Combat!

I play 3 Club Combat. It’s a martial art based on juggling. Put simply, the last person juggling wins. When I’m in Berlin, I fight with others at least twice a week, normally playing team games, two on two or three on three. And, because we train all the time, Berlin players are generally the best who compete at the national and international events.

There are three main types of three club combat.

1.
The first is group combat, where it’s just a huge melee of jugglers, and it’s every man/woman for himself/herself. You can play this with three people, 30 people (at small juggling events), or 300 people (at the European Juggling Conventions). With a small number of people you can have “first to five wins” sessions, which makes it more interesting than just playing a series of one-off games.

At the larger events, during the “official” tournament, to counter the randomness of action in the large, crowded games, we have four rounds of open group games, then take the winners of the four games and put them into a four person final.

In 2009, I got through to the four person final, but was knocked out by Jochen, another Berlin juggler, who was the overall winner. This was the size of the match in 2009:

Here’s a video of the forth round of the four open games at the EJC in 2008. I went on to win the four person final:

But at conventions it’s not all about the “official” games; the more interesting sessions take place late at night. As soon as one game finishes, the next begins! And as you can play as long as you want, and drop out at any time, most nights the combat sessions last four or five hours. I and many others often play for over three hours at a time.

2.
One on one tournaments (or “Celebrity Fight Nights”) are events that normally last an hour and a half. Eight or twelve jugglers are invited to take part, and it’s knockout tournament, sometimes with group stages for the first rounds. This event is good entertainment for the audience, as the competitors play up their characters, WWE style, but the skill on display is as high as it gets. I’ve yet to win an EJC title, but have taken second place in four out of the last five EJC tournaments. I’ve lost to Jay Gilligan (the best player from America) twice and Jochen Pfeiffer (the best player from Germany) twice. Winning at the EJC is one of my life goals for 2010, although both Jay and Jochen will probably be there. Come to think of it, of the 20 or so Fight Nights I’ve played in, there have only been half a dozen individual winners. Jay Gilligan, Jochen Pfeiffer, Aaron Greg (from Canada), myself, Manu Laude (France), Florian Marienfeld (Berlin)… maybe one other person who has slipped my mind.

Here’s me and Jochen in the final round at the EJC 2009. We meet in final rounds quite often, and I’ve yet to beat him.

3.
The last kind of combat is Team Combat, where jugglers go two on two or three on three. There aren’t that many team events organized, as group and one on one tournaments are much easier to plan, but if you have four or six jugglers, team combat is by far the most interesting and tactical form of combat. Here’s a video of me and Flo vs JJ and DJ. It’s a few years old, but is the best breakdown of what can happen during a team combat match.

Combat is one of my favorite things about juggling, and juggling is my favorite hobby, as well as being my job. It has absolutely no use in a real fight, but it is a very complex and stupidly high skilled martial art.