Keepie uppie

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Freestyle football. ()

Keepie uppie is the art of juggling with a football using feet, knees, chest, shoulders, and head.^[1] It is similar to Kemari, a game formerly practised in the Japanese imperial court.

Contents 1 Notable performances and records 1.1 Longest keepie-uppie 1.2 Fastest marathon while doing keepie-uppie 1.3 Longest keepie-uppie while on one's back 1.4 Most touches in thirty seconds 1.5 Most touches in 60 seconds 2 Anecdotes 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links

Notable performances and records

Here is an incomplete list of keepie-uppie performances.

Longest keepie-uppie

• Martinho Eduardo Orige of Brazil kept a regulation football in the air for 19 hours and 30 minutes using only the head, feet and legs. The feat was accomplished on August 2 and 3, 2003. ^[2]
• The women's record is held by Cláudia Martini of Brazil, who accomplished 7 hours 5 minutes and 25 seconds on July 12th, 1996. ^[3]

Fastest marathon while doing keepie-uppie

• The fastest marathon while ball-juggling was completed by Jan Skorkovsky in the Prague City Marathon, July 8, 1990. He completed the distance of 42.195 km in 7 hours 18 minutes 55 seconds, without the ball ever touching the ground ^[4]

Longest keepie-uppie while on one's back

• Harry Scott of England kept a regulation football in the air for 19 minutes and 46 seconds while on his back, using only his legs on the 7th May 2006

Most touches in thirty seconds

• The most touches of a football in thirty seconds, while keeping the ball in the air, is 166 by Mathias Jensen on 8 November 2007 in Bud, Norway. ^[5]

Most touches in 60 seconds

• The most touches of a football in 60 seconds, while keeping the ball in the air, is 339 by Chloe Hegland on 3 November 2007 in Beijing, China. ^[6]

Anecdotes

One of the more famous displays of keepie-uppie was in the 1967 Scotland-England football match, where Scottish midfielder Jim Baxter juggled the ball for some time in front of the English defence, taunting them by keeping possession. This allowed Scotland to keep possession and use up the remaining few minutes, leading to a 3-2 victory for Scotland over the world champions. "That's a defining moment for almost every football fan in Scotland irrespective of where their club allegiance lies," said football historian Bob Crampsey ^[7] Nowadays, there is more advanced juggling called freestyle football. Beyond Football is a website that's become one of the bigger freestyle websites offering many videos of people performing juggling tricks. They also offer a freestyle specific forum called Soccer Grip which allows people to help each other in this juggling process.

References

1. ^ "Keepie-Uppie" in the Scots Dictionary
2. ^ Guinness World Records 2005, page 205, column 3
3. ^ Guinness World Records 2005, page 37, column 2
4. ^ Guinness World Records 2005, page 205, column 3
5. ^ http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/speedjuggling.html
6. ^ http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/speedjuggling.html
7. ^ Tributes to Jim Baxter, BBC Sport, 14 April 2001

Further reading

• Robert McNeil. "Don't kick the habits of childhood - revisit them", The Scotsman, 2006-06-24.  — McNeil encourages practicing keepie-uppie as routine exercise in order to remain fit past the age of 30.

External links

• Keepie uppie basics
• Beyond Football Offers videos of people doing spectacular tricks while juggling a soccer ball.