Word: sporting
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...Clark Foam, in Laguna Niguel, Calif., he unleashed a tsunami. Some small businesses that had been shaping and finishing Clark's polyurethane (PU) boards simply wiped out; panic over supply swept the industry. But Clark's departure may turn out to be the best thing to happen to the sport. Surfers have been forced to find a new ride...
Just as parabolic, or hourglass-shaped, skis changed that sport, Firewire's Future Shapes Technology boards feature balsa-wood rails glued to the EPS foam to increase motion in the foam core. The design accentuates the rocker for a tighter turn, as in parabolic skis. The first surfboards hit racks just weeks...
...Garfield, 31, a world-class juggler himself, founded a rival organization called the World Juggling Federation (WJF), dedicated to promoting juggling as a sport, not a sideshow. There are no clowns in the WJF. In WJF events, contestants are judged on the difficulty of their routines and the technical skill with which they execute them, and nothing else. The object is not to entertain but to win. "I wanted to see people competing like athletes," Garfield says. "Kind of like an X Games for juggling...
Feelings between the two camps, the entertainers and the sport jugglers, can run a little high. ("They all get really crazy about it," says Olga, rolling her eyes. "It's insane.") The entertainers call Garfield a dictator who's crushing the creativity out of juggling. He calls them hippies and hacks. "Both can coexist, I think, very easily," says Kim Laird, an IJA board member. "The WJF right now is the new kid on the block, and some people feel their territory's being invaded." Garfield too is a little befuddled by the ire, though he doesn't seem...
...dream is for juggling to become a big-time professional sport, like ice skating--or at least a lucrative fad, like poker. And he has made a start: ESPN and ESPN2 broadcast the first two WJF championships in 2004 and '05, a first for competitive juggling. The next event is in August. The IJA holds its own festival--the '06 festival is this week in Portland, Ore.--but so far it remains a relatively low-profile affair...