Esotropiart

Shoey So VIII

Quite often I go to Albertsons or Safeway to get something to drink. Late last night I went to Albertsons near where we live. As I was leaving the store to get in the car I noticed in a distant region of the expansive parking lot a group of young people juggling a soccer ball. I stood at my door, contemplating for a moment what I should do. After all, it is perhaps once in a lifetime that you see such an opportunity. I see people hacking sack, but never juggling. I'm always looking for people with interest in this specific activity.

I decided to at least drive over to where the jugglers were and make friendly contact. They thought I was coming over to kick them out :) I quickly found out that this group of 3 friends (and the girlfriend of one of them) have a longstanding 4 year tradition to go out to random places to juggle. HOW COOL IS THAT!?. They are friends from school, and after high school they started this gathering where they would simply do what I would call Threeman shoey so. They have their own name for juggling in a circle with multiple players, something like Soccer Kick 2000 or something (I guess they started in 2000?).

After expressing interest in their wondrous activity, I asked to join them. They were quite friendly and allowed me to widen the circle. We moved over to near Arby's, where the light was better. I juggled and talked with them for probably about an hour. It was a blast!

I just can't get over how cool it is to find other people who juggle. There are a lot of people who juggle, but not many who purposely and regularly gather to do so. I may or may not pursue meeting with them on future occasions. I don't want to feel like I am intruding on their tradition. At any rate, it was cool to make part of it last night and to meet these guys.

I have an absolutely ridiculous memory, especially when it comes to remembering names... I'm going to take a stab at it... I think their names were Ethan, Sam, Mark?, and Sarah. I'm not so sure about "Mark"... but it doesn't matter. Sam's specialty, like my own focus, is to keep the ball under tight control, with an impressive personal record of a few hundred. "Mark", as I'm calling him, is quite bold in his techniques with a variety of cool moves under his belt, including a great competent shoulder bounce. He has it down, I'd say. Ethan and his girlfriend are all-around good kickers as well. Ethan - as do all of them - likes to attempt wild kicks and saves. I'd say that all of them are more consistently adventurous in their kicking techniques than I am. I can usually at least attempt to adapt to make some interesting saves, but I have never focused on practicing skillful tricks or cool looking moves.

I had a decent conversation with Ethan, seemingly the spokesperson per se for the group. Interestingly enough, he recently took up learning to play acoustic guitar at about the same time I did. All around, these guys were a great find. Not only do they like juggling, but they seem pretty friendly and welcoming. I'm glad I happened to meet them. They all live in the area, so it is possible I'll see them around somewhere.