Learning to Juggle
Step 1:
Begin by throwing the ball from one hand to the other.
Keep your hands level with your waist, with your elbows close to your body.
You should be looking straight ahead.
Try to make an arc where the peak is level with your nose.
Try to keep the arc consistantly at the same height with both hands.
When you can make 10 throws and catches with both hands- without dropping the ball. You're ready to begin learning to work with 2 balls.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2
:Believe it or not...THIS is the hard part.
First throw one ball, THEN then the other when the first has reached its peak and is about to fall.
You're making a pattern in the air which looks sort of like an M.
Keep the top of each arc at the same level.
When you can make 10 throws and catches with 2 balls without dropping either ball you're ready to go on to 3 balls.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 3:
Begin with 2 balls in your dominant hand (the one you write with), these are balls #1 and #3.
The order of throw and catches is as follows:
Throw ball #1, Throw ball #2, Catch ball #1, throw ball #3, catch ball #2, let ball #3 fall on the floor.
You are essentially doing the same thing that you did in the last step.
When you can do 10 sets of throws and catches without dropping balls #1 or #2, and #3 consistantly lands near your foot (instead of flying across the room). Then, you're ready to try some some real juggling!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 4:
Begin as before, but this time you're going to try to catch ball #3; however, in order for there to be room in your hand you have to throw ball #1, and in order for ball #1 to have a place to land, you need to throw ball #2.
Continue as for as many throws and catches as you can. Once you can consistantly do 20 throws and catches you can officially consider yourself a juggler!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Trouble shooting:
I can't let go of the 3rd ball- Keep working on the 3rd step. You may want to try simply practicing the throws for a few minutes, without trying to catch...try to make every throw land close to the opposite foot.
Walking forward (or, the balls are running away from me)- Keep your hands down level with your waist. The reason the balls are traveling forward is that you're bringing your hands up too high.
Ack!! The balls are attacking me-Go back to practicing 2 balls for a few minutes and concentrate on making the balls travel from side to side in a plane parallel to your body. Once you're comfortable with this again, proceed to 3 balls again.
The balls keep going higher- Relax! Concentrate on keeping your shoulders down and your elbows close to your body...Gravity works, wait for the balls to come down before you grab for them.
The balls are hitting each other- Go back to working with 2 balls for a few minutes and concentrate on the timing of each throw. You should be throwing when the incoming ball has just reached it's peak and is about to fall.
I'm getting really frustrated!!- Time to take a break... Learning to juggle is hard work, but it should be fun, too.