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Keepie uppie is the skill of juggling with a football (soccer ball) using feet, lower legs, knees, chest, shoulders, and head, without allowing the ball to hit the ground.^[1] It is similar to Kemari, a game formerly practised in the Japanese imperial court.

Notable performances and records

Here is an incomplete list of keepie-uppie performances.

Longest keepie-uppie

• The men's record is held by Dan Magness, a 26 year old professional freestyler from Milton Keynes, England, who kept a regulation football aloft for 24 hours (an estimated 250,000 touches) using just his feet, legs, shoulders and head; he completed the feat - which took place in London's Covent Garden - on May 1, 2009 at 14:00 BST. ^[2]
• The previous men's record was held by Martinho Eduardo Orige of Brazil who 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. ^[3]

• The women's record is held by Cláudia Martini of Brazil, who accomplished 7 hours 5 minutes and 25 seconds on July 12, 1996. ^[4]

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 ^[5]

Longest distance walked while doing keepie-uppie

• Dan Magness, holder of the longest keepie-uppie is also the holder of the longest distance gone while doing keepie-uppie. He managed to go 30 miles without letting the ball touch the ground. He achieved this feat on January 26, 2010 in London and in the process visited all the stadiums of the five Barclays Premier League teams in London. He started his journey at Fulham F.C.'s Craven Cottage and ended it at Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s White Hart Lane.^[6]

Longest keepie-uppie while on one's back

• Daniel Bolt of Mytchett FC, Surrey, England kept a regulation football in the air for 21 minutes and 14 seconds while on his back, using only his legs on 22 July 2008.

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. ^[7]

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 [1]

References

1. ^ "Keepie-Uppie" in the Scots Dictionary
2. ^ "Freestyle champion of the world!". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2009/04/28/yourstories_magness_freestyler_article_feature.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
3. ^ "Guinness World Records - Sports & Games - Soccer - Ball Control, Football - Duration". Guinness World Records. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/sports_and_games/soccer/ball_control,_football_-_duration.aspx. Retrieved 2008-11-21. 
4. ^ Guinness World Records 2005, page 37, column 2
5. ^ Guinness World Records 2005, page 205, column 3
6. ^ "Man sets keepy-uppy world record in London". BBC. http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8480310.stm. 
7. ^ "World Records for Speed Football Juggling". http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/speedjuggling.html. 

Further reading

• Robert McNeil (2006-06-24). "Don't kick the habits of childhood - revisit them". The Scotsman. http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=814&id=915652006.  — McNeil encourages practicing keepie-uppie as routine exercise in order to remain fit past the age of 30.

External links

• PannaFootballTube.com including freestyle soccer tutorials
• Keepie uppie basics
• Soccer Freestyle Beyond Football offers videos of people doing spectacular tricks as well as a forum
• Various Ball Control World Records
• Soccer Tricks, juggling