The International Jugger Blog

Fellow German Jugger Gnome has started a blog specifically about training questions in connection with Jugger, for example "How to avoid injuries".
He recently published an article about warm-up techniques with some tips that you might consider quite helpful.

Go ahead and have a look (and don't fear that bit of sweat you might get):
Jugger Coach: The Art of Warmup

The Projekt: Jugger i Sverige, together with the Swedish Jugger Association, has recently published training material for spars makers (Baumeister/byggmästare) and for team leaders and referees.
They will be used as hand-outs and as a base for the project's workshop in End of September, which will be held at the Största Älgen Svenska Mästerskapet.

Quite cool web comic project on Jugger, with excellent drawings of the teams Wild Geese and Drop Bears, is offered by Schwartz and merc. There is also a comic story ongoing.


(© Schwartz & merc)

"I am Jugger" is the upcoming documentary prepared by Alejandro Asensi Barbera. He currently raises funds through IndieGoGo to realize this quite impressive sounding project, which should become very international:

I am Jugger follows Jugger players all around the world and will share the lives of these young athletes; their impressions and styles of play, capturing the passion they feel for this sport and show the differences to other major sports and the activity in different countries like Spain, Germany, Ireland and United States. We travel with a select group of jugger players to the World Tournament in Berlin, where they will try to win the ultimate prize in this relatively unknown sport.

We will see different explanations of the rules, styles and strategies used by different teams, and follow them as they train and prepare for games together.

(Just a word of warning, IndieGoGo seems to think that eating processor time through shiny app overload is a good idea).

After the discussion on the behaviour of a Spanish team has spread, here is a summary of the statements. This is the first time that a team is banned internationally from taking part in certain tournaments in Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the US.

There are official statements from Setanta Ireland Jugger Club, over 60 Juggers of Germany (and other countries), Jugger Vancouver and some individual voices of tournament organizers.
Of course, a statement of TE in the matter would be welcome here as well.

Click on "read more" for details. "Statements banning Tercios Españoles" vollständig lesen

Update: Since creating this article, an extensive discussion on the topic has arisen both in local forums and on facebook, resulting in ban declarations done by players organizing tournaments.

After incidents at the Deutsche Meisterschaft 2014, with an Irish shield player being injured and numerous reports of unfair an unsportive play on the side of the Spanish team Tercios Españoles, a discussion has arisen at the German Jugger forum about the team with over 70 entries right now -- this time not about their history of a fascist team name (historical discussion ⇒ here) but on sportsmanship.

Now players prepared an open declaration to ban the team from German, and even other, tournaments. ⇒ Read it here.
This is the first time a team get's banned from tournaments in a specific country. There had been only one ban of a team in the past in Germany, from one single tournament, and that was due to the heated history between them and the tournament's organizers.

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Addendum: Because of the facebook discussion on refreeing: To understand the uproar, it is important to keep the development of Jugger in Germany in mind (see Uhus books on the history of the sport).
One core feature there is Fair Play. Not the soccer way (hurt them when the ref doesn't look) but real fair play: Jugger has long been a fun sport, with no need for extensive reffing. Now, where it begins to be more and more competitive, German tournaments are handling usually over 25, even over 40 or 60 teams at one single week-end. This means that a team that is not playing has to do the refereeing – it is simply impossilbe to have enough "professional" referees. Not having professional refs is considered positive by many players: More control can mean less personal responsibility, thus less fair play. And the need of playing fair is seen as a crucial treasure of the Jugger sport by some.


Update:
Kaiser, Qwik of the Valencia Ravens, has written an interesting two-part insight into mentality differences that could explain the behaviour that has been critizised. It is in German – sorry. Read it here: Part 1 | Part 2

Update II:
Setanta Jugger club has published an official statement. The complete statement is to be found ⇒ at the German Jugger forum, here.

Read on for more voices and statements in the next entry.

//EDIT: Uhu has just finished the translation of the How-to for ironing patches to shirts. Load the PDF ⇒ here.//

The international Jugger community is a huge bubbling cauldron. But there are always a few who stick out – they care more about the community and Jugger than others, they invest their time, they take responsibility, they are just all Juggers from head till toe, they gain competence and experience and let others profit from their knowledge, and, in the best cases, their wisdom, a feat that is widely underrated (and, often, lacking) but extremely important for any society.

So why not dig out the good old term "Juggermaster", found in the movie near the end when Sallows team challenges a Red City Elite, to honour those who really care and work hard (and are also experienced enough to do so)? Not in terms of hierarchy, of course, but more as a visible reward. To make the choice a little more objective short guidelines are added – a reward of any kind always bears the chance of injustice to those who also work hard but get left out, so clear guidelines are important. The seasoned head of a big club is the Juggermaster, although many members might be as or even more active. Bad little world is it.
I would say, a Juggermaster should be very experienced in every case: At least, say, 5 years of active training and of participation at Jugger tournaments, having organized a team, club, and/or tournaments, having mastered at least one of the five kinds of spars and knowing all others well, so that he or she can teach how to fight efficiently; having teached many others how to make each of the five spars (and knowing well what is important when making them) and the rest of the equipment.

I created some symbols that can be ironed on jerseys or whatever, strictly reserved for those who earned them according to the definitions of course; see here (also included in the newest update of the free English Jugger book).

Explanation:
Juggermaster (Club): The head of a stable Jugger group or club with more than one team and some years tournament experience.
The chain not only represents the unique position in a team, but also the community that stands together – though it does this not necessarily in a row, not at all, but flexible like chain links.

Juggermaster (Serenis): An undisputably extremely experienced Jugger who is an inspiration and a “sage” for the community. Examples: Adam (Brisbane /AU), Siggi (Hamburg/D).
The cogwheel not only represents a driving element of the community, but is also a reminiscence to the atmosphere and, also, the crude, non-standartized currency in the movie.

Jugger Zero or Juggermaster Zero Founder: One of the very few who introduced and established Jugger in a country. Examples: Mark Hill (Ir), Lester (D), First Ones of HH/KH (D), the predecessor of Adam (+; AU), Ruben (S).
The Radioactivity symbol represents the atomic apocalypse, which is the base of the movie. Without it, there wouldn’t have been a Jugger movie and, therefore, curiously even today’s Jugger roots in that apocalypse.

David Webb Peoples: The First One. He invented Jugger from scratch. He is our ultimate icon.

Ruben has finished working at a new Jugger book that will be published at Zauberfeder Verlag.
The typesetter is working hard at it, so we hope to be able to have the book printed soon!
Special thanks go to the Jugger e. V. Berlin for support and to those players who showed basic attacking and defending positions with the different Pompfen.

Publication date is not set yet, but we can already offer a first glimpse on the layout ...

EDIT 2/2014: It has been published!

And en gång till:
Recently, short lesson clips on how to play Jugger Pompfen/spars/pompårna popped up at youtube. Both settings are quite alike (and good for learning) but are done, in fact, on different continents: In Australia and in the U.S.
They are especially interesting for the beginner, but even the more experienced players may learn a bit! Enjoy.

• How to play the chain: Basic lessons on chainplay at youtube from Ireland


• How to play the shield: Basic lessons on shieldplay at youtube from Doug, U.S.

I would like to recommend two web pages that I think are quite interesting:

• The Nine Cities is a weblog done by Adam, Urgestein of the Australian Juggers. Adam does a fascinating job by interviewing players all over the world on Jugger, and, moreover, doing his famous BBQ reviews (tournament reviews). A vera good site indeed, often full of humour, and sometimes with quotes of unintended truth behind the openly visible words ... (and no, I explicitely don't mean the quoted Australian players character by "truth", because that is just the "visible" meaning which is a no-go. Words are cunning).


• An interview on Jugger, its fascinating roots and its todays character, in English with Ruben, just when he had prepared his new book; head over to ⇒ tentaclepr0n to hear or download the audio file.

Enjoy!