Page 4 May 1978
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If you are interested in gymnastics and juggling, here are a few juggling tricks that involve gymnastic stunts. These tricks can be done with balls or clubs, but I prefer to use clubs as they look much better and seem a little better suited to this type of trick.
In the forward roll you juggle three clubs, throw a quadruple (some people do it with a triple) ahead of you, do a forward roll, and continue juggling as the quadruple comes down.
For the backward roll throw one club very high (five or six spins) as you lean down to do the backward roll. Keep your eye on the club as long as possible. continue juggling as the club comes down. It is very important to throw the club at a slight backward angle so that it ends up where you will be as you finish the backward roll.
Front headspring. Place two clubs shoulder width apart on the ground in front of you with the handles pointed toward your feet. Throw the club you have in your hand high and slightly in front of you. Grab the two clubs on the floor as you do the headspring, and as your body comes back to the standing position, look for the club you threw coming down, and continue juggling. You must keep a very careful lookout for the thrown club or else it may hit you in the head (an especially painful occurrence with fiberglass clubs).
Back handspring or flip flop. This trick was shown to me by a young circus juggler who was part of a two man act which included doing a front flip over his partner while his partner was on one knee juggling three clubs (at the same circus a twelve year old boy juggled five clubs). I have not been able to do it as yet and hope one of you will have better luck.
Place two clubs on the ground in the area where your hands would land if you were to do a back handspring. Place the third club in between your ankles so that the fat part of the club is being held by your ankles and the handle is pointing forward (the two clubs on the ground should be in opposition to the one between the ankles). Do the back handspring throwing the one club straight up with your feet. Grab the two clubs from the ground right after you land on your feet, and as the club thrown with the feet comes down, continue juggling. If you could grab the two clubs off the ground as your hands hit the ground in the hand spring, that would give you more time, besides giving the trick style and beauty; but I believe it is much harder to do it that way. The most difficult part of the trick is being able to throw the one club straight up with your feet.
Running front flip. Run while juggling three clubs. Throw one club high (four or five spins) straight up as you are about to do the front flip. While you are landing, look for the thrown club and continue juggling as it comes down. When you throw the club straight up, it might feel as though you are throwing it backwards; however, it is actually moving forward at the same speed you are. The most difficult part of the trick is getting the timing between the throw and the flip. The two should be executed as close together as possible. Also, if you put too much concentration into the throw, your flip might come out terrible, and vice versa. Try to be conscious of both the flip and the throw.
Back flip. I have only been successful with this trick three times. To do it you should be able to do a standing back flip without tucking. Practice juggling three clubs throwing one super high until you can do it with the handle landing in your hand. When you feel you are ready, throw one club high and do a back flip, and as the club comes down continue juggling.
You may want to practice the back flip holding two clubs alone first. If you find that the club is hitting the ground before you have time to catch it, try throwing the club higher and with a slower turning speed.
Good luck, and remember that you should be able to do the gymnastic stunt alone before you attempt to do it while juggling.
Jim
Ridgley |