Juggling Records

From JuggleWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Two types of juggling records are of main interest:

  1. Endurance takes one of two forms:
    • longest period of time the feat was sustained; or
    • largest number of catches (or similar unit) that was sustained.
    For example, with 3 balls the record is many hours, so time is used; with 10 balls the record is only seconds in time, so a catch-based measure is used.
  2. Highest number of props for which a Qualify (2N) or Flash (N) has been achieved.

When asked "What is the most that anyone can juggle?" many jugglers will interpret this as meaning the highest number that has been officially qualified. The "official" answer (at present) is: 10 balls, 10 rings, and 8 clubs. However, Peter Bone has claimed a 13-ball Flash, and Albert Lucas has claimed a 12-ring Qualify and 14-ring Flash.


Contents

[edit] History and controversy

Establishing official Juggling Records has been somewhat controversial within the juggling community over the years. In the pre-video era, juggling feats were usually not directly verifiable so were based on eyewitness accounts or claims from the presumed record-holders: both sources are potentially inaccurate. In some cases films existed to establish certain feats (e.g., Enrico Rastelli juggling 6 plates while jumping rope). However, film evidence usually covered performances rather than practice sessions where real personal records were likely to occur, so these early films are of little practical help in verifying records.

In some cases, a record has been unclear due to confusion over the standards applied. A notable example is Sergei Ignatov's "record" of 11 rings. During the peak of his career with the Moscow Circus during the Cold War, Ignatov performed an 11-ring Flash as the finale of his performance. However, he performed in the West a very limited number of times and had very little contact with Western jugglers, so his true personal records were not known in the West. Listeners misinterpreted "juggled 11 rings" to mean he had qualified 11 rings in performance. The 11-ring qualify came to be widely believed within the juggling community. Many years later in interviews, Ignatov clarified that he did not ever qualify 11 rings even in practice, and thereby the "record" was undone. (Needs citation)

To improve the record-keeping situation, in 1996 a body called the Juggling Information Service Committee On Numbers Juggling (JISCON) was established. JISCON defines a clear set of rules for juggling records, and requires video evidence of all proposed records. The Guinness Book of World Records has been highly variable in the number of juggling records it reports from year to year, and is no longer considered an authority on juggling records.


[edit] Official records

Official, verified records are kept at:

JISCON: http://www.juggling.org/records/ for solo balls, solo rings, solo clubs, and two-person clubs passing.
IJA: http://www.juggle.org/history/numbersrecords.php for Numbers Challenge events at International Juggling Association festivals.


[edit] Informal records

Posted and maintained here: Dutch juggling records

The Bounce Page states that its records are not official: http://www.bouncepage.com/records.htm

Casual but complete personal records are at: Internet Juggling Database or IJDb

Records related to mostly foot juggling with various sport balls: http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/ball.html

You can read about footbag records at: http://www.footbag.org/faq/records.html

Also, Wikipedia has a page summarizing records from the above and other sources.


[edit] Personal records

Every juggler has personal juggling records, some are just more fanatical about keeping track and reporting them. Here is a short list of records and goals pages from around the web:

Retrieved from "http://jugglewiki.org/wiki/Juggling_Records"
Personal tools