One group at UNM prefers to unicycle and juggle its way to happiness.
"To play," was all William Matthews, assistant director of the Juggling and Unicycling Club, had to say when he described the ragtag group that has been in existence for two years at the University.
The club's 20 members meet several times a week so they can perfect the craft of balancing their bodies in awkward positions atop an unsteady tire while throwing large objects into the air, awing bystanders.
Matthews said the club participates in several events a year, showing members' skills at Popejoy Hall and UNM football tailgate parties.
"However, we also participate at charity events at local hospitals," said Elizabeth Matthews, another of the club's assistant directors. "It works, our fun-loving nature is contagious and puts a smile on people's faces."
Having reinvigorated an old juggling club at UNM to get its start, the club also hosts famous jugglers, as it did Tuesday night with "The Bad Boy of Juggling," nationally known juggler and comedian Mark Nizer.
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Nizer left members of a semi-full SUB Ballroom crowd with their mouths ajar as he tempted fate by precariously manipulating basketballs and bowling balls into a rhythmic design.
"This club is based on good, old-fashioned fun," Elizabeth Matthews said. "We're all about getting together to relax. We don't take ourselves too seriously."
The members of the club, ranging from senior citizens to bright-eyed UNM freshman, are all self-taught and use unicycling and juggling to release stress and have fun in life, she said.
William said they receive a little help from instruction manuals from the International Juggling Association, but for the most part they enjoy learning the art on their own.
A free organization to anyone interested in participating, club secretary Dan Estes said they have "all the equipment you could ever need."
Estes said they use events like Tuesday night's as a recruiting tool to convince people to join their ranks.
Other club members, juggling glow-in-the-dark bowling pins as they spoke, said the club's basis should be enough to convince everyone to join.
"Who doesn't want to play every once in a while?" William said.
