By Leah Veldhueisen ’19
While you may not consider juggling a competitive activity, for CC student Delaney Bayles ’20, that’s exactly what it is. Bayles is a competitive juggler who participates in events all over the country.
She grew up playing soccer and softball and says she always enjoyed being a competitive athlete, which is partly how she ended up juggling. Although Bayles grew up interested in learning how to juggle, she wasn’t quite sure how to get started. She found her opportunity five years ago: Her uncle was teaching her cousins how to juggle and she joined in. Once she learned the basic skills, Bayles discovered a whole community of jugglers putting on festivals and competitions. Eventually she entered into the competitions herself. In addition to competitions, Bayles participated in “Circus Smirkus,” which is the only youth travel circus in North America.
Now, Bayles continues her competitive juggling and recently placed first in the advanced division of the juggling exhibition put on by the World Juggling Federation in December. Bayles says juggling is a stress reliever and a way to continuously challenge herself, as well as something she can practice completely on her own time. Since coming to CC, Bayles has not found much of a juggling community on campus, but she does attend the weekly juggling club meetings at the Colorado Springs YMCA and practices her juggling regularly at the CC fitness center. In the future, Bayles hopes to maintain juggling as a hobby, and to continue advancing her skills, eventually juggling nine balls and seven clubs at once – it makes some of the juggling required for the Block Plan a little less daunting, right? For now, Bayles has her sights set on a competition put on by International Jugglers’ Association this summer in Iowa. Watch Bayles in action.
