Forums > Social Discussion > How old were you when you started?
Login/Join to ParticipateScientist!
578 posts
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
We have a how old are you now thread.
We have a what type of education do you have thread.
We have a what level of education do you have poll.
But no one has really looked into the How old were you when you first started juggling/spinning/staff/unicycling/balloon sculpting thread.
So here it is.
I have noticed alot of people have started when they were reaching their late teens or early 20s...Possibly something to do with the level of maturity at that age? Or just the fact that you can drive, drink (hopefully not both at once), and have nothing else to do? Or that maybe it's more popular with that age group more than any other?
I started getting into it when I was about 15, but it wasn't 16 that I really started learning or practicing anything.
Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> STAY SAFE! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug.gif" alt="" />
just lost .... evil init
2,474 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia
i have always loved fire, we used to have candles at dinner which i would sit and play with after the meal had finished, i didnt first see fire staff until i was 22 at which point i became instantly addicted .... hehe still cant drive
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented? Who are you NOT to be?
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Written by: ben-ja-men
i have always loved fire, we used to have candles at dinner which i would sit and play with after the meal had finished, i didnt first see fire staff until i was 22 at which point i became instantly addicted .... hehe still cant drive
Similar situation for me, although I think I was 19 or 20 when I saw my first fire staff. The rest, as they say, is history.
I hadn't even seen poi when I made and started teaching myself poi. I called them "chains" and read about them on the first incarnation of HOP whilst internetting fire stuff. ahhh. 
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Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA
glowsticking at 15- poi/glowstringing at 16
To do: More Firedrums 08 video?
Wildfire/US East coast fire footage
LA/EDC glow/fire footage
Fresno fire
Liquid Cow
2,629 posts
Location: High Wycombe, England
Hmm, I joined hop the same weekend that I first saw anyone firespinning, that was in august 2001, which would make me 22 at that time.
Old enough to be able to drive around wherever I felt like and have enough disposable income to just go on holiday for a weekend - I first saw someone spinning at a campsite where I was spending the weekend with some friends.
But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
b...bal...lence?....
370 posts
Location: Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
always loved a bit of fire, either nice safe candle or a lighter and deoderant can. went to byron bay last easter for the blues fest and i saw some one spinning, and though ooooo peeerrrddy, so the next day i found my self in a store buying a staff. i was 16 then and i have loved spinning ever since.
Disco Inferno
160 posts
Location: Remote Western Australia Karratha
i wander does the age you start have any affect at the skills you reach when you are older. i started last year when i was 14 and been training religously since,its just too much fun!
"Only fools are positive! are you sure? Im POSITIVE"
1,328 posts
Location: Bendigo, Vic, Australia
unlike others, I never really liked fire... problem from when I was younger... but anyway.
lol... just wrote out this huge speal about me... then went... no they only want my age...
15 when i first saw it live and fell in love with it...
15 when I picked up my first poi
15 when I first spun with fire
16 when I got my first poi or my own.
still trying to actually do stuff....
veteran
1,459 posts
Location: Dublin, Ireland
yeah, i've always been nuts about fire. Halloween - bonfire season - has always been my fav time of year
late starter though. 33 when i first saw poi at a free party out in the middle of an old disused quarry. was immediately blown away. met DeepSoulSheep and his girlfriend a couple of weeks later and was directed towards HoP. lurked for a couple of weeks and signed up in August '03
still love poi but my passion now lies with my twin staffs "Castor & Pollux"
Written by: FireBug24
i wander does the age you start have any affect at the skills you reach when you are older. i started last year when i was 14 and been training religously since,its just too much fun!
i'm inclined to say yes. it's not that you "can't teach an old dog new tricks", you definately can, it's just that it takes a little longer
i've seen some of you kids nail new tricks in 10 minutes... moves that it takes me daaaaaayyyyss to get
My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,172 posts
Location: Hastings, United Kingdom
Started spinning when i was 15, 16 now
Just over a year
Member
97 posts
Location: Kamloops BC, Canada
started when i was 23(now 24), i've been spinning for around 6 months. started just before winter which turned out to be very frustrating. me and some friends went to the string cheese incident near portland, saw the spinners, then i picked up some poi a couple months later and haven't looked back since.
"Not all who wander are lost. "
J.R.R. Tolkien
Skinny poi maker
313 posts
Location: Moscow, Russia
Was a rhythmic gymnast, so was spinning (gymnastic clubs) when i was 6 - it was a discipline. 3-beat weave is an element from rhythmic gymnastics.
Firs saw poi about 5 years ago.
And more then a year ago took them in my own hands - these were fire poi, which Same as Dostoevskiy was spinning at our friends' wedding party =)
Never stopped since then...
So i guess... i dont know... 21 when poi, 6 when clubs?
1,359 posts
Location: London/ Surrey
21 When I got my first poi... like Ben, I still can't drive
The optimist claims that we are living in the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears this is true.
Always make time to play in the snow.
Pooh-Bah
2,444 posts
Location: Bristol !!!!!!, United Kingdom
22 and i can drive!
Gayle.....!
.:*distracted by shiny things*:.
3,777 posts
Location: brizvegas, Australia
oohh nice idea angel!
well i first saw firetwirling at national youth week in 2001...then i bought my first set of poi and started twirling mid 2003! oh yeah and when i was like 10 or 11 i did calesthenics (i'm sure that's not how it's spelt...) and we did 'clubs' then...pretty much a lot of the same movements (but nowhere near as kewl!) as poi!
do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good to eat!
if at first you do succeed, try not to look too astonished!
smile! :grin: it confuses people!
.:*distracted by shiny things*:.
3,777 posts
Location: brizvegas, Australia
pfft!
just realised i didn't actually say how old i was!! *slaps forehead*
i was 20 when i first saw firetwirling and 22 when i first started twirling!!
do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good to eat!
if at first you do succeed, try not to look too astonished!
smile! :grin: it confuses people!
1,376 posts
Location: London, UK
I was around 22 when I first saw poi I think, and started spinning myself when I was 23. But I didn't really get into it then and gave up for quite a while so I only really started to do it properly when I was 24 - I'm 27 now
"Moo," said the happy cow.
old hand
845 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia
I can't remember how old I was when I started spinning. I think I was 20!
Slicing the Loaf as we speak.
I need it..... Trust me!
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia
OK I started with staff when I was about 44. Now I am 52 and mostly do poi cos I just love it. I am usually 30 years older than everyone around me when I go out and that's fine by me. I love the pixies in my life and I'm just glad that there's such a friendly open scene where I live in Brisbane. I hope I'm still spinning when I'm 90!!!
One thing I want to do this year is to use my connections at Woodford to have a juggle jam space with good facilities ( undercover, in the programme) cos i reckon that the juggle/spinning scene is just great.
.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
started about 5 years ago when I was 30 - end of may 2000.
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
270 posts
Location: Under your stairs
Started at 14, almost 18 now.
Music gives Soul to the Universe, Wings to the Mind, Flight to the Imagination and Life to Everything.
Educate yourself in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE! 
dsei.org Stop The Arms Trade!
58 posts
Location: Ardfern (Kind of near Oban). At Uni in Stirling
Started spinning poi 6 months ago in Barcelona and was instantly hooked on it. Started staff, double staff and juggling three weeks ago and also instantly fell in love with it
(I'm 21) I love the sound of fire and its so pretty!
Axx
Usually me on fire (rather than flames being amber coloured)
10,530 posts
Location: They seek him here, they seek him there...
since i was nine... so 6 years. But ya wouldnt know. Have of that was me getting well annoyed with myself and the staff. But i eventuatley got it.
The existance of flamethrowers says that someone, somewhere, at sometime said "I need to set that thing on fire, but it's too far away."
newbie
19 posts
Location: Horsham/Norwich, UK
I was 17...Im 20 now
cofounder of glove poi
Pooh-Bah
2,014 posts
Location: Galveston, TX, USA
I started in late 2000 which would mean I was 25-26 (my b-days around then as well).
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK
i started on my 17th birthday, and im not quite 18 yet, but ive grown up with it going on around me all my life, friends in the circus n all, staff is my love however many i can hold at a time :P oh and i cant drive
Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars
Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film
member
53 posts
Location: dallas, texas, USA
saw glowstick spinnin at my first party when i was 14..
started doin poi when i was 16, been spinnin for 3 years [to the month..haha. its my poi anniversary
]...and i can drive...
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia
36 when I first seen firepoi and loved it....trying other toys in the last few years but poi is first love
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu
1,662 posts
Location: Bristol
I was 16 i think, i'm 21 now, so about 4 years...
I had a dream that my friend had a
strong-bad pop up book,
it was the book of my dreams.
enthusiast
270 posts
Location: USA
Saw fire poi when I was 28/29... didn't start spinning poi until I was 31, and I'm 33 now. Unicycled at 13(?), driving since 15 1/2 (so longer than many of you have been alive... sorry Ben!), did flower sticks in my late 20's as well but got bored. Still can't juggle.
163 posts
Location: Bergen, Norway
first time I saw fire poi I was 17, started when I was 19. I am still 19, but not for long
Luke sum ipse patrem te.
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