JUGHEADS
Youth Juggling Company, LLC
5905 Concord Avenue
Edina, MN 55424
jugheads@comcast.net
612.229.3348

[Back to Paul's Platform main selection page]

October 2000

“Veterans and Beginners”

One of the things which gives me the greatest personal satisfaction in leading the JUGHEADS program is the range of ages and abilities inherent here. We have 3rd graders Caitie and Kara in our Wednesday Rec. Club all the way up to Boys I.J.A. 10th grader Adam who juggled in our inaugural show in 1995. In between, we have 13 4th graders, nine 5th graders, 15 6th graders, six 7th graders, 13 8th graders, and seven 9th graders. In round numbers this equals 24 elementary kids, 41 middle schoolers and a high school student. And that doesn’t even include Saturday jugglers or release day campers! The benefit of this phenomenon, aside from giving me the joy of working with an eight-year age range, is that the kids have a built-in community of mutual assistance.

The younger kids get the privilege of learning tips, techniques and tricks from older kids, and the elders get to learn how to give back to the younger ones by practicing the life skills of teaching, role modeling, empathy, and leadership. At the age of 31, I can still name all of my teachers and coaches since kindergarten, but I can also tell you the older kids--whether merely one or a dozen years my seniors--who took me under their wing in even the subtlest ways. It may seem that the younger kids get the better part of the bargain, but I’ll tell the older ones to take it from me--there is no greater to joy than to see the fruits of one’s efforts in the skills and character of one’s apprentices.