And because there are grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins involved in this rather unusual sport, it turns into a semi-family reunion when the Fasano family meets at the fairgrounds in Angels Camp—a city in Calaveras County—for frog jumping competitions each year.

And they don't go to the world-famous fair or rodeo or go on the rides. They just go for the frog jumping.

The family's adventure began 45 years ago with Gene Fasano, now 69. His cousins asked him and his uncle Frank Borrelli to help catch frogs for a jumping contest. After being a spectator the first year, Fasano was hooked. He entered the contest the following year and hasn't missed a year since.

Neither has his son Bob Fasano, 40, a Willow Glen resident who is passing on frog jumping techniques to his three children—students at St. Christopher School. Bob has been doing it since he was in diapers, he says.

Now three generations of Fasanos are bringing their frogs to jumping contests. And the family's enthusiasm for the hobby is evident by their energetic attitude when speaking about amphibians. Even the clothes give away their love for frog jumping, with frog logos on Gene's hat and shirt.

On May 18 at the Calaveras Fair, Bob placed third, Gene took sixth and Bob's 5-year-old son, Justin, finished eighth in the frog jumping competition. It was the first time in history three generations of the same family were in the winner's circle of the event that was made popular by the Mark Twain book The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

It was quite an accomplishment for the three family members—more than 3,000 people entered the contest that began on Friday, May 16. After an open competition that day, the top 50 went on to compete in the finals on Sunday, May 18.

Bob's 12-year-old son, Joseph, earned a trophy after finishing third in the junior jump, for children 12 and under. Bob's 10-year-old daughter, Amanda, also competed but didn't get a prize.

With such high rankings, this family makes it look simple. But there is actually a lot of hard work and preparation that leads up to that final leap.

Weeks before the competition, the family collects about 400 frogs from a secret pond near their house on Dry Creek Road and brings them home. They narrow down the field to 80 frogs, which will be taken with them to the competition. They test out frogs on Friday and if they find a good "leaper" they hold it until the finals so it can rest, Bob says.

The selection process is similar to looking at athletic people, Bob says. They choose amphibians with long legs and lean bodies that can jump an average of at least 7 feet in one leap.

The frog leaping world record is 21 feet and 6 inches. But the frog doesn't accomplish that amazing feat in just one jump. First the frog is placed on a pad, and then it gets the opportunity for three jumps. The distance is measured from the pad to the final jump to determine the winner.

There is much more than luck involved, though. The frog jumper's talent comes into play by how well they can train the frog.

"We train the frogs to go in a straight line," says Bob, an executive at Exodus Communications. "It is not a race. It's a measured jump."

The rules include not touching the frog once it's dropped onto the pad. So to get the little green creature to jump, Bob hits the ground next to the amphibian to startle it. He also yells and blows on it.

"There is a lot of timing and technique involved because you don't want to 'over jockey' it or it will get scared," Bob says.

Gene agrees as he demonstrates his technique of getting down onto all fours and hopping behind the frog to move it along in a straight line.

The Fasanos compete not only at the Calaveras fair but at a Monterey festival, the California State Fair in Sacramento, an event at Roaring Camp Railroads in Santa Cruz and an event sponsored by Bob's brother Frank in Alameda on the Fourth of July.

The Independence Day event, which draws about 50 people from throughout the state, takes place in Frank's neighborhood. The residents close off their street and offer other entertainment, which attracts both children and adults, Gene says.

But the Calaveras fair is the only event they've never missed in 45 years. The family even plans weddings and vacations around the frog jump.

The family is completely committed to the tradition. Even when Gene's 28th wedding anniversary in 1988 happened to fall on a frog jumping weekend he still attended. It turned out to be the only time he became a world champion. His frog jumped 18 feet and 8 inches.

After the historic incident, Gene donated his frog—named John Hancock after the business where he worked before retiring—to an aquarium in San Francisco. Now he runs a business that sells golf equipment.

They are the only family that has won three world championships. In 1979 Frank clinched the title with a jump of 20 feet, 1 inch, and his brother Bob followed 19 years later with a world championship jump of 19 feet, 4 inches.

When Bob won in 1998 he also became a celebrity of sorts, appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and in Sports Illustrated.

Bob's brother-in-law, the "greatest frog coach in history," as Bob refers to him, placed second, and his sister's father-in-law won the world championship twice in the 1970s.

Out of the 3,000 entries at the Calaveras fair, only a small number of participants are what Bob calls "professional frog jumpers." Individuals can rent a frog for the jump, but the novices rarely make it into the finals, Bob says.

Those that are serious about their leapers select frogs, train them and bring them to the meet. There are about eight other teams who, like the Fasanos, take the sport very seriously. These teams travel continuously each year to the various events.

And it's more than a competition—there's also good fun amongst the teams. One year the Fasano team wore T-shirts that read "No Bozos" to taunt a team from Mountain View named the Bozos.

The Fasano clan named their 30-member family team "Gustine" after the city in Northern California where Gene was raised. There he became enthralled with frog jumping and perfected the craft.

The family wasn't always so brave about handling the slimy green creatures, though. Gene admits that when he first looked at a frog he wanted to put a glove on before handling it. But now he knows so much about the frog that he can describe the anatomy and determine the gender. He explains that males have yellow under their mouths, and his own personal theory is that males jump farther. He is so interested in the amphibians that he reads up about them in his free time.

"We treat our frogs better than most people treat their kids," Gene says.

The frogs are fed a steady diet of night crawlers and crickets. The family has built a special insulated temperature-controlled box for travelling and only keeps their frogs a short amount of time. From capturing to release, the Fasanos only keep the frogs for 1¹/2 weeks.

Bob's son Joseph proudly shows off a "frog box" used to transport the creatures that was built using marine wood and a special plastic for insulation.

"My sister-in-law works for the Environmental Protection Agency, so we know how to take care of the frogs and treat them right," Bob says. "We always release them back to where we got them so they don't spread viruses or diseases to another ditch."

The children not only learn about these environmental issues and competition from frog jumping, they also gain family pride.

Joseph says although he gets nervous with a lot of people watching at the frog jumping competitions, it's worth it because of the quality time the family spends together. Before the fair weekend, Joseph visits his uncle's house to "get rid of the bad frogs that can't jump far." And during the fair the family team spends time together with the frogs and just hangs out, enjoying each other's company.

The family isn't in it for the money, either. First place gets $750, and a $5,000 award goes to the world record breaker. Although breaking the record is their goal, it's not about the money, Bob says.

Each jump costs $5, so with the entire 30-member Gustine family team, it can become quite expensive. And each member jumps about 10 frogs per day, so with numerous events each year they spend thousands of dollars on the hobby.

But the motivation behind the leaps is simple.

"It's about tradition. I've done this all my life," Bob says. "It's something unusual, and we've become world champions in it. We're teaching our children how to continue the tradition."

They have not only become champions, they have also become known as people who love frogs. Their love of frogs is evident just by walking into their house, which has everything from a frog-shaped doorbell ringer to frog-shaped Legos in the living room.

Bob's wife, Alma, also shares the family love of frogs, but expresses it in her own way. She owns many sweaters with frog logos sewn on them, she says.

Bob takes the whole love of frogs in stride as he laughs and says, "The family that jumps together stays together."