IJA eNewsletter August 2025 

IJA logo
www.juggle.org		   IJA eNewsletter
   August 2025

Editors: Don Lewis & Martin Frost
(ijanews@juggle.org)

 

CONTENTS

  • Connections and reconnections
  • Results of the 2025 IJA Board election
  • 2026 IJA Festival Update: Pre-Registration Opens September 1st!
  • 2026 IJA Festival scholarship applications open
  • 2025 IJA Juggling Championships medalists
  • 2025 IJA Numbers Championships
  • 2025 IJA World Joggling Championships
  • 2025 IJA Individual Prop Competition
  • 2025 IJA XJuggling winners
  • Juggling is good for you
  • YJA Badge Book
  • IJA Board meetings
  • Upcoming juggling festivals
  • Latest articles in eJuggle

 

 

Connections and reconnections  Benjamin Domask-Ruh

Hello IJA Community!

I can’t believe both July and August have come and gone. But read on to learn why I can’t believe it!

The IJA’s Annual Festival in Evansville, IN, has come and gone, and words cannot say how joyful a week it was to get to spend with some of our closest friends and see the hard work of our Board, Officers, and Volunteers come to fruition. It felt like coming home from the moment I stepped on stage to give a welcome speech to kick off the festival…. I felt the energy of everyone sweep across the theater.

I’m still amazed to have been able to be in the presence of Tiny Tuey. I’m happy to report our organization is alive and healthy! As we say thank you to our departing board members (Niels, Aslynne, and Luther), we welcome our newest board members (Kaylin, Michael, and Biz!)

There is much more to say about this year’s festival, but I’ll let the rest of the newsletter catch us up on that. I have to give a shout out to the wonderful success of the IJA Raffle thanks to the efforts of Christian Kloc, the marketing team, and all of our wonderful donors/sponsors that stacked that raffle full of props! I was especially thrilled to see an increase in Youth attendance, and I am always inspired by the energy and drive of our Scholarship attendees! I know first-hand the power of being in the presence of a community who gets ‘you’. Thank you to everyone that has continued to make our scholarship program grow!

IJA and EJA organizers at EJCFollowing the IJA festival, I was able to take my first trip to the European Juggling Convention (EJC)! I was thrilled to see many jugglers from the States, not just the IJA community either! There were many IJA Volunteers and Organizers. With there being multiple IJA Organizers, we were able to do something particularly heartwarming — we connected with the Volunteer Organizers of the European Juggling Association (EJA; see photo). We spent hours together over the course of the festival learning, laughing, and looking ahead together. We were able to cover topics such as the similarities between the IJA festival and EJC, dispel myths about each org that we have heard (or held!), and brainstorm how we can better support each other going forward. Stay tuned for those developments. (And feel free to ask us more of what we learned!)

Seeing the 6,537 jugglers gather together in Arnhem was unbelievable. Like literally hard to believe! If you haven’t had a chance to attend the EJC, I highly recommend planning ahead and attending one in the future. Until then, we are going to discuss how we can integrate ideas we learned into the IJA’s festivals. Just like learning a juggling trick, there’s always something to learn and develop from juggling with others!

One last thought I will leave this update on: The possibilities of juggling are endless. Coming home from these two gatherings of creative like-minded humans, I am blown away by the inventiveness, resilience, creativity, passion, cleverness, and on and on…. Juggling is an infinite world of exploration and connection. Seeing the communities built around juggling is the kind of world I want to live in. What a gift we are able to create a space for that world to exist: for a day at juggling club, a weekend at regional festivals, a week or more at IJA festivals, EJCs, and more!

What is more? Well, if you want to help keep the juggling community going, you can send any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share to me at ija.chair@juggle.org. As a member, you are always welcome to attend our board meetings by sending me an email for a Zoom link.

RA2FJ,
Benjamin Domask-Ruh
IJA Board Chair
August 2025

 

 

Results of the 2025 IJA Board election  Marilyn Sullivan, Chief Teller

Here are the vote counts from this summer’s Board election.

Elected
Michael Karas 135
Bill ‘Biz’ Olbrisch 134
Kaylin Meyers 92

Others
Albert Lucas 60
Jesse Patterson 47
Jeffrey McLean 34
Ben Brown 24

Write-in votes
Bruno Delgatto, Jacob Tichenor, Joshua Schling all had 1

Number of online votes 64
Number of in person votes 136
No spoiled ballots

Election Team: Marilyn Sullivan, Lois Brazda, Dan Sadoff, and Dan Howard

Board members for 2025-2026
Benjamin Domask-Ruh -Chair
Michael Karas
Jonathan Perry
Sofia Noethe
Bill “Biz” Olbrisch
Kaylin Meyers
Noel Yee

 

 

2026 IJA Festival Update: Pre-Registration Opens September 1st!
Noel Yee & the 2026 IJA Festival Team

Hello Jugglers,

I’m thrilled to share how excited I am for our return to the vibrant city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, for next year’s festival! Immediately after this year’s event, a small team of jugglers traveled to Fort Wayne to check out the festival hotels, workshop spaces, juggling hall, and theater. We’re happy to report that everything looks fantastic, even better than when we were there in 2019!

The venues are the most accessible we’ve experienced in a long time. The juggling hall, theater, and hotels are all located within just a few hundred yards of each other, so you’ll be able to move easily between all events. No matter which of our three hotel options you stay in, you’ll find yourself at the juggling hall in less than five minutes. Hotel information and booking will open in early 2026.

Early bird registration opens on September 1, 2025. We’ve opened both pricing tiers as well, so you can register at the price that works best for you. Be sure to get your tickets early and get ready for an amazing year of juggling. You will also have the opportunity to support other jugglers by purchasing a package that donates 50-100% of a festival package to the IJA Festival Scholarship Fund! Note: Vendor registration will be opening in the coming months.

We’ve implemented a new exciting idea suggested by the 2027 IJA Festival Team: youth under the age of 18 can access the gym for free! Detailed information is on the registration page. If you have questions or if you want to bring a group of youth, please contact registrar@juggle.org.

If you have any ideas or thoughts for the 2026 festival, please feel free to reach out!

More Updates soon!

 

 

2026 IJA Festival scholarship applications open
Afton Benson, IJA Treasurer

The IJA J. Todd Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund is now accepting applications for 2026 IJA Festival Scholarships. If you have wanted to attend an IJA Festival but have not had a chance and some support would help, apply! Priority will be given to individuals who have not attended an IJA Festival before. You can find the scholarship application here. Please share info about this scholarship far and wide — it is open to jugglers around the world.

Applications close at 11:59pm PDT on March 15, 2026. Scholarships will start being awarded (and recipients notified) before the application deadline. The last awardees will be informed by May at the latest.

This fund is named in honor of Todd Smith, one of the world’s top manufacturers of juggling equipment. Todd was known for giving away props to aspiring jugglers and had the nickname of “the juggler’s friend”. This scholarship fund will support new jugglers who have not had the chance to attend an IJA Festival.

Big thanks go to the fund’s donors for their generosity: Arthur Lewbel, Mike and Marilyn Sullivan, Unna Med, and a number of other jugglers. Since 2022, the Scholarship Fund has provided support to 92 jugglers from around the world to attend the annual IJA Festival.

Interested in supporting the J. Todd Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund? Fantastic! You can donate here today. Any questions can be directed to treasurer@juggle.org.

 

 

2025 IJA Juggling Championships medalists 

Juniors
GoldTamino Patricio Soto
SilverLuo-Hua Wang
BronzeEaston Smith

 

Individuals
GoldSereno Aguilar Izzo
SilverJack Denger
BronzeAlexander Tai

 

Teams
GoldGOBSMACK
SilverThe Gravity Doctors
BronzeThe Reflection

See the full scores at www.juggle.org/ija-juggling-championships-results-2025/

 

 

2025 IJA Numbers Championships  Nick Thomas

Individual Balls
1. Doug Sayers: 9 Balls – 41 Catches
2. Noah Schmeissner: 9 Balls – 27 Catches
3. Jonny Moore: 9 Balls – 20 Catches

Individual Rings
1. Noah Schmeissner: 8 Rings – 41 Catches
2. (Tie): Scott Sorensen: 8 Rings – 38 Catches
2. (Tie) Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse: 8 Rings – 38 Catches

Individual Clubs
1. Jonah Botvinick Greenhouse: 7 Clubs – 60 Catches

Ball Passing
1. Doug Sayers and Noah Schmeissner: 14 Balls – 202 Catches (IJA Record)
2. Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse and Chris Hodge: 13 Balls – 62 Catches
3. Matt Walmsley and Jasper Murphy: 12 Balls – 79 Catches

Ring Passing
1. Noah Schmeissner and Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse: 14 Rings – 69 Catches
2. Zak McAllister and Chris Hodge: 12 Rings – 54 Catches
3. Matt Walmsley and JoIsaac Erickson: 11 Rings – 45 Catches

Club Passing
1. Stepan Kuts and Vasyl Kuts: 10 Clubs – 228 Catches
2. Jasper Murphy and Matt Walmsley: 10 Clubs – 190 Catches
3. Chris Hodge and Christian Kloc: 10 Clubs – 45 Catches

3 Person Club Passing
1. Chris Hodge, Doug Sayers, and Christian Kloc: 13 Clubs – 142 Catches

Individual Ball Bouncing
1. Christian Kloc: 9 Balls – 45 Catches
2. Jonathan Root: 8 Balls – 27 Catches

Ball Bounce Passing
1. Christian Kloc and Vincent Kaseman: 15 Balls – 61 Catches
2. Suzanne Zaccour and Doug Sayers: 13 Balls – 59 Catches

 

 

IJA joggler2025 IJA World Joggling Championships  Sterling Franklin, Joggling Director

Between Virtual, Road Race, and Track Meet competitions, this year saw super fast competitors who set a total of 12 new IJA World Records and 39 Top Ten Division times.

The Virtual competition concluded on July 15, with the Road Race taking place the next morning along the Ohio River on the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage for a 5K/10K/15K extravaganza! The weather held out just enough for everyone to run without being rained on, though the heat index was a brutal 99°F during the final runner’s 5K.

The Track Meet portion of the Championships was held at Reitz Memorial High School, just 1.7 miles away from the main IJA Festival venue. Again, the weather held out just long enough for a rain-free event, and despite a handful of school power issues, many jogglers still set new marks as they sped around the 400-meter track.

The 2026 IJA World Joggling Championships will open up with the Virtual competition, and we are even scoping out a possible indoor venue for the Track Meet in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2026 IJA Festival, and we hope to see many of you there (even you)!

The full 2025 results include Virtual, Road Race, and Track Meet portions. Way to go, and keep joggling, everyone!

 

 

2025 IJA Individual Prop Competition  Kaylin Meyers

Emcee: Jonathan Wee
Judges: Sydney MacDonald, Zak McCallister, & Mike Moore.

Circles (Hoops and Rings)

  1. Kaitlin Robinson
  2. Jon Urdy
  3. Selenia Reyes

Balls

  1. Gideon Elson
  2. Alex Rozanov
  3. Bennett Santora

Clubs

  1. Eric Jackson
  2. Christian Kloc
  3. Nick Bronson

Open Prop

  1. Nick Thomas – Slinky
  2. Troy Grisa – Poi
  3. Abby Brodsky – Yo-Yo

 

 

2025 IJA XJuggling winners  Jack Kalvan

3-ballsEaston Smith
4 & 5 ballsMatt Walmsley
6+ ballsJonny Moore
3 clubsVasyl Kuts
4 clubsStepan Kuts
5+ clubsKellin Quinn
3 ringsJames Hennigan
4 & 5 ringsZak McAllister
6+ ringsJonah Botvinick-Greenhouse
DiaboloPeng AN-ANG
TeamsChris Hodge & Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse
Anything GoesSelenia Reyes

 

 

Juggling is good for you  Don Lewis

Every once and a while, a friend who knows that I juggle will send me an article about how juggling is good for your brain. There have been a lot of these scholarly articles over the years. You can find many of them through an internet search. They emphasize that it can expand the grey matter in your brain. Well, that is probably true of any learning activity that gains you mastery over something, be it physical or mental gymnastics. Learning new things keeps you mentally nimble.  The great thing about juggling is that there are an almost infinite number of small and larger learning challenges that will keep your grey matter active.  Note – it does not mean that if you learn everything that your brain will explode; at least it hasn’t happened yet that I know of.

Cross training has long been known as significant benefit for athletes. There are examples of football and hockey players using aspects of ballet training. That seems improbable on the surface but apparently it works very well. Closer to home, joggling combines two popular sports. It is a good thing to spread out muscle development and keep the body balanced.

It is not at all unusual to see athletes that are so hyper developed that they can only do one thing. Like a weight lifter whose arms are so developed that he can’t reach behind his back to scratch an itch, let alone throw a back cross with a juggling club. Cross training helps even out this type of imbalance.

One major benefit of all types of cross training is improved proprioception. That is the ability of the brain to know where every part of the body is and what it is doing at any given moment. – without having to actively think about it. For example, you can flinch away from an insect and find your hand and arm already in motion to swat it automatically. You don’t have to even think about it – it just happens. You find yourself jumping to catch a badly passed club before you even have time to wonder why you are suddenly up in the air. And interestingly, when that happens you usually catch the club, because your brain calculated that it was possible. Of course, it sometimes happens that you catch the errant club and drop everything else. Apparently instinct doesn’t always plan too far ahead. Eventually you get good at keeping everything else under control as well.

Balance is important in sport. The image of well paid professional athletes taking ballet classes may make you smile; they probably think it is equally absurd. But they do it willingly because it is a particularly good centering exercise. You rarely see an off balance dancer on stage unless the choreography calls for it. Being aware of your center of gravity and your range of motion while your body is moving and doing things is important.

Jugglers tend to stay in one place and work within that space, but that does constrain what you can do. You can’t correct a bad throw if you can’t move to catch it. Simply reaching way out so that your center of gravity is unsupported just throws you off balance and disturbs your pattern – often catastrophically. If you need to move your body, take your feet with you and stay in balance. Your feet are not glued to the floor, at least not usually. I was in a crowded subway car where someone has spilled a drink earlier in the day. It was like I had stepped in Crazy Glue. I almost lost my balance when my body started to get off the train and it realized that my feet were not coming too. At least I wasn’t juggling at that moment.

All the articles you will find on the internet simply demonstrate what we already know – juggling is good for the brain. It is a sport that has a very accessible entry point, and a relatively quick learning curve that leads to a wide range of challenges. It is a great cross training exercise for many sports. The real question is, why aren’t more athletes open to learning to juggle? It is good for you!

Here are links to two recent such articles, one by Niels Duinker in our eJuggle and one in the New York Times about a Wimbledon tennis player.

 

 

YJA Badge BookThe Juggler's Badge Book

Did you know that the IJA’s Youth Juggling Academy has a book?  It does!

The Juggler's Badge Book

The Juggler’s Badge Book is the ultimate companion for aspiring jugglers of any age!  Track your progress, unlock achievements, and earn badges as you learn the art of juggling.  With its engaging format and rewarding sticker system, The Juggler’s Badge Book makes learning to juggle an exciting and fulfilling adventure.  Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned juggler, let The Juggler’s Badge Book be your guide to skillful juggling and a collection of well-earned accomplishments.  Start achieving your juggling journey today!

The Juggler’s Badge Book is $25 and makes a great gift!  Purchase yours today!  Proceeds go to supporting further YJA initiatives and advancing the IJA’s mission to render assistance to fellow jugglers.

Published by the International Jugglers’ Association in collaboration with Modern Vaudeville Press.

 

 

IJA Board meetingsIJA Board meetings

IJA Board meetings are open to all IJA members and are hosted on Zoom.  To find out the times of this month’s vision and business meetings, or to attend, please email ija.chair@juggle.org and say which meeting you’re interested in.

 

 

Upcoming juggling festivals

For a list of upcoming juggling festivals, please visit our friends over at The Juggling Edge.

While you’re there, visit their list of juggling clubs.

 

 

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