JUGGLING TRICKS FOR BEGINNERS

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    Students should be able to juggle balls for 20 throws before attempting the tricks in this section.

    Whenever possible, have students BEGIN JUGGLING with the trick in question. In other words, if, a student wants to learn an under-the-leg throw, have her make the first toss with an under-the-leg throw, and then continue juggling. This is easier than attempting the trick in “mid-juggle”.

    Encourage students to track their progress. This is easy in juggling - have them count their throws!

1.  Bounce Start: Throw one ball very high, let it to bounce up, and then begin juggling when it comes down.

2. High Toss Start: Throw the first ball up quite high, WAIT, and then begin juggling when it comes down.

3. Under the Leg: Begin with one ball for this move. Practice throwing the ball under your leg and up to about head height. Do this with each hand - right hand throwing under the right leg, and left hand under left leg.

• Next, begin juggling three balls with an under-the-leg throw.
• Now with TWO BALLS, do an X with an under-the-leg throw in the following fashion: Throw the first ball up normally, and when it reaches its peak do an under-the-leg throw to complete the X. Do this with each hand.
• The final step is putting it all together! Challenge the student to learn to throw under the leg with each hand!

• When the two balls are at their peak, throw the third ball up in between them. The pattern is continuous from this point. The two outside balls always go up together, and the third ball is then thrown in between them.
• Teaching Cue: “Two up, one in the middle.”

 1.  Juggling Side by Side with a Partner: This skill can even be done by students who can't juggle yet! It can also be used to pair high and low skilled students for partner work.

• Partners stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their inside hands behind backs. The partner on the right uses his right hand, the one on the left uses her left. One partner has two juggling balls, the other has one. The partner with two juggling balls throws first. When that ball gets to the top, the other partner then throws their ball. Then try to keep going!

2. Large Ball Juggling: Two students face each other at a distance of 6-10 feet. One holds two playground-size balls, the other holds one. Using two-handed underhand throws, the students juggle the three balls together. In essence, one student is the right hand, the other is the left hand!

    This is a good skill for kids, because neither needs to be able to juggle three objects by themselves. Non-jugglers can learn large ball passing in a matter of minutes.
 

3. 6-Object Passing: Two jugglers who have very solid skills can learn to juggle together with balls, rings, or pins.