Interesting Encounter

[Footbag Forever]

ok so my friends Drew, Becca, Tom and I were all footbagging here in Philadelphia near Fairmount Park.

This is an area that's always buzzing with people riding bikes, running, etc.

After about an hour or two we saw some people showing up with clubs, and juggling pins. There was a couple people juggling outside before they went in. I glanced to my left and there was a guy on a unicycle with hula hoops on his arms, and was kind of like what in the world is going on. They were all going into the building we were in front of.

Eventually this lady comes walking up to us...and she saw Tom do a flapper stall and she says "do you guys know Peter Irish?" And we all just kinda were like well we know of him!! (Tom has met him before). She was like yeah we run this juggling program and they do juggling shows all over the US I guess and meet there every Monday. She said he skipped some tourney for a show they had in NC over the summer. Apparently he was in Philly like 2 weeks ago doing a juggling show with them where he did his 5 bag routine. 3 in his hands and 2 on his feet. Was just kinda cool to hear someone that knows about footbag out of the blue.

This club meets there every Monday I think I might go next Monday and check it out. Sounded interesting. I really want to start learning contact juggling. Tom ended up going after I left I"ll see what he thought of it!

[Rieferman]

Hey Carrie,
Yeah, we used to hook up with those guys when I lived in Manayunk. They play in that basketball gym right near the art museum. The couple times we played there, we weren't that well received >> the group at that time seemed to have a feeling that "real juggling" and footbag shouldn't co-exist. (edit: I make it sounds worse than it was. Basically we received a couple snide comments from a few bad apples, and were largely ignored by everyone else.. we weren't outcasts or anything like that)

That said, Dave Smith (realllllllly tall guy.. was on "America has talent".. has some juggling DVD's out) was a huge supporter of footbag. He would invite us to the Friends School down in Philly for their annual juggling day. Jon and Josh and some others performed in their shows even. I'm guessing that's what Peter might have participated in recently, but just guessing.

I stopped being very involved in the game before I had a chance to really develop the relationship with the jugglers more, but I think it's worth another shot. They've got that great indoor shred spot tied up, and you know what it's like finding good indoor spots in Philly in the winter.

[PegLegHolly]

theres a juggle club at vanderbilt university (downtown nashville) but they didnt know anything about footbag. its crazy how much a variety a club can have for juggling. we were definately in awe the last time we sessioned with them.

[Footbag Forever]

Yeah we tried getting the basketball court to play on...but people were playing basketball at the time. We have this really sweet spot in the Activities center on campus....but we get kicked out every now and then.

Either way I think it would be cool to give the club a shot and hang out with them a couple times to get a feel of what they're all about. And see how they respond to footbag now.

And I'm not sure if Temple has a juggling club; this club is non school related. I want to get a footbag/object manipulation club started though. It's just a lot of work to get a club started (not so much hard, but time consuming. And with classes and work I just don't have a lot of free time).

[Blue_turnip]

God, i wish shit like that happened in singapore.

I have a story of my own though. Today i get an email from another guy interested in footbag.

So i have like two noobs to train now. Its gonna be awesome.

[PegLegHolly]

I want to get a footbag/object manipulation club started though.

i think a good term for that is "skill toys"