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Boehmer's Summer Job Pays off in Juniors Win!

The third time was the charm for 17-yearold Casey Boehmer, whose act was polished for the IJA stage by a summer's worth of regular performances as part of his family's act at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo. The whole family - Larry, Judy and their 10 children (with #11 due in February!) - did an eight-minute action-packed act full of tumbling, gymnastics, unicycling and juggling for tourists there twice a day all summer long. By the third week of July when he came to Rapid City, Casey had his 2-1/2 minutes of solo material down solid, and that was all the time he did on the IJA stage.

"I didn't want to practice two separate things, so I knew all along I would use my Branson routine here as well," said Boehmer. "I was going for the gold medal and didn't want to do anything too risky."

The family put together their act in Branson with the help of director Sean Murray who jazzed up their act with movement around the entire stage, work on personal styles and gymnastic moves.

Boehmer's act showed good results from the coaching, as he kept a smile on his face throughout his difficult technical tricks, made good eye contact with the crowd and moved well around the stage.

The fact that he has but a single arm and hand to use for his tricks made his technical feats all the more impressive. He came out with two clubs, then got three more to flash five. He did a three ball routine with silicones, ending in a double pirouette. He did five bean bags for several throws, and then did a flip off a mini trampoline to begin his routine with three clubs. It included 180-degree spins, behind the back throws and pirouettes. He concluded by flashing six rings.

Boehmer, a high school senior who began juggling at the IJA's 1991 festival

in St. Louis, said he's as excited as ever about juggling, and hopes to make it his profession. He also wants to keep working on numbers juggling to hopefully set some one-handed records in Guinness. "I'd like to get that and then see if anyone can beat them," he said. "Five clubs isn't that hard, I'd like to do six.

Silver medalist in the Juniors, Mike Price of Oskosh, Wisc., was at his second IJA festival. The 17 -year-old has been juggling seriously for two years, and performs a variety act with trick bicycles, juggling and ventriloquism several times a week during the summer around the state with help from his grandfather, Jim Blake. Blake builds all the bikes Mike rides in the show. Mike's partner in ventriloquism is named Wimpy, the Siberian Wombat. Wimpy does some juggling in the show, as does Blake.

There was no ventriloquism in Price's championships routine, and only one wheel! He juggled three to seven balls, three and five clubs, and then mounted a six-foot unicycle to juggle three, four and five clubs.

Rick Friscia, bronze medallist, is a tenth grader from Jensen Beach, Fla., who has begun to perform at birthday parties and charity events. He entered the championships for the experience with very little expectation of winning a medal, but he put together a reasonably clean routine with balls, clubs and rings.

He began with four balls, then did three. He continued with three and four clubs, five balls, five rings, five clubs and seven balls. Friscia learned to juggle on his 14th birthday and has been practicing daily ever since. He decided at his first festival that he would like to compete, and got help with his routine from his coach, Phil Kavanaugh.

Other acts in the Juniors Championship were Luke Jay and Toby Rademacher.