 |
The ideal surface for bouncing
is smooth, level and very hard (a paving slab
or wooden floor are my preferences).
Many people think that, given the same amount
of practice, bounce juggling is actually easier
to learn than toss juggling, so give it a
try! |
Two Methods of Bouncing
| FORCING:
|
With the forced bouncing,
you throw (force) the ball downward and it
goes as high as the release point or higher.
Force the ball towards the ground by keeping
your palms facing downwards. Force juggling
looks more impressive and faster! This method
is more likely to be used when learning 4
& 5 ball bouncing! |
| NON-FORCING
(Lift): |
Throw the ball slightly in the air in a small
arc (so that it is likely to land in front of
your opposite foot), and the balls bounce and
land in your upraised palms. Lift bouncing is
a lot slower and easier to learn than Forced
bouncing. |
First Trick - Reverse Cascade (lift bounce)
ONE BALL: Throw from one hand so that it
rises a few inches and hits the ground in front
of your opposite foot and bounces up into the upraised
palm of your other hand. Try lift bouncing one ball
in both directions for a while to get used to bounce
juggling before moving on to two balls.
TWO BALLS: Take a ball in each hand. Throw
the first one as above. When it hits the ground,
throw the ball from the other hand in exactly the
same fashion. Catch the first ball, catch the second
ball (Throw, throw, catch, catch)!
THREE BALLS: Take two balls in one hand
and one ball in the other. Start from the hand which
contains two balls by throwing the first ball and
letting it bounce in front of the opposite foot,
when this bounce happens, throw the second ball
which is in the opposite hand, and when it bounces,
throw the third ball, then just keep going!! Every
ball is thrown over the previous ball and they all
hit the ground in front of the opposite foot.
ONCE YOU HAVE MASTERED THIS, try force bouncing
using the above method, then you are ready for the
following tricks!
Tricks
| UNDER
LEG |
Put your leg through the
bouncing pattern so that one ball goes under
your leg. Throw down, raise your knee, the
ball bounces under your knee, and you straighten
your leg again. Learn this on both sides,
then try doing an under the leg throw with
every ball that is bounced! |
| HIGH
DROP TO CASCADE |
While juggling a cascade, throw the bounce
ball extra high, let it bounce and when it comes
back up past your hands, treat it as the first
throw in your cascade pattern. |
| KICK
BACK |
You can retrieve a dropped ball by stepping
on it as it bounces away from you, pulling your
foot in toward you at the same time. |
|
BOUNCE COLUMNS |
Drop one ball in the centre of your pattern,
then drop one from each hand on either side.
Then catch and drop the one in the centre, then
catch and drop the two on the outside! Simple
and easy! |
| BOUNCE
TWO IN ONE HAND |
One of my favourite tricks, is to walk around
while bouncing two balls in one hand, and letting
the balls bounce a little less each time until
you are having to bounce very quickly and near
to the ground! You can then work your way back
up to a slow pattern again. |
For a special bouncing effort, you
can put either forward or back spin on the ball
to make it behave erratically when it bounces off
the ground.
BACKSPIN: Toss forward with backspin to
make the ball bounce back to you. To add backspin,
you pull down with your thumb over the top of the
ball.
FORWARD SPIN: To add forward spin, pull
your hand out from underneath the ball as you throw
it. Toss over your shoulder with forward spin and
the ball might just bounce behind your back and
return over your shoulder into your pattern! Very
impressive!
What next?
If you have mastered all these tricks
and are ready to move on, then please let me know.
I will be happy to write more of the tricks that are
possible with bounce juggling. One good way to reinforce
what you have learned, is to teach others. When you
explain a trick, it sometimes helps to reinforce it
in your own mind (and you will therefore understand
the trick better!)
