To allow the Juggling Information Service to maintain an authoritative list of validated world juggling records that are generally accepted by the juggling community. To provide unambiguous and generally accepted definitions of the terms used to discuss juggling records.
Clubs, balls, and rings are the recognized categories of objects juggled. Balls, which include beanbags, must be roughly spherical objects. Clubs, which include sticks and batons, must be long roughly cylindrical objects. Rings, which include plates and hoops, must be flat, roughly circular objects. The Committee shall determine the acceptability of any object in the category claimed for it.
No object may be thrown in such a way as to have aerodynamic lifting qualities, such as a flying disk, nor be so light as to be significantly affected by air resistance, such as balloons, scarves or feathers.
A gather is any controlled and sustained physical contact between a juggler and a prop after the prop has been thrown in the air by the juggler. A gather can be made with the juggler's hands or any other body parts. The juggler may not employ a pocket, net, or other apparatus to make a gather. In the following definitions, any part of the juggler's body used to make a gather will be referred to as a hand. When a prop is gathered using parts of the body other than the hands, it is considered to have been gathered by the appropriate hand for that pattern.
Any thrown props that are not dropped are said to be gathered. If a juggler makes nine throws with nine balls, three balls ending up on the floor and six in the juggler's hands, armpits and mouth, then six gathers were made regardless of the order in which the drops occurred.
A drop is a sign of egress from a flash, juggle, or pattern, and is a failure to catch an object that, as a result, hits the ground or any foreign object. A drop is considered to have happened at the moment the object should have been caught or touched, not when it hits the ground.
A bobble is any uncontrolled or unsustained physical contact between a juggler and a prop after the prop has been thrown in the air by the juggler, which subsequently results in a gather by the same hand.
A catch is one of a series of gathers made from consecutively thrown props, all gathered prior to the occurrence of a drop. For teams events, only passes - that is, gathers of props thrown by a different juggler - are counted as catches.
Collecting, or stacking up, is the process of catching the remaining props that are in the air, after throwing has stopped. Collecting begins with the first catch that follows the point in time when a prop would have been thrown, but wasn't.
A multiplex is throwing more than one ball at a time from the same hand or the presence of more than one ball in a juggler's hand during the time period beginning with the first catch and ending with the last catch before collecting begins.
A flash occurs for a given number of objects in an explicitly stated pattern when the number of catches made is at least the number of objects being juggled. The first catch to be counted cannot be made until all props but one, or one per team member, have been thrown. All props must be thrown by the juggler(s) and caught in the order and to the hand dictated by the chosen pattern. Multiplexing is not allowed.
A juggle occurs for a given number of objects in an explicitly stated pattern when the number of catches made is at least twice the number of objects being juggled. The first catch to be counted cannot be made until all props but one, or one per team member, have been thrown. All props must be thrown by the juggler(s) and caught in the order and to the hand dictated by the chosen pattern. Multiplexing is not allowed. A juggle may also be referred to as a `qualifying run'.
A juggle or flash is clean if no props are dropped.
Individual shower patterns shall count only the catches of high throws. In team patterns, at least every fourth throw by each juggler must be a pass.
Jugglers do not have to hold all the objects in their hands at the start of a run. The start may be achieved in part by picking up and/or kicking up any of the objects. For instance, objects can be pulled out of holsters, off of prop stands, or out of the hands of assistants. Assistants may also pick up dropped props, but may in no other way assist in the progress or finish of any attempt at a record. Objects may be thrown or catapulted into a pattern by an assistant or device. A juggler can choose to achieve a pattern by first juggling a smaller number of objects and then picking up or kicking up additional objects to get up to the desired number. The first catch to be counted will be the last one to be made before the final prop is thrown into the pattern by the juggler's hand.
Records will be tracked for selected numbers for each prop. For example, there will be a five-club record, a six-club record, a seven-club record, and so on. The minimum record for any given number of objects shall be a clean flash. Thereafter, the record for any given number of objects shall be the highest number of catches. The record of greatest significance for each prop will be the greatest number of that prop with the longest run that is at least a juggle.
In solo events, runs over 250 catches will be compared and listed on the basis of time alone. Time will be measured from the moment the first throw leaves the hand to the moment the last valid catch touches the hand. Fractions of seconds will be rounded down.
The Committee shall also publish validated sub-flash feats that it considers of interest to jugglers, but these shall not be considered records.
World records will be kept for the following events:
| Individual: | 5 clubs and above 7 balls and above 7 rings and above |
Team: | 9 clubs and above |
Only those props and events that elicit enough interest to generate competition will be tracked. The Committee shall modify this list from time to time as the interests of the juggling community change.
The following will be accepted as evidence of achievement:
The Committee may reject a video for which any counted object is outside the camera frame at any time from the moment the attempt begins until the attempt ends.
The Committee may require confirmation of a feat by having a Committee member or a designated witness view one or more of the juggler's performances or practice sessions. In such instances the juggler need not duplicate the feat, but must demonstrate its probable accomplishment.
The best way to record a feat for the purpose of validation is to place the camera in front of and above the juggler, and to leave the date/time stamp visible on the video.
An attempted feat that is accepted by some but not all members of the Committee shall be recorded as `disputed'. Disputed records may be changed to records of regular standing by the submission of further evidence of that feat. A disputed record is an indication of the inability of the Committee to reach unanimity, and should not reflect on the achievement of the competitor or performer.
Any person may challenge an accepted or disputed record, and request further investigation. The challenger must agree to pay all reasonable expenses that the Committee may incur in additional investigation.
The Committee shall be the sole interpreter of these Rules and Definitions.
All rules and definitions are built upon the work of others. The above is no exception. We wish to particularly thank the many people who labored for so long to develop the numbers rules for the International Jugglers' Association championships, and the thoughtful suggestions of the subscribers to the rec.juggling newsgroup. Without their care and love, this work could not have been accomplished.