Joggler Interview with Jason Hollandsworth

Jason Hollandsworth was one of the better jogglers at the IJA Joggling Championships finishing second in the 100 meter 3-ball competition & third in the 400.  He was also a member of my two relay teams. He agreed to answer a few of our JYAJ interview questions.

Jason is 31 and lives in the tiny town of Hartsburg, Missouri (population of 108), which is near Jefferson City. Currently, he works for the state of Missouri as a Health Facility Consultant for hospitals, and does an occasional juggling gig at festivals.

JYAJ: What is the story of how you learned to juggle?

HOLLANDSORTH:  In Feb. of 2003, my wife bought me a gift card for Barnes and Noble bookstore. Even though they have a million books, I was unable to locate one that sparked my interest. I stumbled upon a rectangular box titled “The Great Juggling Kit.” It contained a beginners instructional juggling book and 3 multi-colored bean-bags. I thought, this might be fun! I have been hooked every since then and I try to practice juggling about 30 minutes every day.

JYAJ: When did you start joggling?

HOLLANDSORTH:  I started joggling in July of 2003 at a high school track in Ashland that is only about 5 minutes from Hartsburg.

JYAJ: Why did you start joggling?

HOLLANDSORTH:  I read about joggling in one of the many juggling books I purchased and thought it would be exciting to try since I ran track in high school and loved juggling. It combined 2 great events into 1 for me. My only complaint is I wish I would have started sooner.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSykTmi-yhE 400 300]

Jason is the guy who gets the bean bags handed to him at the end

JYAJ: How many races have you done while joggling?

HOLLANDSORTH:  The IJA fest joggling race in July of 2008 was the first and only race I have competed in while joggling.  Hopefully, I will enter additional joggling races in the future. I really had a blast joggling and watching other jogglers who loved joggling as much as I do.

JYAJ: What are some of your most interesting joggling stories?

HOLLANDSORTH:  Probably the most interesting joggling story I have happened on the high school track in Ashland shortly after I started. A couple younger kids were spectators of my joggling. They were cheering and really seemed to enjoy it. When I finished, they asked me if I was in the circus. I said not yet, but maybe someday. They were so intrigued that they wanted to learn how to do it. I gave them the basic information and told them the main ingredients are practice and taking it a step at a time.

JYAJ: What kind of training do you do? How fast do you run?

HOLLANDSORTH:  I used to joggle 4-5 days per week until I had arthroscopic knee surgery in April of 2008. I have recovered and I am returning to the joggling, but I will probably try to keep it to 1 or 2 days per week so I will hopefully not re-injure my knee or anything else and be able to joggle when I am a centenarian.  I used to run faster, 15 years ago in track. Back then I ran a quarter mile in 50.2 seconds and the half mile in 2 minutes flat.

JYAJ: Do you eat a special diet?

HOLLANDSORTH:  I try to eat as healthy as possible while still enjoying an occasional brownie or ice cream sundae. I do eat a truckload of fruits and drink my fair share of fruit juice.

JYAJ: How long do you think you will keep joggling?

HOLLANDSORTH:  I am a lifer with joggling, even if I only do it a day or 2 per week. I hope joggling will someday be an olympic event, or at least a track event. My wife thinks I am a “geek” but I still enjoy it.

Thanks Jason.  I bet many jogglers have experienced being called “geeky”.  It’s a thing to be embraced.  Hopefully, we’ll get to joggle on the same relay team next year.  We’ve gotta get that 4×100 title back!

Check out the joggler interview pages for more joggling interviews.