" when your hands get warmed up from a lot of juggling. These features combine to make the best juggling ball I've ever used.

The only drawback to the balls I bought is their size. While it helps with visibility, it hinders my ability to collect 3-4 balls in my non-dominant hand. I am developing the skill of collecting these large balls, so it is only a temporary drawback. If however, for whatever reason I am unable to learn how to collect them gracefully, I will gladly purchase the smaller 2 3/4 inch, 140g balls.

The name of the lady who owns the company is Cheryl Sayers. She is a really nice lady.

Quote of the Day

Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It's our goal in life to find it and to keep it lit. ~Mary Lou Retton

Rings Videos

Teslenko (URL)

Goal Sheets Revisited

I made a post 4 weeks ago that announced my intention to return to a practice regimen that focused solely on individual tricks and to see how far I could maintain my motivation during such a strict practice schedule. I had used this practice schedule all last summer to great effect but I had to switch to a more holistic approach and work on connecting moves and developing routines in order to get my skills to the performance level. It's as if I had to move from learning the fundamentals of individual tricks to learning the fundamentals of routines and connections. After several weeks of this different focus is when I announced my intention to return to individual tricks.

I predicted that I could last about 6 weeks. Well, I lasted about 1 week. I blasted through my old personal records, which was fantastic, but then the idea of pounding out more records through this method got stale immediately. I'm okay with that because I wasn't sure how long I could be motivated in the first place. In some ways, I think I've outgrown the individual trick practice schedule. That's not to say I won't ever return to it. In fact, I see the individual trick practice as a wonderful way to SEE if I can break my old records. I can use it as a measuring stick for my progress and use it once every month or so. Also, I plan on challenging myself to learn a number of really difficult tricks again in January of 2007. I believe that I will once again use the goal sheets to track my progress.

Quote of the Day

Nothing endures but change. ~Heraclitus