Jugglingworld News No.5 -
Cool and Simple Ways to use Juggling Props
February 2007
Hello to all my latest subscribers,
and many apologies to all subscribers as I have
not sent out a newsletter since August 2006! I hope
that the main article gets you thinking, and I will
try and send another newsletter out at Easter time!
MAIN ARTICLE - Cool and Simple Ways to use Juggling
Props
At the European Juggling Convention
2006 in Ireland, I ran a workshop about different
ways for beginners to use all your juggling props.
Because most people learn to juggle with scarfs
or balls, any rings or juggling clubs you happen
to carry around with you can remain largely unused
in your workshop kit. These cool and simple tricks
are mainly aimed at children and beginners, please
enjoy!
SCARFS
Scarf Tig is a great
warm up activity. Each participant tucks
the top of a scarf into their trousers,
and they then chase each other round the
room trying to grab each others scarfs while
protecting their own. Endless variations
and rules can be added depending on age
and size of group.
Scarf exercises. Another
warm up exercise! Ask children to start
by throwing one scarf up in the air as high
as they can and catching it. Tell them that
they can throw it twice as high if they
jump and release it. Now ask the children
to pass or throw the scarf under their legs,
and then behind their back and in front
of their stomach. Now do this while turning
clockwise, then try anti clockwise.
Twirling. You need ideally
a devilstick handstick (or a plate spinning
stick) for each participant. Throw a scarf
in the air, and then twirl it with the stick,
keeping it off the ground. If one scarf
is too easy, then throw more than one in
the air!
Blow. Throw scarf up
in the air (trying to keep the scarf as
flat as possible rather than scrunched up),
then as it comes down, blow it back up into
the air.
Head Catch Throw. the
scarf up in the air (keeping it flat), take
a little step forward and catch the scarf
on your head. Can be combined with blow
trick above so that you throw it, blow it,
then head catch!
BALLS
Keepy uppys. With hackysacks,
teach a few tricks to keep the ball in the
air. Use the elbow, feet, knees, back of
hand, shoulder, head etc.
Flick up – Teach
how to flick the ball up over your head
and catch it!
Balls into hat. When
you are finished with your juggling balls
for the session, you can ask the participants
to (one at a time) throw the balls into
a hat or a box. If you work with little
children, then best to use a colourful hat,
and make sure you catch each ball, no matter
how badly it is thrown!
RINGS
Returning Ring. If you
apply as much backspin as possible when
you release a ring along the ground, it
will return to you. Do not throw the ring
too far along the ground or else it will
not have enough power to return!
Ring grinds. Throw a
ring in the air using backspin, and catch
it on a horizontal ring. You should be able
to grind the ring for at least a couple
of seconds, then toss the ring back in the
air and catch.
Fitting through a ring.
Only to be attempted with small children!
If a child clasps their hands in the air
above their head, then a ring can be passed
over their body and they can step out of
the ring.
Twirl the rings. A ring
can be placed on each arm and/or leg and
spun.
CLUBS
Club rolling. if you
have ever tried rolling a club on the ground,
you will notice that it will roll in a perfect
circle! You can find a few tricks on my
club
rolling tricks page to get you started!
Balancing. The secret
to balancing is to always watch the top
of the object as this tells you all you
need to know about the way the object is
likely to fall.
Fluorishing. using the
club like a majorette would use a baton!
COMBO
Scarf with a ball. Wrap
the ball in the scarf. Throw them up in
the air. If the ball separates from the
scarf, then you can catch the ball and then
do a head catch with the scarf. If the ball
stays with the scarf, then you can catch
and try again. You can also throw a scarf
in the air, and then hit it with a ball
from underneath, to give the scarf some
extra height!
Scarf and Rings. Tie
a scarf securely on to each ring, and you
now have a makeshift poi! Alternatively,
you have a choice of catching the ring or
scarf when you juggle!
Ball and Ring. Find
a partner. One person holds a ring like
a basketball hoop, and the other person
lobs the ball gently and tries to score
a basket. They can then swap over.
Ball and Ring. A game
of bowls, where you try to roll the ball
so that it lands in the ring.
Club and Ring. A game
of hoopla! Throw the ring over the club.
Please let me know how you get on
with these tricks and ideas, and if you have any
more ideas, then please let me know!
Juggling Store News
80 new products since
August 2006! Lots to tell you about...
DVDs
- A whole new selection of DVDs (including snakewater,
kuka pop juggling, trilobite, ReMaster, Ivan Pecel
Advanced Instructional DVD) to help you to learn
more about using your favourite props.
PUZZLES
- I now stock a wide selection of puzzles from Mad
Cow.
GAMES
- A new range of games, including... yes/no, who
is in the bag, chess for dummies, bananagrams, perudo,
squeeze blaster...
CHRISTIAN
RESOURCES - If you have never heard of Gospel
Juggling (or Gospel Magic, Puppetry, Balloon modelling,
Unicycling, skipping, lassoo etc) then have a look
at this new selection of books finally available
in the UK!
SPEED
STACKING CUPS - The new craze sweeping the UK.
If you have no idea what these excellent props are,
then click on the link above.
LUNASTIX
DEVILSTICKS - I have 3 versions of
this excellent product to sell. The Kids, Equinox
and Master Lunastix.
Juggling News
During 2006, I performed and
ran workshops over 100 times! I hope that
I can be just as busy this coming year!
The Boys Brigade asked me to submit
6 activity sheets for their BB Circus Skills Badge
programme which is due to be published in April
2007.
2007 is the Centenary Year for Scouts.
If you are in need of a juggler for your event,
then please get in touch! (please note that 26 May
is fully booked!)
Glow Juggling during the winter
months, I began using glow props, and have developed
some routines with them for indoor and outdoor events.
Glow props are much safer to use than fire props,
and from the feedback I have received, they can
be much more enjoyable too!
I took part in a parade in Oban at
CHRISTmas time (using my glow props and performing
just in front of the reindeer!). This was followed
by 3 of us jugglers doing a fire show in the main
square, then the CHRISTmas lights being switched
on. Afterwards, we got to meet First Minister
Jack McConnell who shook our hands and
told us what a wonderful job we had done!
MySpace and Bebo
I recently created a MySpace
web page and BeBo
web page. If you have a Bebo or MySpace page
and would like to link up, then please get in
touch!
More Online Games!
In my second
newsletter, I published a list of all the
online juggling games I could find. Since then,
I have found some more for you to enjoy.
then please forward it to other
people or send them to my mailing list page
and encourage them to sign up! Many thanks!
God bless
Steve Thomson
Professional Juggler and Retailer
****END OF NEWSLETTER****
How do I sign up
to the newsletter, and what happens next? If you would like to join this
mailing list, then you can type your name
and e-mail address into the form on the
left, and I will shortly send you a newsletter.
You can unsubscribe at any time (either
using the form below and ticking the unsubscribe
button, or using the unsubscribe link
on any of the newsletters).
DOUBLE OPT-IN: PLEASE
NOTE THAT WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER,
YOU WILL BE SENT AN E-MAIL
from Steve@jugglingworld.biz
to ask you to confim you want to subscribe.
You need to click the link in this "opt-in"
e-mail to be fully subscribed (and you
only have 7 days to click this link before
you would have to sign up again!) You
should then receive a welcome e-mail in
your inbox and be taken to a "welcome
to the mailing list" web page.
