Linzi District in Shandong Province, China lays claim to being the birthplace of soccer, so an attempt at setting a new world record for ball juggling last month had special meaning for its people.
In an event organized by the People's Government of Linzi District of Zibo Municipality as part of the 8th International Qi Culture Tourism Festival, 1,377 school students and football fans from the area gathered to take the title of Most people keeping a football in the air.
Despite adverse weather conditions, the attempt smashed a tough target of 1,062 participants that was set by the students of Yanbian University in China in 2009.
Under Guinness World Records guidelines for the title, once a start signal is sounded, all participants involved in the attempt must either begin kicking the ball on one of their feet or bouncing it on their head.
The challengers are then allowed to use any part of their body to juggle the ball except their arms and hands.
The ball must be 'juggled' for at least 10 seconds for an individual to count towards the total, if a participant drops the ball during this time they are discounted from the final figure.
The record was just reward for the participants who had all spent several months training and practicing for the attempt.
