I had less than 400 milliseconds on average between each ball that came my way. That’s the same amount of time it takes a 100MPH pitch to reach home plate from the pitcher’s hand. Fortunately, Jonathan wasn’t throwing them quite that fast, but he was throwing them that frequently.

The record was for the most catches in 30 seconds while standing on a balance board. The previous record was 46. Did we think we could beat over 1.5 per second? You bet.

Beyond the obvious, there were a couple of extra things that made this one tricky: 1) the catching hand has to alternate, otherwise the attempt ends immediately. This isn’t so bad if you catch every ball. If you miss one, there are only milliseconds to adjust and catch the next ball with the same hand instead of the other one. 2) the legs have to remain straight for the duration of the attempt. I’m not sure why Guinness has this rule, but it’s way easier to adjust the balance on a balance board with bent knees, and 3) it was a live audience and show so the pressure was on.

On the first try, we had a bad start and I think I may have bent my knee so we stopped early. On the second try, we did much better but the throw speed was a little inconsistent. Jonathan would throw a slow one that arched and then a fast one right behind it and I had 2 arrive at the same time a couple of times. We still broke the record but went at it one more time for good measure.

There were 79 throws, 68 catches, 11 misses, and one caught after 30 seconds expired for a new Guinness World Record’s Title of 67 catches in 30 seconds while standing on a balance board.

Thanks to the Boise Centre for having me out to give a talk on Growth Mindset at the employee growth conference and for allowing us to make an official Guinness World Record attempt.

Thanks for having us out!