Biography of Dave Finnigan

Dave Finnigan was 34 and in the midst of his PhD program at the University of Washington when he took three tennis balls to the woods and taught himself to juggle. Dave immediately realized that juggling was not only good exercise and a model for learning other skills, but that it provided a burst of self-confidence for the learner. He started going around to conferences and schools as "Professor Confidence," conducting exciting and challenging instructional programs and teaching adults and children to juggle with slow moving nylon scarves and beanbags.

Dave has traveled the world presenting his programs. He has written the definitive book on juggling, The Complete Juggler, at 588 pages considered to be the "bible" for juggling. It has been translated into five languages and has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. Juggletime, Dave's musical children's video series, has won twelve national awards including a Parent's Choice award. His video, The Juggling Lesson, was featured on Showtime nationwide. The Joy of Juggling, a book and video combination, is sold in toy stores everywhere. His novel, The Zen of Juggling, is a "cult classic" among fellow jugglers. In 2002 Human Kinetics published Juggling from Start to Star, which Dave co-authored with his children, Dorothy and Ben.

Aside from books and videos, Dave has personally taught over one million people to juggle in the US and Canada, Germany, England, France, Spain, Brazil, Panama, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. He travels throughout the school year, visiting about 100 schools each year in about twenty states with his full day program, which ends with Family Juggling Night each evening. When in a school he teaches every teacher, every student and every parent how to juggle.

When not teaching juggling in schools Dave is in demand as a speaker at conferences where he has presented over 200 times, in 28 states and 3 Canadian provinces. At conventions Dave loves to serve as a keynote speaker, treating participants to a flood of excitement as they joyously break through to successful juggling with colorful nylon scarves. His largest class so far had over 3,400 participants. Dave has appeared on dozens of TV shows from Mike Douglas to Regis Philbin. His work has been featured in Money, Smithsonian, and Sports Illustrated. Dave's juggling peers recognized his work in 1991 by naming him the first recipient of the Excellence in Education Award of the International Jugglers Association.