WJF Update for July 26th, 2008

Topics Covered in this Update:

• Celebrity Circus Appearance by Vova Galchenko sparks a one on one internet battle for the
   5 Club 360s World Record
• WJF Sponsorship Competition Winners
• Joëlle Huguenin
• New Competitor Profile Videos
• How You Can Help

Celebrity Circus Appearance by Vova Galchenko sparks a one-on-one internet battle for the
5 Club 360s World Record

Celebrity Circus contacted the WJF asking what the world record was for juggling three chainsaws. We responded with the answer, but also informed them that we usually don't have anything to do with incredibly easy juggling stunts that are repeated for long periods of time just to establish a world record, such as the 11 plus hour 3 ball record. They responded and asked what a bigger record would be that could be broken on their show...within one day's notice! And it had to be done by someone who could be in the Los Angeles area! That narrowed it down significantly. Luckily Vova Galchenko, who has many WJF records, fit that criteria and was able to break the 5 club 360s record on national TV. The 5 Club 360s record was created by the WJF and first held as a competition in 2004 at the first WJF convention. It consists of a competitor juggling 5 clubs and executing as many 5 up 360s as possible within a 1 minute time period. Time starts when the first 360 spin is attempted.

Not soon after Vova broke the record, controversy struck the online juggling community yet again. Debates about whether the 5 Club 360s record is a real record or not, what is good for juggling, should it have been on TV, and many other arguments branched off from this TV appearance. At this time I would like to note that if 3 chainsaw endurance juggling, 3 ball juggling for 11 hours, 7 club endurance juggling when 8 clubs has also been juggled all qualifies as world records, certainly the most amount of 5 club 5 up 360s in one minute demonstrates at least as much skill as most of the previously mentioned feats.

At this point the WJF acquired a new 5 club 360s competitor. After 4 years denouncing juggling competitions, Anthony Gatto finally decided to compete, and demonstrated 24 5 club 5 up 360s in one minute on video.

Soon thereafter, Vova responded with a video where he achieved 29 5 Club 5 up 360s in one minute on video. Anthony then, in what he promised to be his last attempt in breaking this record, managed to beat Vova's record by just one 360, getting 30 in one minute on video. And that's where the record is currently. Obviously not easy for Anthony, based on the number of failed attempts he highlighted at the end of his video in a "blooper" section. (Don't we call them out-takes now?)

This competitive rivalry is what the WJF is all about. Raising the bar in juggling skill and the 5 club 360s competitions demonstrates incredible technical control over 5 clubs. Well done to both of them. They're probably the only two people in the world capable of breaking this record. Let's change that!!!

The results from the WJF Sponsorship Program Video Competition are in!!!

Lauge Benjaminsen won first place and will receive round trip airfare from Denmark to Las Vegas, Hotel accommodations for two, two WJF 5 convention packages, free entry into the competition, uniform and competition music. You can view his competitor profile page here:

http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/lauge/lauge_profile.php

Spencer Hearne won second place and will receive one WJF 5 Convention Package and free entry into the competition. You can view his competitor profile page here:

http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/spencer/spencer_profile.php

Third place was a tie between Patrick Jenkins and Vaclav Peca who both receive one WJF 5 convention package.

Thank you to everyone who entered. You all demonstrated good potential and I hope to see you all continue to improve!

Joëlle Huguenin

I'm very excited about this. I first saw Joëlle's video on youtube about a year ago where she demonstrated very solid 5 club backcrosses and 7 balls. I offered her a free convention package but she couldn't afford the trip to Las Vegas from Switzerland. Two email updates ago, someone responded to our suggestion to sponsor a competitor. And I am now happy to report that Cyan Banister has sponsored Joëlle's entire trip to WJF 5, all expenses paid! You can view Joëlle Huguenin's competitor profile page here:

http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/joelle/joelle_profile.php

Joëlle will be competing in the Women's Ball and Club competitions and giving a practice exhibition. I can't wait to see her juggle!

And we've also received an anonymous donation for the women's division, brining the prize money in that division up to $1000.00! So now we all wait eagerly with anticipation as to who will be the next person to offer their support. Sponsoring a competitor is great, especially one from overseas. Donating air miles is also very helpful. Other suggestions are listed below. But how you offer to support and what we do with it is up to you.

New Competitor Profile Videos

I think I've broken the world record for the most amount of WJF Competitor Profile Videos before an event. Does that count? Three new videos are now up. The first one explains how the Battle for the WJF Presidency came about (careful, mild violence in that one), the second one is a competitor profile video for Olga Karavaeva AKA olgakay (Careful, language acceptable on daytime broadcast TV is used periodically), and the third one is a competitor profile video for Joëlle Huguenin. You can view them all here:

Jason VS Thomas: Battle for the WJF Presidency
http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/battle/battle_profile.php

Olga Karavaeva
http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/olgak/olgak_profile.php

Joëlle Huguenin:
http://www.thewjf.com/WJF5/competitor_profile_pages/joelle/joelle_profile.php

How can you help?
There's a lot of ways you can help. I've broken it down into the different ways below:

Promotion
If you're a student or teacher, we can provide you with promotional ads via email that you can print and pass out to your school faculty and students. If you have a job you can pass them out at work. Instead of cash, next time you see a juggler street performing, put a WJF 5 flyer in their hat.
Word of Mouth
Right now we're able to produce our events and raise the current level of prize money with attendance between 200 and 300 people and some creative planning. Just think what we could do if we doubled or tripled our attendance! If each person who attends could convince one or two other people to go with them, we'd see more prize money all around, more sponsorship programs for junior and overseas competitors, and more special surprises. So get the word out. If you've been to a WJF event, you know what to tell everyone. If you've never been, talk to someone who has. This year is going to be a very special one, so this is a great year to help us increase attendance.

Air Miles
A lot of very good jugglers from overseas would like to compete, but can't afford the trip. If you have any air-miles that you'd be willing to part with, you could help in bringing over a competitor for WJF 5.
Sponsor a Competitor
Do you know someone who wants to attend and compete at WJF 5 but can't afford it? Do you have some extra cash? Is the cost of the trip worth the experience that juggler will never forget? Sponsor a competitor, for any division, and we'd be happy to give you a special mention and thanks. But the experience you'll provide for a juggler low on funds will be remembered forever.

Donations!
Of course, nothing can help raise the prize money more than cash donations. Last year we came close to 10K in prize money. Right now it's likely that we'll easily match that from registration and our sponsors. Now it's up to you to decide how much higher it goes. And you can specify which division you want your donation to go towards. Want to reward the junior competitors? Donate to the juniors prize money fund. Want to motivate more women to compete? Do the same for the women's prize money fund. Overall Championship? No problem. Don't like deciding? That's OK too. You can also choose to donate to the convention fund and simply specify "prize money". And all this is available on one page:

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

For other support, please reply to this email and let me know what you'd like to do. So help us help the competitors make all the time they spent practicing in solitude worth it! Let's motivate them to train harder and keep up the excitement in juggling!

Thank you all for your support so far. We only have about four and a half months left to go, and a lot of work yet to be done. Wish me luck!

Jason Garfield
World Juggling Federation
President