Everyone knows juggling. It’s a difficult hobby in which one keeps multiple objects in aerial motion. The objects get tossed up, and they fall down, all in a rhythmic fashion. It requires intense focus, practice, hand-eye coordination, and precise timing. But a not-so-well-known form of juggling is combat juggling. The sport has been around for a long time, but Jason Garfield—a juggling prodigy—revolutionized it. He despises artistic juggling and wants to legitimize juggling as an athletic sport, leading to him promoting combat juggling and dodge juggling. Combat juggling is a sport in which two players each continuously juggle three clubs while trying to make their opponent drop their clubs. Players use their own club to smack the opponent’s clubs, and the winner is the last one still juggling a club. Here are some of the variants of combat juggling:
- Gladiator: Classic one versus one combat juggling, with no extra rules. There is one shared, open space.
- FFA: Multiple jugglers compete against each other at the same time in one open space.
- Sumo: A one versus one format, in which there is a small ring that players must stay inside. If a player falls out of the ring, the opponent wins. Shoving or pushing is also allowed.
- Breach: A team-based version of combat juggling, in which an offensive team sends a runner who will be juggling. The runner must get to the other side of the court or area and the defensive team will try to distract the runner and smack the runner’s clubs. The teams switch every round and after 10 minutes, the team with the most points wins.
- Zombie: A five-on-five match that forces players to focus on survival. Players keep juggling and upon losing a club, have a new rule applied to them. The rules are:
- A juggler with 3 clubs can move freely and attack.
- A juggler with 2 clubs must stay in one spot, but can attack nearby opponents.
- A juggler with 1 club cannot move nor attack, but can be revived.
- A juggler with no clubs is eliminated from the round.
What makes this mode extra strategic is that a teammate can throw a club to another teammate with less than three clubs, who must catch and keep the thrown club in rotation. This essentially “revives” the player. One team must completely eliminate the other team to win.
- 360s: A one-on-one game mode that gives players 2 options. Either throw all 3 clubs up, perform a 360 degree spin, catch the clubs, and continue juggling, or go and attack the opponent. Every successful 360 degree spin gives that player a point, but it’s also risky since players have a higher chance of dropping clubs, and the other player can attack. This variant takes place in a one-minute window, so whoever has the most points by the end of the window wins, unless a player loses all their clubs.
Juggling is already hard enough, but combat juggling increases the difficulty level greatly. There is also the added strategy, competition, and fun in the sport. Every throw isn’t just about keeping the flow, but making a decision: attack, defend, or focus on your own juggling. Despite combat juggling being niche at the moment, Garfield’s efforts and increased visibility have made the sport more popular. Social media has also contributed to the increase in popularity of combat juggling as well, since semi-viral and viral clips have sparked greater interest in the sport. While combat juggling might not ever be as popular as basketball, football, or any other mainstream sport, Garfield just wants to push the boundaries of what juggling is and can become. To show that hobbies can be transformed into sports. Random skills can be competitive, fun, and intense. And most of all: juggling is—not “can be”, is—a sport.