Forums > Social Discussion > How old were you when you started?
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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="" />
798 posts
Location: Tas, Aus
i started acro when i was 12 (my sister and i got inspired by some buskers and decided to learn. started training ourselves properly whan i was 14)
started poi when i was 12 1/2
contortion at 13
started fire at 14
rola bola at 14 1/2 but didnt do much with that
staff trapeze and diablo at 15 and 2 1/2 months
tennis racket contortion 15 and 3 months
just about to start unicycle
Quid Pro Quo
5|>00|\|5 /-\|^3 <00|!
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia
yay for uni! mines coming in about a three weeks!
"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"
jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley
167 posts
Location: Perth, Western Australia
umm i started when i was about 13 1/2 ... which was about a year ago..
i feel so young!
oh well maybe i'll become a pro or something 
doubt it though!! 
old hand
896 posts
Location: Manchester England
I was nineteen then twenty and soon twentyone!
*Thats one of my favourite Nurseries over there,*
Roman, Trippie Hippie,On the way back from Play Festival
Are you up for it??
349 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Been doing traditional Maori poi on & off since I was a kid (well, trying to never got that far), 26 for fire poi (am 26 now) but have only been doing it bout a month
Are you up for it?
;)
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia
i think if you're older(like older than twenty) then you have more of a drive to learn tricks and further yourself whereas when you're young you just muck about and have fun
"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"
jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley
247 posts
Location: Adelaide
I started about 6 Months ago (20) when I met a couple of traverlers heading north. I went camping with them for a short while and they taught me the basics and I was hooked. I have just recently started double staff and Poi (about 2 week ago) and I LOVE it...... mmmmm Double staff.....
Reality is mass beleif...
Feed me and I will grow, give me drink and I will die...
I'll lap at your heels, if you give me the chance. Though I won't fetch or stay, I surely will dance...
Enjoy, be happy, and don't forget to breathe...
3,492 posts
Location: .:*over the rainbow*:.
I started staff twirling when i was 15... nearly a decade ago
where dose the time gostilts about a year or so after that (I have piccies on my fridge when i first started.... with lill bubba dreadies... must have been a while ago
)had an acrylic ball before I had a fire staff i think
but didn't *siriously* get into contact juggling 'till a few years ago ummm not sure exactly when i started performing ....costume disigning... creating ... but do it full time now
*:...one day all the fairy fridges will be aligned and my pixie world will be complete...:*
Mumma Hen
6,391 posts
Location: Brisbane, Australia
I was inspired at the age of 14 to learn devil stix casue this super hot guy was doing them at the gypsy fair.He had long brown blonde hair and was really deeply tanned and had a nipple ring and... oh... ahem... anyway..I bought devil stix plus juggle balls from him... and stared at him for the rest of the day,... funnily enough I never learnt how to do either very well...
Started fire at 20. Im now 24 almost 25, and my current man is WAAYYYYY hotter than that devil sticks guy.
TAJ "boat mummy." VALURA "yes sweetie you went on a boat, was daddy there with you?" TAJ "no, but monkey on boat" VALURA "well then sweetie, Daddy WAS there with you"
3,492 posts
Location: .:*over the rainbow*:.
Hahahaha OMG! I think i bought devil sticks off him tooooooo!!!! ............ 
so yeah did devil sticks for a little while... not very good at them now though....
*:...one day all the fairy fridges will be aligned and my pixie world will be complete...:*
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
started in '99. now I'm 29, err... started just before I turned 24? I think?
Josh
--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!
slack rating - 9.5
2,216 posts
Location: Suburbiton, Yoo-Kay, United Kingdom
this is a cool thread for finding out how old evryone is!
i started poi and juggling at the same time when i was about 19 an a half (inspired by elasta who had been doing it about a year before), staff about a year later, contact juggling and doubles last year... and i'm gonna be 22 next week!!
It is our fantasies that make us real. Without our fantasies we're just a blank monkey' - Terry Pratchett
503 posts
Location: bristol
juggling at 19, staff at 19 and a half, contact juggling and poi at 20, contact staff at 20 and a half [roughly], and doubles about four weeks ago
i'll be 22 in june
ture na sig
177 posts
Location: Rural South
I started Poi when was 15! aint realy improved that much due to time but have loads of free time adn events going to in summer to learn more!
Life is short!
So lets leave a mark,
for people to remember!
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
I got into poi not long after I turned 26 at Glastonbury, I turn 28 in a month or so.
I've dabbled with staff but not much cuz I can't spin it indoors! Same for meteor.....
Let's relight this forum 
9 posts
Location: swansea and Oxford
i started new years eve 2004/5 when a friend showed me her poi, i was hooked and brought my first poi a few days later and have been practicing ever since. i was 20, i'm now 21 (only just)
member
70 posts
Location: in a bubble :), United Kingdom
i was 30ish
now im 30ish and a week lol.... only been spinning a week *aww* im a gemini..go figure
water based
5,125 posts
Location: melbourne, Australia
started stilting at age 16.. .. .. yesterday. it hurts, but i can walk well now.
cheers, pete
"you know there are no trophys for doing silly things in real life yeah pete?" said ant "you wont get a 'listened to ride of the valkyries all the way to vietnam' trophy"
*proud owner of the very cute fire_spinning_angel, birgit and neon shaolin*
addict
584 posts
Location: Sunshine Coast, Australia
First saw fire poi at 2004 Nimbin Mardi Grass. Finally bought some glopoi a couple of months ago, I'm 27.
Never hold your farts in! They travel up your spine, go into your brain and that's where shitty idea's come from.
1,189 posts
Location: Edinburgh
Started poi at 19 late last year when I went to a poi workshop. Picked up staff early this year for Beltane. Havn't looked back since.
According to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Dynamics, we may already be making love right now...
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
got my first poi when i was 19 but they hid in box until about a year ago when i unearthed them in a quest to find something else so only really properly started at 22
24 posts
Location: California
I started doing poi 4 days ago, friday april 15, im 16 almost 17, I have been a raver since I was 11 so I have some experience in spinning colord things
burning thingys is fun, and exciting
with added berries
1,365 posts
Location: Manchester, England (UK)
I started a year ago, aged 20. Wow, raving since 11! I don't even do that now!
Live like there is no tomorrow,
dance like nobody is watching
and hula hoop like wiggling will save the world.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
13 posts
Location: Uk, England, Devon, Plymouth
I love fire, it makes me sleepy at night and relaxes me any other time, Im 16 and just started poi, tailed poi is also relaxing to watch and just makes you feel chilled and harmonious... (if thats the right spelling)
~^^Everyone has the right to be stupid, but your abusing the privaledge^^~
enthusiast
200 posts
Location: Harare, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom
Started at 23, I'm 26 now, but did very little for the first six months. On an annoying side note, I used to live in Bristol and do poi on College Green, and it seemed nobody else there had ever heard of poi. The Bristol scene now seems to be amazing, maybe I should move back...
Don't worry, be happy...
comfortably numb
2,676 posts
Location: The countryside, Australia
I started when I was 16.
.All things are beautiful if we take the time to look.
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK
did a little bit of devilsticking at 15. saw fire poi at a party last year when i was 23. 24 now and have my own fire poi, but it has also got me into nunchuks, staff, flag onna pole and contact juggling. Still like poi the best so far tho. All in erm... (counts on fingers) almost a year!
Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant
Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.
'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi
80 posts
Location: Greece-Samos-Athens
20 years old
"For once there was an unknown land, full of strange flowers and subtle perfumes,
a land of which it is joy of all joys to dream, a land where all things are perfect and poisonous."
"Put out the torches! Hide the moon! Hide the stars!"
member
42 posts
Location: California, USA
Well...I started around 8 days ago or so with poi, and about 5 days for fire poi. Although, I do plan on getting into fire swords because I've practiced with them ever since I could hold one. Also, I want to add fire hammer to my act.
If you strap a piece of buttered toast, butter side up, to a cats back, would the cat get stuck in mid air if thrown due to quantum indecision?
107 posts
Location: Bloomfield Indiana. USA
I started glowstringing a year ago, A few months after that I learned some poi moves and tried fire the first time back in november.
As of right now im 15... My birthday is september 6th
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