Ingram Crosson, a sophomore majoring in Spanish, has been juggling almost his entire life, and he is hoping to spread his love for the pastime through his recently created Crimson Jugglers group at the University of Alabama.

Crosson said he has been juggling since his elementary school days.

“My elementary school had a juggling club,” Crosson said. “I wanted to get a group together on campus at UA, and I figured starting a club was the best way to go.”

Crosson started Crimson Jugglers this semester as an official way to spread the art of juggling across campus. The club currently has a small group of around 10 to 15 members, and they are looking to expand. They meet twice a month and practice juggling every Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the Quad. As Crosson is a member of the Mallet Assembly, many practices for the club take place in front of the Mallet dormitory, as well.

Crosson said he can juggle balls, pins, knives, fire and even SPAM. He learned through a levels system during his elementary school physical education class. They started with scarves and then moved to rings, then balls, pins and more difficult objects. He is currently working on juggling five balls at once.

“Knives are the sketchiest [to juggle] because they are never weighted the same,” Crosson said, “They are normally random kitchen knives or pocket knives that I just pick up.”

Crosson said juggling fire is tricky as well, though he said he has only been hit once in the face by the fire. “You just get so used to it,” Crosson said. “It doesn’t really affect you after a while.”

For many of the members in the club, juggling has become a great pastime. They juggle between classes and during any free time they have, with whatever objects they find convenient.

Kaiya Arroyo, vice president of the Crimson Jugglers, said she became interested in juggling from watching Crosson juggle pins.

“It looked like an interesting challenge,” said Arroyo, “and it turned out to be both relaxing and fun.”

Arroyo said she has learned more than just juggling balls during her time in the organization. She has learned to manipulate many types of objects.

“It is easy to get lost in a couple of hours of juggling,” Crosson said. “It’s a way to kill time and have fun.”

Crosson said juggling also helps with coordination and reflex skills. He said some people use it for exercise by juggling weights for long periods of time.

Crosson said most are new to juggling when they join the club, and anyone who wants to join is welcome.

“We are more than happy to accept people, new or veterans,” Crosson said.

Interested students can email [email protected] to find out more information about when meetings and practices are to be held. The Crimson Jugglers can also be found on thesource.ua.edu.