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Karl Heinz Ziethen included the IJA convention as part of a 10 month tour of the United States. The West German night club agent commented on the position of the juggling performer today:

"It's harder today than it was 30 years ago. In Germany before the war you could spin a ball on your finger and the crowd would "Wow!" They had no TV and not so much music. It's harder today because they've seen it all. You have to make the act more interesting for the audience,"

He was impressed by the young jugglers at the convention: "You find here in America many fine young jugglers doing hard tricks. Many things that were considered impossible then are being done today. It makes me think nothing in juggling is impossible. They pick it up so much sooner, they see something and they do it."

Though he didn't win the overall numbers competition, John Beckner of Colorado Springs kept seven balls going for six seconds. "It's like five and six balls," he said later. "At first you're just throwing them up, trying to see the pattern,"

A juggler for 4 1/2 years, it took John 10 months of steady practice to gain 15 seconds of 7 ball control. The early morning competition time at Amherst didn't make the difficult try any easier, he said. "I usually like to warm up for about two hours with lesser numbers, take a break, and then work on seven for 30 minutes or so."

As impressive as seven may sound, Beckner's not through yet. "I can handle four in my right hand, but the left is tricky," he said. There is always hope when one person determines to meet the next challenge...

A fellow amusement park performer, Craig Lesser, stood beside him. Craig said the "158" printed on his name tag was the number of feet in his world record high-dive last year. He and three other daredevils plunged that far in Orlando in March.

There were casualties, Lesser continued. "I'm still walking on a sore ankle. I broke it when I hit the water." He said even a single degree off of straight vertical on impact could lower your chances for life. Two of the other three were also injured. "One guy broke a leg and the other slipped a disk."

Craig also won the televised Acapulco cliff diving championships last year and regularly jumps from 100' at the park.

When he found the gym floor covered with talented jugglers, Lynn Thomas from Brighton , England , said, "It's frightening, really. I hope they don't all move to England '. He claims to be one of only a dozen street and party jugglers in that whole country. Lynn 's most popular prop is a stovepipe hat with a hole in the top and cloth flap concealing another hole in its front. Any ball he tosses up top surprises the audience by popping out the front!

If you don't find Mike Godeau juggling with the Fly-By-Night jugglers at Pier 39 in San Francisco , look for him riding around.Marin County in a gorilla costume on a moped. Honest, folksl

The Enthusiasts

Maria Alcarese

She calls her Japanese Torture Balance "a pain in the neck," but Maria Alcarese from New York City performs the club-on-chin stunt exceptionally well. While balancing the club, Maria sits on the floor and rolls completely over. The Laguardia College liberal arts major has also learned to balance a pencil on her nose and to ride a unicycle during a year-and-a-half of juggling practice. She's a big circus fan and would like to be a part of one some day.

Maria's brother, Demetrius, got to Amherst Friday night--too late to compete in the numbers competition. His would-be competitors were probably glad. Besides a steady five club juggle, Demetrius juggles six and seven balls. He even flashed and caught eight late Friday night on the gym floor.

Fred Anderson noted the faster pace of juggling in the East as opposed to the style of performers in San Francisco , where he lives. "Back home it's slow juggling and slow jokes," he said. "The whole act is slower paced."

On their way to Amherst , he and partner Kit Trueblood entertained on the streets of New York , and tasted its urban frenzy. "We really had to speed things up just to keep a crowd," Anderson said.

In this picture, he demonstrates cigar box tricks in a workshop.