World Juggling Federation


The World Juggling Federation is the world's only organization devoted to the promotion and advancement of juggling as a sport.

History

In 2000, long-time IJA member Jason Garfield founded the WJF. Garfield attracted interest and membership by framing the skills of juggling as a sport. The WJF broadcast its first juggling convention on ESPN2 in January 2005 and its second convention on ESPN later the same year. In 2021, the WJF was reestablished as a 501 organization and announced its goal to create a juggling event at the Olympics.

Competition

The WJF's most well-known event is the WJF convention, which has been broadcast on ESPN2. The organization encourages jugglers to compete against each other in order to get better. In WJF-sponsored events, the participants use juggling props, which include: Balls, Rings, Clubs, Cigar boxes, Diabolos, and Devil Sticks.
WJF competition events sometimes include :
  • Club passing
  • 360s
  • Endurance
  • Isolated Endurance
  • Freestyle
  • Extreme Competitions
There are "junior"-, "beginner"-, "intermediate"- and "advanced"-level competitors in each of the three main WJF disciplines.

Conventions and championships

Annual WJF conventions are held; and juggling competitions produce annual winners who are named "overall champions". At WJF 5, the top competition event ran alongside the Battle for the WJF Presidency, with Thomas Dietz as the inaugural winner, beating Jason Garfield. However, Dietz resigned from presidency soon after, saying he didn't have time to fulfill his duties as president. At WJF 7 in 2011, Doug Sayers was initially named overall champion, but due to a miscount of the scores this was proved not to be the case, as Vova had scored more points overall.
YearEventLocationCompetition
2004Las Vegas, Nevada
2005Las Vegas, NevadaThomas Dietz, Overall champion
2006Las Vegas, NevadaThomas Dietz, Overall champion
2007Hartford, ConnecticutThomas Dietz, Overall champion
2008Las Vegas, NevadaThomas Dietz, Overall champion.
2010Las Vegas, NevadaDoug Sayers, Overall champion.
2011Springfield, IllinoisVova Galchenko, Overall champion
2012WJF8Sioux Falls, South DakotaDoug Sayers, Overall champion
2013WJF9Las Vegas, NevadaJonah Botvinick-Greenhouse, Overall champion
2014WJF10Las Vegas, NevadaDoug Sayers, Overall champion
2015WJF11Las Vegas, NevadaJonah Botvinick-Greenhouse, Overall champion
2016WJF12Las Vegas, NevadaDelaney Bayles, Overall champion
2017WJF13Las Vegas, NevadaSpencer Androli, Overall champion
2018WJF14Las Vegas, NevadaChristian Hauschild, Overall champion
2019WJF15Las Vegas, NevadaEivind Dragsjø, Overall champion
2021WJF16Las Vegas, NevadaSpencer Androli, Overall champion
2022WJF17Las Vegas, NevadaSpencer Androli, Overall champion