Balls are roughly spherical objects,[1] usually small enough that several can be held in one hand at a time. They are the most common prop used for toss juggling and bounce juggling, and they are the prop that most people learn to juggle first. Most jugglers consider balls to be easier to juggle than rings or clubs. Beanbags are the most common type of juggling ball, and are preferred by many jugglers, especially numbers jugglers.
The earliest known record of ball juggling is an Egyptian wall painting of female dancers and acrobats juggling balls in the 15th Beni Hasan tomb, dating from the middle kingdom period of about 1994-1781 B.C.[2]
The highest number of balls that have been qualified (at least twice as many catches as objects) is 11 for toss juggling (by Alex Barron) and 10 for bounce juggling, and the highest number of balls that have been flashed (same number of throws and catches as objects) is 14 for toss juggling (by Alex Barron) and 12 for bounce juggling (by Alan Sulc).[3][3]
3 balls
The 3 ball cascade is usually the first juggling pattern a beginning juggler learns. Some tricks (such as the upside-down box) are only done with 3 balls because the speed or accuracy required makes them practically impossible to do with 4 or more. Other tricks (such as a shower under a shower under a shower under a shower) can only be done with more than 3 objects. 3 is the minimum number of balls allowed in the Beginner, Junior, and Intermediate WJF competitions.[4] The world record for 3 ball endurance is 12 hours and 5 minutes by David Slick.[5]
4 balls
4 balls are most commonly juggled in a fountain pattern (2 balls in each hand). The wimpy pattern may be more difficult for beginning 4 ball jugglers because the balls collide easily, but since crossing throws are generally easier than non-crossing throws, the wimpy pattern is easier than the fountain for higher numbers. The WJF intermediate ball competition allowed a minimum of 4 balls[6] until 2010, when the format for that competition was changed to allow only 5 ball juggling. (The current Intermediate competition format includes moves with 3, 4, and 5 balls.)[7] The WJF had its first 4 ball freestyle competition in 2011 (winner: Jack Denger).[8] The 4 ball endurance world record is 2 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds by Zdeněk Bradáč.[9]
5 balls
The basic pattern for 5 ball juggling is a higher (and/or faster) version of the 3 ball cascade. 5 is the minimum number of balls used in the competitions in the WJF overall championship.[10] 5 balls was originally the minimum for the advanced ball short program;[11] since 2010, that competition is for 5 balls only. The overall championship also includes a 5 ball freestyle competition (best trick contest; held since 2006). Before 2015, the overall championship included a 5 ball 360s competition (most 5 up 360s in 1 minute).[10] The WJF also had an intermediate level 5 ball short program in 2010 and 2011. The world record for 5 balls is 2 hours, 41 minutes and 26 seconds by Ofek Snir.(video) Thomas Dietz claims to have juggled 5 balls for 3 hours and 47 minutes.
6 balls
The WJF overall championship included a 6 ball freestyle competition from 2006 to 2014.[12] The 6 ball world record is 9 minutes and 17 seconds by Christian Hauschild.(video) Thomas Dietz claims to have done 6 balls for 24 minutes.
7 balls
Until 1984, there were only two divisions in the IJA Numbers Championships - one for 7 objects (competitors could use either 7 balls or 7 rings in the same division) and one for 5 clubs. Since 1984, the IJA has had competitions with a separate division for each prop, where competitors are scored higher for juggling higher numbers.[13] The WJF overall championship includes a 7 ball freestyle competition (held since 2004),[10] and also included a 7 ball isolated endurance competition (endurance contest with competitors standing on chairs to allow only accurate, controlled patterns) from 2007 to 2014.[12] The world record for 7 ball juggling is 12 minutes and 51 seconds by Ofek Snir.(video) The world record for the longest 7 ball bounce juggling run with publicly available video evidence is 11 minutes and 20 seconds by Tayron Colombaioni.
8 balls
The first person to juggle 8 balls in the IJA's numbers endurance competition was Dan Bennett in 1984, and the first person to juggle 8 balls in the bounce juggling numbers competition was Fritz Grobe in 1993.[13] 8 is now the minimum number of balls used in the IJA's numbers endurance competition.[14] 8 balls was the minimum number of balls used in the WJF's numbers endurance competition[6] until 2010. Since 2011, the WJF ball endurance competition has started with 9 balls.[10] The 8 ball juggling world record is 1 minute and 13 seconds by Anthony Gatto.[3](video) The world record for bounce juggling 8 balls is 4 minutes and 12 seconds by Alan Sulc.[15](video) The following people have juggled 8 balls for over 100 catches on video:
- Anthony Gatto - 381 catches(video)
- David Ferman - 160 catches;(video) 214 catches(private video)
- Thomas Dietz - 159 catches;(video) 169 catches(claim)
- Ty Tojo - 146 catches(video)
- Bruce Sarafian - over 130 catches;(video) 160 catches(claim)
- Luke Davies - 126 catches(video)
- Tom Whitfield - 119 catches(video)
- Florian Maertz - 115 catches(video)
Other jugglers reported to have done over 100 catches of 8 balls:
- Paweł Witczak - 112 catches(claim)
- Kristian Wanvik - 110 throws(claim)
- Josiah Jones - 101 catches(claim)
- Haavard Hvidsten(claim)
- Christian Hauschild(claim)
9 balls
The first person to juggle 9 balls in the IJA's numbers endurance competition was Anthony Gatto in 1989, and the first person to bounce juggle 9 balls in competition was Nate Seefeldt in 2001.[13] 9 is the minimum number of balls used in the WJF's numbers endurance competition,[10] and is the highest number of balls that have been qualified in any of the numbers endurance competitions at the IJA[16] and the WJF. The world record for 9 balls is 54 seconds by Anthony Gatto.[3](video) The world record for bounce juggling 9 balls is 40 seconds by Mathias Ramfelt.(video)
The following people have juggled 9 balls for over 100 catches on video:
- Anthony Gatto - 304 catches;(video) 348 catches(claim)
- Ty Tojo - 130+ catches(video)
- Ofek Snir - 131 catches;(video) 202 catches(claim)
Other jugglers reported to have done over 100 catches of 9 balls:
- Thomas Dietz - 192 catches(claim)
- Matan Presberg - 103 catches(claim)
- Grigoriy Lovigin(claim)
- Vova Galchenko(claim)
- Alex Barron(claim)
Tricks that have been done with 9 balls include:
- Duplex splits - not qualified(video)
- Triplex stacks - qualified(video)
- Cascade with head bounce - qualified(video)
- Halfshower - qualified(video)
- Reverse cascade - not qualified(video)
- (ax,8)* - qualified(video)
- 7 up 360 - to a qualify(video)
- 7 up 180 - not qualified(video)
- Overhead throws - flashed(video)
- Backcrosses - flashed(video)
10 balls
Several jugglers are recorded as having done 10 balls in the early 20th century, including Frank LeDent, Pierre Amoros, Enrico Rastelli, and Jenny Jaeger.[17][18] No one has successfully toss juggled 10 balls in the numbers endurance competitions at the IJA[16] and the WJF, which require a qualifying run. The first person to successfully bounce juggle 10 in competition was Robert Mosher III in 2007.[13] The world record for bounce juggling 10 balls is 51 catches by Mathias Ramfelt.(video) The following jugglers have qualified 10 ball non-multiplex toss juggling on video:
- Bruce Sarafian was the first person to qualify 10 balls on video,[17] in 1994. He has done 23 catches on video (verified by JISCON).[19]
- Jason Garfield - 20 catches(video)
- Daniel Eaker - 22 catches(video)
- Alex Barron currently holds the 10 ball world record with 33 catches.(video)
- David Ferman - 26 catches(video)
- Dan Wood - 24 catches(video)
- Luke Davies - 22 catches(video)
- Tom Whitfield - 31 catches(video)
- Alex McGillivray - 20 catches(video)
- Brian Koenig - 20 catches(video)
- Dave Leahy - 20 catches(video)
Other jugglers reported to have qualified 10 balls:
- Joey Cousin(claim)
- Peter Blanchard(claim)
- Ben Beever(claim)
- Anthony Gatto(claim)
- Thomas Dietz - 28 catches(claim)
- Alex Rumford(claim)
Patterns and tricks that have been done with 10 balls:
- Asynch fountain - qualified(video)
- Synch fountain - qualified(video)
- Wimpy pattern - qualified(video)
- Lift bounce - qualified(video)
- Force bounce - flashed(video)
- Halfshower - qualified(video)
- bbbbbbbbb1 - flashed(video)
- bbbbbbbbbb0 - flashed(video)
- b9a - flashed(video)
- Fountain with a ball balance - flashed(video)
- Fountain with a club balance - flashed(video)
- Fountain on a rola bola - flashed(video)
11 balls
11 is the highest number of balls that have been performed onstage. Frank LeDent, who was performing with 11 in 1907, is the first person credited with juggling 11 balls.[17] Bruce Sarafian was the first person to flash 11 balls on video, in 1992.[20] In 1994, he broke his own world record with 12 catches,[21] and in 1997 Jason Garfield tied for the record, also getting 12 catches.[22] In 2000 Jason beat Bruce's record with 14 catches,[23] and in 2001 Bruce regained the record, getting 15 catches.[24]
This remained the world record for 11 balls until 2010, when Alex Barron also got 15 catches,[25] and then 17 catches three days later.[26] Three days after that Peter Bone broke the record with 18 catches,[27] and in four more days, Alex did 19.[28] Two days later Alex Barron got 21 catches of 11 balls.[29] Alex claimed to have done 23 catches four days after he did 21, but his camera got knocked over by the wind just before he did it,[30] so there was no video evidence of the qualify until he was able to get 23 catches again in 2012.(video) Later in 2012, he did 11 balls for 25 catches.(video) In 2017, Alex did 26 catches,(video) and later set the current 11 ball world record with a run of 33 catches.(video)
Patterns and tricks that have been done with 11 balls:
- A flash ending with a 1 up 360 by Peter Bone(video)
- Halfshower flash by Simon à Campo(video) and Dave Leahy(video)
- (cx,a)* for 12 catches by Alex Barron(video) and Luke Davies(video)
- Lift bounce flash by Tim Nolan(video)
- Quadruplexes for 24 catches by Bill Coad(video)
- Quintuplexes for 30 catches by Bill Coad(video)
12 balls
The following jugglers have all done at least a flash of 12 balls on video:
- Bruce Sarafian was the first person to flash 12 balls on video, in the wimpy pattern, in 1996.[21]
- Ben Beever flashed 12 in a synch fountain in 2001, but JISCON listed it as a "disputed record" because the video does not meet their standards for validation (the first two throws are not shown).
- Sam Hartford - synch fountain(video)
- Alvaro Palominos - wimpy pattern(video)
- Peter Bone - asynch fountain(video)
- Brian Koenig - synch(video)
- Alex Barron broke the world record with 13 catches(video) and then 14 catches(video) of a synch fountain in 2010,[31] and then 16 catches of a synch fountain in 2011.[32](video) He did 17 catches of an asynch fountain in 2016,(video) and set the current world record with 20 catches in the wimpy pattern in 2017.(video)
- Dan Wood - asynch flash,(video) 14 catches synch(video)
- Dave Leahy - synch(video)
- Alex McGillivray - synch(video)
- Luke Davies - synch(video) and asynch(video)
- Tom Whitfield - synch(video) and asynch(video)
- Simon à Campo - synch(video)
Luke Burrage and Josh Turner both claim to have also flashed 12 balls, and Nik Meier claims to have done 12 balls for 14 catches.
Other patterns that have been done with 12 balls:
- Halfshower for 14 catches by Alex Barron (video)
- Force bounce by Alan Sulc (video)
- Duplexes for 16 catches by Patrick Pettersson (video)
- Triplexes for 18 catches by Bill Coad (video)
- Quadruplexes for 24 catches by Bill Coad (video)
- Quintuplexes for 30 catches by Bill Coad (video)
13 balls
Peter Bone claims to have flashed 13 balls after about 100 tries in 2005, but has no video evidence. Alex Barron became the first (and so far the only) person ever to flash 13 balls on video[3] in 2011. Alex increased the record to 15 catches in 2013.(video)
Bill Coad has done 13 ball quintuplexes for 25 catches,(video) and 13 ball sextuplexes for 30 catches.(video)
14 balls
Alex Barron is the only person who has done 14 balls in a non-multiplex pattern. He flashed 14 in an asynch fountain in 2017.(video)
Bill Coad has done 14 ball sextuplexes (a multiplex pattern where 6 balls are thrown at a time) for 30 catches.(video)
See also
- Ball juggling category on Juggle Wiki
- Ball juggling world records
References
- ↑ http://www.juggling.org/records/rules.html
- ↑ https://www2.bc.edu/~lewbel/jugweb/history-1.html
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; name "jiscon" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ http://thewjf.com/competitor-files/competition-rules/
- ↑ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-duration-juggling-three-objects-
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://wayback.archive.org/web/20051102232307/http://thewjf.com/rules.html
- ↑ http://thewjf.com/competitor-files/competition-rules/intermediate-overall-championship/
- ↑ http://www.thewjf.com/wjf7/wjf7_results.php
- ↑ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-duration-juggling-four-objects
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 http://thewjf.com/competitor-files/competition-rules/advanced-overall-championship/
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20040902062628/http://thewjf.com/competitions/balls.html
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://www.thewjf.com/allevents.php
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 http://www.juggle.org/ija/championships/
- ↑ http://www.juggle.org/ija/championships/files/2015/04/NumbersRules2015.pdf
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120717065702/http://www.bouncepage.com/records.htm
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 http://www.juggle.org/ija/championships/numbers-records/
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 http://ezine.juggle.org/2014/11/17/juggling-firsts-part-one-balls-and-ball-bouncing/
- ↑ http://ezine.juggle.org/2014/05/19/common-juggling-misconceptions/
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120414225947/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ http://dev.juggle.org/history/archives/jugmags/46-2/46-2,p27.htm
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 http://wayback.archive.org/web/19970613223149/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/19971014123652/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20000618075927/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20011222223103/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ https://youtu.be/2_nEVVPiDj4
- ↑ https://youtu.be/aqbtugSVYp8
- ↑ https://youtu.be/_WIdWu5LXb4
- ↑ https://youtu.be/9b9405uteA8
- ↑ https://youtu.be/CPmAWY1dAaE
- ↑ https://youtu.be/PFUAbbrfxxs
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120629050419/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html
- ↑ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120717011211/http://www.juggling.org/records/records.html