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2torial #0418:
Learn2
Juggle (Three
Balls)
(Continued)
 Do
the "jug"
Ready to start juggling? You're going to
master the basic mechanism in this step, even
though you're still a few steps from tackling all
three balls. Let's move up to two for now.
What's "the basic mechanism"? It's what we noted
in the introduction as "the simple act of throwing
a ball in such a way as to leave your hand open to
catch another." Our term for this action is the
jug.
First, warm up by doing your arc-toss again of a
single ball from one hand to another. By now
you should have both throwing and catching pretty
well down: the tosses are all pretty consistent,
and you don't have to move much to catch them--and
when you do move, you're moving your arms and not
your whole body.
Now, do the same thing...only this time, hold a
ball in each hand. Hand One tosses a ball to
Hand Two--but oops, Hand Two is already occupied
with a ball. What does it do?
It gets rid of its current ball...by throwing it
in an arc that just happens to take it in the
vicinity of Hand One. That's a jug.
At about this point, it's natural for panic to
set in: When do I throw it? How do I keep the balls
from hitting? Relax.
You throw it when the first ball is at its
apogee--remember that second exercise you did with
snapping fingers?
Your balls won't collide, because you can judge
the arc of Ball One precisely. You simply toss Ball
Two in a slightly different arc, one that takes it
on a path to the inside of the other. You'll find
that only an incredibly slight inward tilt of the
wrist is all it takes to alter the arc.
In the beginning, don't even try to catch the
second ball. Just focus on how the second hand
clears itself by tossing what it currently holds.
 Step
5
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