Advanced Rings

Tricks and Numbers Outline

Drills and Training:

Work a pattern to its optimal form, elbows at sides, relaxed shoulders, power from arms and wrists, smooth non-hand-banging catches. The better your form is, the less your rings wobble.

Learning Odd Number Patterns

5:

• Work your 3 ring shower in both directions, eventually switching directions without stopping
• 3 ring chase in a 5 pattern, this will get your height consistent (SS: 53 or 35)
• Build on the chase with patterns such as 55253

7: (drills are your friend)

• Shower with 4 rings, build up until you can switch directions
• 4 ring chase in a 7 pattern and height (SS: 70 or 07)
• Learn to hold 4 in one hand, finger exercises
• Releasing 4 rings drills
• Building up from 7 to 14 catches

9: (exercise is your friend, drills are a necessity)

• Holding 5 in one hand, finger exercises, release drills
• Protecting your fingers (wrapping fingers)
• Shower 5 rings, yes, in both directions too.
• 5 ring chase
• Drills to build from 7 to 19 catches

Learning Even Number Patterns

6, 8, 10:

• Always inside to outside circles
• Fight to keep your elbows in at your sides, see the rubber band trick
• Relax shoulders, the more they move, the harder it is to bring the next throw back to center
• Stack your runs, 2 catches at a time
• Work in off sync and on sync, switching to isolate problems and correct them
• The hardest part of 6, 8, 10 for most people is throwing 3, 4, 5 in their subordinate hand
• Find a position that works for you, hand exaggerated outward all the way to hands close to the body
• Practice one side at a time in combination with the whole pattern (both hands). Switch back and forth for best results

Hit a wall with your numbers?

For evens bang out one side at a time to double the number of catches you get on that number. (ie; If the most you get with 20 catches with 6 rings and have been stuck there for a while, hammer out each side until you get 40 catches each.) For odd numbers, run the shower on both sides to double your best run. (stuck at 20 catches with 7, run a 4 rings shower for 40 catches on each side)

Tricks with Numbers:

(This workshop is more focused on tricks with 6 or more, but will cover certain key 5 ring tricks)

Q. What can a workshop teach you that you can’t get from watching a trick on video?

A. How to practice!

Learning 5 ring tricks:

My first tricks were whatever I saw Ignatov do in the ‘80s, but I didn’t know how to learn them.

Break it down into bite size pieces.

Ie.; reverse flat shower, juggle a SS:53 (4 ring pattern), then throw the ‘5’ over the top in a flat throw. Pay attention to how your other hand catches the overhand throw, either palm toward you or hand up facing out (harder). Switch and work on the other side.

Same technique for overhead, or one hand overhead, or backcross, or even pancakes. If it’s too hard with 4 rings, drop down to 3 or even 2 until you iron out the wrinkles. Keep the same pattern of one hand throwing in a 5 ring pattern so that you learn the height and speed you’ll need when you put it all together.

Others (listed for purely academic reasons):

Most site swaps are left out, since they tend to be better when you add some flair to some of the throws, otherwise they tend to blend together. Pirouettes (360’s) are a special case. See Jason Garfield’s training for that.

Learning 6 ring tricks:

The most important part of 6 ring tricks is getting to the point where you can come in and out of async and on sync patterns comfortably. To get there practice longer and longer runs where you switch your timing between the 2 rhythms several times. When you can do that half a dozen times in a single run, you’re ready for more!

My first 6 ring trick: (8,8)(4,4)

Wrong trick, too soon. Finger buster.

Better, 855, or what I knew as “throw one high to the side”. High right side throw (can be thrown up the middle) followed by 2 throws in a 5 ring pattern, then back into 6 rings. This trick is done in async.

Easier first trick:

If you practiced on to off sync and back again, then putting a ring around your neck and taking it off will be easy for you. Essentially you’re moving from 5 to 6 rings and back again. It looks better to have one hand place the ring, then the other take it off and throw it back. (more going on for the viewer) Practice by putting one on your neck, then start with 2 in one hand, throw them high, maybe just above your 6 ring height, pulling the one off and continuing to juggle 3 in one hand. Then do that in reverse.

Half shower, the not impossible way:

Learn onsync, then onsync crossing with staggered throws (one slightly higher) This resembles triple doubles with 6 clubs.  Once you have onsync staggered down you can throw 1 over top as in a flat half shower. Then 2, then 4, etc. Pay close attention to your catches, hand in or out. Stay consistent. Once you’ve learned it this way you can go directly into the pattern from an onsync pattern. Hint: Kulakov does this with pancakes! His practice is the same as this technique.

On Sync flat reverse: Probably the prettiest 6 ring trick

You can move gradually from the half shower, to making both hands throw an overhead flat throw, one higher than the other, to the full trick where both sides throw the same height in full sync. One hand should naturally throw slightly in front so they don’t collide. Throws must be even and not wobble to keep them from sliding off of each other.

Overhead Throws:

This one may make you go back to just 1 ring, practicing throwing it overhead by your ear straight up.  Build up to 3 in each hand, throwing just 1 at a time, finally bring that into the full 6 ring async pattern. Slightly easier, onsync with one hand overhead. Careful not to give yourself a black eye! (speaking from experience)

Outside Flats:

Like onsync flat reverse, but throws are straight up from the side of the body, and rings are facing the audience. Looks great when combined with the reverse.

777771bx:

Throw 5 rings in a 7 pattern, pass the one remaining behind your back. A personal favorite.

REMEMBER: These tricks will feel hard if you haven’t practiced your onsync to async patterns!

* (8,8)(4,4) and pirouettes are best learned after you have some experience with 8. The throws are high, and therefore a bit more dangerous.

Extra credit: flourish the on sync flat reverse, throw the occasional pancake, throw 4 high & flourish the 2 in your hands, multiplex splits onsync, etc…

Learn 7 ring tricks:

Half shower, flat reverse, and overhead can be broken down into a SS:73 pattern, working one side at a time.

My first site swap was 86. If you can sustain long runs of 50 or more catches, I recommend trying it. 966 is much harder to get the first time, and hard to practice or break down into bite size pieces. Unfortunately 86 doesn’t look like anything but an accident, but for academic purposes it makes for good practice. 966 gets a great response though.

If you’re an (8x,6)(6,8x) fan, try it with rings. Start with 4 and just flash a pair. The 8’s go very high compared to an 8 ring fountain.

Many 7 ring tricks become finishing moves because continuing the run is often the hardest part. 1, 2 or 3 pancake throws, 3 or 4 half shower throws, or the pullover make good finishing moves. I like the arm stack with a flourish to end a run or trick.

Others: multiplex stack (2 in each hand), neck catch or pull-over back into 7. Pirouettes? Watch Dana Tison videos…

8 Ring Tricks:

Seriously?  What can be done with 8?

I practice async into onsync and back to get the pattern more stable and my timing down. Other tricks are (a,a)(a,a)(4,4) which is onsync 2 pair high then 1 pair low. (one round of that is plenty!) Another is 99999991bx which is make 7 tosses in a 9 pattern passing 1 behind your back. (A good finisher, since going back into a pattern is touchy) The half shower is not too bad if you can do it with 7. a77 is also possible. I’ve seen 3 people in my life do a pirouette under 8. I managed to throw a couple pancakes…once…

Better than tricks is to learn a long pole balance or ring spinning on your leg in combination with 8. It’s a real show-stopper and there’s evidence that several performers have done this for decades.

The pull-over is an old stand-by as well. That one at least you can practice one hand at a time!

*I’ve also done over the head, but it gave me a black eye, so that trick is retired for now.

What exercise works? There really is training that works for jugglers!

Absolutely!  First, for the fingers, get a guitar finger exerciser and strengthen those metacarpals.

Second, warm up those shoulders with narrow and wide circles for a minute, switching directions in between.

Workouts:

I’ve done body-for-life training for 9 months and pyramid strength training for 6 months and it only had a marginal effect on my numbers juggling skill. I was stronger, just not a better juggler.

What works? Athletic training. Classic resistance training where you work each muscle only once a week, broken into 3 different sessions Monday, Wednesday, Friday. By work I mean push to failure with lots and lots of reps. Each muscle may have 8 to 10 set each. The other days fill with intense cardio, kickboxing, jumping/plyo, and absolutely don’t forget yoga. Not beginner yoga, do the stuff that makes your eyes water! These kinds of trainings work the fibers you won’t touch with machines because they’re real world muscles.

Essential finger training: Guitar finger exerciser! Also, pick up a grip trainer if you don’t use dumbbells. See band exercise for training to keep your elbows in. (borrowed this one from the Russians)

Beginning Rings Workshop Outline
This ring workshop is focused on giving you the most gain for your efforts. Laid out for you here are several throwing and catching positions and techniques that can be mixed together to produce a great variety of patterns and tricks.

Basic throwing hand positions:

1. Standard Cascade / Straight hand position palms facing each other
2. Standard Reverse Cascade / Rings Flat to the audience and palms facing out
3. Inward Flats Cascade / Rings Flat to the audience, but palms turned inward facing yourself
4. Overhead Flats Reverse Cascade / Rings Flat to the audience and palms facing out and over head
5. Overhead Flats Cascade / Rings Flat to the audience and palms out  and upside down with elbows out
6. Overhead Cascade palms facing each other (ring throws off the little finger end of your hand)

Basic catching hand positions:

1. Catching in a standard cascade with palms facing each other
2. Catching with palms facing out at your sides
3. Catching with palms facing in at about shoulder width or closer
4. Catching overhead with palms facing out
5. Catching overhead with palms facing in (almost exclusively for the shower pattern)
6. Overhead palms facing each other

Mixing it up:

Reverse cascade throwing palms out and catching palms out puts you in position to flourish the rings, but reverse cascade throwing palms out and catching palms inward introduces a quick color change and a change in style.

Reverse cascade throwing palm out from one hand and catching overhead palm out in the other becomes a variation on the statue of liberty pattern. The overhead hand can throw from outside or inside the body.

Throw with one hand overhead and the other in a standard cascade. The lower hand throws up higher close to your opposite ear.

Flourish:

The ring that was just caught and not in the air or involved in an exchange is the one that can be given a little style or movement to add life to the pattern.

(For some jugglers, this may be the first time you’ve tried to do a move with the non-throwing hand in a pattern. It can feel a lot like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. Give it time, it can be frustrating but this skill will reward all your juggling.)

The simplest move it to spin the ring one time around all 4 fingers at once, pushing outward from the body in a normal cascade. It is possible to work your way down to 1 finger which is decidedly more difficult, but it appears to moves noticeably more smoothly.

The second easiest position to flourish from is with palms facing out as in a reverse cascade. Again, pushing outward around all 4 fingers is the safest move, but 1 finger has its own look to it that you may prefer. Mixing up inward and outward moving flourishes in both overhead and cascade patterns will give you a lot to work with.

Intermediate flourish: pancake or flutter the ring around the thumb. Push ring outward at a balance point so that it “rolls” around the thumb while your fingers get out of the way. Takes practice, but it’s worth it.

The World of 2 & 1:

Now that you’ve been introduced to all these throwing and catching positions and flourishes, a simple pattern such as throwing 2 rings on sync in a 4 ring pattern followed by 1 ring becomes more interesting (ss: (4,4)(4,0) )

1. Flourish the 2 rings in opposite directions
2. Throw the 1 ring reverse over the 2
3. Throw the 2 rings in a reverse palms out with a flourish
4. Throw 1 ring straight up palm out on one side, then the next throw a reverse cascade to the other side, catching with a flourish and repeating
5. 1 ring thrown overhead palm out in the center, with the 2 on the outside

… and so on and so on…

Shower:

The ring shower looks best if it’s performed with the rings flat to the audience. The catching hand naturally migrates slightly higher than the throwing hand making the exchange between them a little easier. Decide with trial and error if you prefer to be a palm out catcher or a palm in catcher here. It depends on which way makes the exchange between your hands feel most natural. The whole pattern is higher than with balls or clubs.

Ring on Ring Spin:

This may seem hard at first, but with a little practice and aim you’ll have a skill that can add a lot to your routine.  Henry’s rings and absolutes and pure ABS plastic rings spin best, airflights and other thin rings the least.  The faster it spins, the steadier it will be, and the easier it will be to transfer from ring to ring.  For best results, “snap” spin a ring into the air using lots of wrist for the most RPMs. The thrown ring should be perpendicular to the floor. The catching ring should be parallel to the floor and thus perpendicular to the spinning ring. The faster you spin the ring the more you can break this rule, even spin parallel to the floor and catching on top of another, an advanced move.

What looks best? Quick exchanges and passes around the body, arms and legs. Simply catching one ring on another is only interesting to the audience once, the second time pass between rings and mix it up.

Picking up Drops:

Easily the most awkward of the big 3 props to get off the ground, here are 3 tricks to making it look good, and easier on your back.

1. On carpet, pinch down one end so the opposite side sticks up, then slide your other toe under it, swing it back toward you then out and up to a pancake and back in your hand.
2. The wobble ring, watch a ring wobble to a stop and learn the timing of getting your toe under it at just the right point. With practice you’ll get a lot of drops this way.
3. Finally, pinch the 2 ends of a ring on the ground with the edge of your shoes so that you can flip one end over the other and on to one of your feet. This one is the hardest, but after a while you can do it without thinking.

4 Ring Pointers:

• Pinch your elbows to your sides.
• Energy for each toss comes down the forearm, past the wrist and out your fingertips. Thumbs point to the sky then the fingers as you release.
• Inside to outside circles, it’s not a free-for-all.
• The more you use your shoulders, the harder your working, bring them to a relaxed position and fight to keep those elbows from flaring out.
• Switch regularly from on-sync to off-sync throws to pinpoint problems.
• If you’re having trouble reaching 10 catches, practice getting to 8 and STOPPING there several times in a row. Isolate your issues, then go for those 10 catches.

OUCH!

Thin rings hurt your hands more than thick ones. Every millimeter makes a big difference.

Catching while your hand is moving up (banging the ring into your hand) hurts too. Work on cradling the ring as it comes down.

Band-aids are great for covering sensitive areas of your fingers.

Keep those nails trim, a bad break can split them. (Multivitamins keep your nails strong too!)

If Time Allows…

Rings fit nicely over your head for a reason! There are cool things you can do with even 3 rings that are simple to learn involving placing or catching rings around your neck and pulling them off.

Ah, the pancake, how do I love thee?

Wrap-up

Once you have a firm grasp of the basics and all the various ways you can handle throwing and catching rings it will be easier to add different elements to your collection. You will be more prepared for tricks like behind the back or other body throws, head rolls, pancakes and other unique throws.

Here’s what I have, the value is great considering the retail cost of clubs is around $35 each.

PX3 One Piece (Flo or pirouette molded):

Comes with the Passe Passe bag that holds 10 clubs.

This set consists of 10 PX3 One Piece Flo clubs (also called pirouette molded), 2 of each color. I used these one summer when they first came out before I got my hands on a set of the vegas style. Pick up all 10 + the bag/backpack for $120. (about half of the retail price)

PX3 Vegas: SOLD

These were heavily used but still in great shape. I’ve just bought a brand new set so I’m letting these go for $96 for all of them. That works out to $12 each, so you know that’s a steal. (about a third of the retail price)

Finally, good ‘ole Renegade 85’s:

Picture of the full set of Renegade 85s

Separated by the good condition ones (10 on the left)  and the heavily repaired/glued ones on the top

If you’re a renegade fan you know you need backup clubs, and lots of them. However, nobody else has such a wide variety of body colors and those wonderful foam knobs. I’m letting the renegades go for $120 for the entire set of 17. The reason its so cheap? I’m really only charging $12 each for the 10 good ones and throwing the 7 repaired ones in for good measure.

So there you have it. Probably the best deal on used props I’ve ever seen offered, really! I’ve been holding on to so many sets in the hopes of having extra props for juggling club meetings. However, it’s time now for me to let them go and make room for new stuff.

A word about splitting sets: I’m only willing to split up a set if you can find me a buyer for the leftovers. Sound like a deal?

Oh, and its first come, first served. Catch me at the fest, I’ll be the one in the superman shirt. 

Anyway, the big experiment is to see what kind of effect the P90X workout would have on my juggling. I have already been a part of my company’s “biggest loser” weight loss competition and finished first, so naturally my juggling skills have improved just from not having to move so much weight around! Oh, and yes, the competition was directed by a dietition, so none of us were on crazy liquid diets.

So, to begin, I have the set of 12 DVDs, my pull-up bar and my power blocks in the TV room and have completed the first 2 weeks of training. I’m very excited about this because I can feel the results right away, unlike with traditional weight lifting where I hope to see an effect on my juggling performance when my arms heal.

I’ll spare everyone a “before” picture. You all know what I look like.

At any rate, I’m in week 3 of 12 and today’s juggling practice was a win all over. 5 club double backcrosses, 9 catches back to a cascade several times. 9 ring runs in the 20’s several times. 7 clubs in the 20’s several times. A bonus 6 club fountain to backcrosses, score! Today felt great. Granted this is one of the only day’s I’ve had to postpone my morning P90X workout until the afternoon, so my arms and shoulders were fresh for juggling, but still it felt good to have some progress.

Every other morning the alarm rings at 5am, the only way I figured out how to fit it all in was to sleep less. Oh, and DVR everything because there’s no time for TV. I’m looking forward to week 4 where there’s no resistance training (rest week) and I can film some of this practice.

Until next time…

I’ve been juggling 7 balls for 11 years now and developed some techniques for breaking past some of the barriers. I was stuck at a best of around 50 catches for the first 6 years before I really looked around and experimented with different ways of practicing. Now I have runs past 1 minute long (300+ catches) and am almost ready to push that to the next level. In these last few years I’ve found out a few things about 7 balls that other jugglers might benefit from. I hope these insights offer you some help and encouragement.

The Beginning

Before looking at learning to juggle 7 balls make sure you feel comfortable with 5. By comfortable I mean that you’re really itching to push yourself farther. If you need a number of catches as a goal to gage I would have to say that 50 catches with 5 balls of any size should be no problem to you. Now you are going to need 7 balls that you feel comfortable with. They should be small enough that one hand can hold 4 in one hand and have complete control of releasing them one at a time, but large and heavy enough so that you have better control. I use 3 different kinds of balls. First, I use small, round and tightly packed beanbags. (2.1″ diameter) I used these to learn 7 because they allow more margin for error as they require less space in the pattern. Also, I can hold 4 very comfortably in one hand so the start in more controlled. Second, I have a set of street hockey balls filled with plastic bean-bag fill. These are for performing and for developing a solid pattern with less error correction. I’ll explain that later on in this page. Third and finally, I have a set of street hockey balls filled with heavy sand. I use these to build up endurance and give me longer, more solid runs with the other balls. Building this set is the best thing I ever did for my 7 ball juggling!

I’ve found that most jugglers who learn 7 on there own, figure out that the jump from 5 to 7 is very much like the jump from 3 to 5. Naturally, with 7 balls you need to throw the 5 up high enough to fit two more throws underneath, just as when juggling 5 you need to throw 3 up just high enough to fit two more throws under it. However, banging away at 7 balls on your own can be very frustrating and time consuming. Now, you will have to practice a lot, and sometimes you may be frustrated, but you don’t have to beat your head against the wall getting nowhere for years. Simply throwing all 7 into the air until you ‘get it’ is not the most efficient use of you time. Here are some tricks that will develop your 7 ball skills without actually juggling 7 yet…

First, you’ll want to work on juggling 5 balls at the height of seven. Use slow, high tosses about 2 to 2.5 feet above your normal 5 ball pattern. I recommend using large balls for this so you can clearly see where you make errors. It should be very comfortable for you to go from a high pattern to a low one and back again. Next, juggle 5 balls and throw all 5 up about 2 feet higher so your hands are free for a moment and continue juggling as they come back down. This is nothing new and is probably what most jugglers figure out on their own anyway. I must stress how important it is to be very smooth and fluid with these 2 skills before moving on. Try spending a solid week just on this if you feel intimidated in any way. Most ceilings are not high enough to practice this standing up. You might try practicing on your knees, but that’s never as good or as much fun as juggling outside of in a gym. I have a 9 foot vaulted ceiling which is barely high enough. I often get a racquetball court, ideal conditions for up to 10 rings! Next we’ll juggle 4 balls in a 7 ball pattern, but we’ll do it the hard way! Start with 3 balls in your dominant hand and 1 in your subordinate hand. (I’ll just use Right and Left as I’m Right handed, switch them around if you’re a lefty) Throw all 3 balls from your right hand one at a time to your left. Each throw should be thrown at the height of seven balls, perhaps just a bit higher in a nice arch. Once the third ball is released it should be time to throw the fourth ball, out of the left hand. Immediately throw the three balls that follow right behind in a nice high arch back to the right hand. Once the pattern is going, one hand throws all 4 balls in a row and then the other hand immediately follows, throwing them back.

One of the first things you will notice is how high you have to throw to get all of the balls in the air before the other hand has to start throwing. For your hand speed, whatever it may be, this is the true height you need to start at when you begin working on all seven. Once you’ve established the correct height for yourself, go back to juggling 5 at this new level. It’s probably higher than you’ve been practicing before. Go back and forth between these two patterns and get comfortable with them.

Now let’s talk about juggling all seven. Many jugglers question if they are holding the balls right on the start, especially the starting hand that holds four. I hold the 4 differently for differ end size balls. For large balls, they form a pyramid, as I have at least one finger on 3 which form a triangle for the base and the fourth rests on top. With this hold I need to keep my hand level all the way through the first throw to maintain control. With smaller balls, all 4 fit in a diamond pattern. I’ve seen so many variations on this that it would be difficult to say which is best. Everyone’s hands are different, so we all come up with what works best for us. However you fit them in your hand, come up with a configuration that gives you control of each ball and allows you to smoothly release each throw.

The process of juggling 7 is very much like the process of juggling 5, accept the feel is very different. As you might guess, start by throwing all seven as you have been preparing to do, and don’t concern yourself with catching them just yet. Watch very carefully as to where they might be colliding or one hand is throwing higher than the other. These problems are just like learning 5 where one hand often throws too far outward or too low. This beginning process takes time to iron out. Take each level slowly, first 7 throws, then 9, then 11, etc. First concentrate on your throws, then think about making catches when your throws are within a reasonable reach. Build up slowly with your small set of balls until you get around 20 catches fairly regularly, perhaps getting a really good run in the 30’s once in a while. This is where most jugglers get stuck after hammering it out for a while and look around the juggling world for some insight. This is typically the first wall…

Intermediate

One or the best things I have found to improve any pattern is to practice with several sizes and weights of balls. It is especially good to work on that now, after you have a fairly good idea of what 7 balls is supposed to feel like. If you have only worked with small beanbags it will almost be like learning all over again with a larger ball but it’s worth it. A good large ball to work with is the large ultra-leather Fergie bag. It’s tightly packed, well weighted and slightly plyable. A cheap home made version would be a tennis ball or a street hockey ball filled with sand or plastic fill. At any rate, find something you could use similar to these examples.

Start your pattern about a foot higher now. Each throw will be just a tad slower. You want to find a height that gives you the ‘feel’ of juggling. It’s really just a hair faster than 5 balls when your not busy correcting every-other throw. Every now and then, attempt to juggle as low and fast as possible, then switch to an exaggerated height, then back to normal. An important note: It is better to practice 7 balls for 10 minutes, 6 times a day, than to practice for an hour straight on the same skill. Work on it in many short bursts. You are taking in so much new information that you need time to let it absorb. Then, once a week at least, practice for a long time, an hour or two on the same skill and you will notice how much you learned from all your previous short practice sessions.

Arm positions: Ideally, most of your body movement should be your wrists and your forearms. From your shoulder to your elbow needs to remain relatively still, and only move to pick up a stray throw. Your forearms will move is a small circular motion, hinged from your elbow, and throwing strength is determined from your wrists. Your hands stay cupped (with larger balls, more enclosed with smaller ones) and never completely enclose the ball.

Advanced

To really get long runs you want the pattern to feel almost automatic, where it becomes like five balls should be to you now. (When you get long runs without warming up, or when you’re ‘cold’ ) To get to this point I suggest several tricks that change the pattern to something different and then go back to the cascade.

First, juggle 7 balls, throw 5 balls up about 2.5-3 feet higher, as if in a 9 ball pattern, and go back into a 7 ball cascade. This may seem almost impossible the first few days that you attempt it, but it will teach you a wealth of information about how accurate your throws are. It will also give you a clear understanding of the proper timing for your cascade.

Next I would try a half shower and a full reverse cascade. Try starting with a cascade and throw 3 consecutive throws from the right side on the outside of the the incoming throws. They should travel over the top of the pattern and be timed so they land in the opposite hand at the right time without colliding with any other balls. Try to throw all three in a row and continue with a regular cascade. When you are confident with 3 consecutive throws, move up to 5, and then 7. Ideally, it is best to work on both sides throwing the outside throws so that a full reverse cascade will be easier and more solid. In my judgment, when you can throw 14 right-handed half-shower throws and go back into a cascade, you have really accomplished something and your 7 ball cascade will feel very natural to you.

The full reverse cascade is a bit harder. Every throw is thrown from the outside and lands on the inside of the pattern. Something that tens to happen is all the balls bunch together in the middle if not thrown perfectly. When your first start to learn this trick, try going into the pattern from a starting position, instead of from a cascade. When you get around 14 catches, (2 throws and catches with each ball in the pattern) then attempt to enter the reverse cascade from a regular cascade. One thing I do with large balls to avoid collisions is to enter the reverse cascade on a different plane. In other words, if you viewed the pattern from the side you would see a row of balls directly in front of me, and when I enter into the reverse I start a new row about 2 inches in front of the previous one. This is to avoid collisions as there is little room left to change patterns on the same plane. If you saw it from the front you would not notice any difference, whether I were on one plane or another.

There are quite a few more tricks with 7 balls but these three seem to be the best ones to help you develop your pattern. I hope this gives you some help and encouragement with your juggling. Remember, the best thing you can do is practice a lot and often!

-Scott

We got into a great conversation with Arsene, who waxed on about old Marcel Marceau stories. It even made him 5 minutes late for his own workshop, oops.  Sunday’s games were pretty light weight, there was a diablo toss-into-a-bucket contest, then the ever popular club gathering Sunday closer. Sunday was also a good day to break out the Yuri pole, and others came over to try to get in on the fun. Getting 2 bounces on that thing equals success.  It’s basically an inverted pendulum on crack. After a 10 minute warm up I finally got a controlled run. (After playing with that thing for years. Sad.)

Lots of people seemed to show up for the day’s workshops, including a beat-boxing one I understand. I chose to juggle hard-core as usual. Both Arsene and Vova gave me some advice and I needed to put it to good use while it was fresh in my mind. We had a nice 5 ball backcross breakout going, followed by a 5 club backcross breakout. That’s the beauty of a juggling festival, find someone who’s working on something that is interesting to you and go over and start swapping ideas. Everybody wins. Nobody joined me in head bouncing all weekend though. Its a lonely trick.

The best part about Tuesday after a full weekend juggling festival is that everything juggling is better. Sore, but better. Monday I just hit the weights to make up for the too-much-cardio weekend so today was the first full practice. Lots of tricks felt really solid all of a sudden. Sweet. 12 hours of practice in 3 days will do that to you.

There was one point where I was moving to a new spot for every run. Mind you I was practicing 10 rings and these kids kept finding there way under my feet. I didn’t want to introduce them to the sensation of ring-on-head just yet, even if they did sign the waver. I eventually found a sweet spot and landed 25 catches with 9 rings, and a fancy finish, so that made me happy. Happy enough to try 8 rings over head where I proceded to miss one and catch it with my face. Well, catch is too strong a word since it managed to split my lip. That was my signal that it was time to give up rings for the day.

Later on while nursing my injuries, Dan Holzman came over and completed our “old man corner”. I barely qualified in that group, but pushing 40 is apparently old enough to join.

Note: 2 hours of intense juggling makes you hungry enough to eat peanut butter, dispite the warning of others that it might be poisonous. I’m still here, so I guess that batch was OK.

After the gym it was time for Double Dave’s pizza then off to the public show. Dan MC-ed, so you know it was good. Actually this show rocked. Everything was good, great variety, great great talent. Rick is doing a write up for Juggle magazine so I’ll spare you the details. Highlights: Cate’s act as seen at IJA ‘08, Noah on globe and multipi rolla-bolas, Arsene Dupin was so good my kid could barely catch his breath from laughing, Bronkar Lee taking beat-boxing to a new level, Pezzo closing with style. There was even a dog act, what a show!

I’m now scarfing down a big breakfast to prepare for another knock-out day in the gym. I used my polar R5 watch to estimate the number of calories I burned yesterday. You ready for this? 2214! No wonder I slept like a baby. (and like an infant woke up starving) I burn about 500 on a 3 mile run, so a day of juggling festival is like running a half marathon.

I skimped on my warm up last night and just went to trying crazy stuff. 10 rings feels good, so I stopped after 3 tries and I’ll warm it up properly today. Noah was seen around the room on a globe juggling 5 clubs. That trick always looks crazy. Noah and Piqua Rick had really long props balanced on their heads, a 20 foot pole with a basket for catching balls on top, provided you can actually throw something that high. Also seen was the magic extend-o ball spinning fishing pole.

I promised someone a good 6 club backcrosses out of me, so I need to get busy today. Initially my fountain didn’t feel that good, but I did get a nice async into on-sync with a run after, so I think it’ll be there today.

Fire juggling was out at dusk by the clock tower. It looked like a lot of UTers came out to see. Most of the fire jugglers scared me, and not in a good way. Roy, however, was wisely wearing a helmet. It also made him look cool, as if he meant business. “My tricks are so awesome I need a helmet”. Well, Roy, you’re so awesome we all need shades. I saw someone warming up a flaming top, but I didn’t get to see it lit. What was cool was the first throw where all the extra fuel goes spraying out 15 feet in every direction. That’s entertainment!

I had to miss renegade to put my son to bed, but we’ll all be at the show so I can report on that tonight.