Write a How to Guide

In this guide I will teach you the fundamentals of juggling. You will need 3 balls (you can use tennis balls but a Hacky Sack material will bounce less when you drop it) a wall.

1: Take a ball, stand in front of a wall (about an arm and half length away), feet hip’s width apart, arms shoulder width apart, bent at 90 degrees with palms facing up, pick a spot on the wall that’s above your line of sight, and stare at the spot.

2: Practice throwing the ball from one hand to the other (both directions) while staring at the spot on the wall. Throw the ball so that it goes over the spot and into your other hand. Start off slow; toss catch pause. 

3: Continue step two until you can do it in your sleep, with good form.

When I was first learning to juggle I tended to get frustrated practicing it because we were always doing the same thing over and over again and I was bored and I kept dropping the ball. I thought it was dumb that we couldn’t just move on to two balls but eventually I was able to do enough perfect passes to graduate to two balls. That’s when I realized how important it was to get down the basics. 

4: Pick up ball two, still staring at the spot on the wall, practice throwing one ball and when it reaches the peak (approximately where you’re staring) throw the second ball from the other hand. 

With two balls there’s so much more that goes wrong. The timing is off, they knock into each other and go flying in opposite directions while you try to grab them before they roll too far, you catch the first one and then miss the second one, etc. When I started learning to throw two balls the teacher would watch and say “now” when you were supposed to throw the second ball which helped a lot. The excruciating process starts again, but this time you know it works plus it’s even more exciting when you can finally do it well.

5: Step 3

6: Pick up a third ball and everything gets complicated. In the hand that is holding two balls, find the most comfortable way to hold both balls while having enough control to throw them separately. 

7: Practice throwing two balls as you did before but while holding the third ball.

8: Practice throwing the third ball when the second ball is at its peak. Stop after the third ball and focus on catching everything. Throw1 throw2 catch1 throw3 catch2 catch3 stop. 

9: Step 3

10: Throw all three balls but instead of stopping, throw the first ball (again) when the third ball is at its peak. 

11: Try throwing the second ball again (aka five catches), try throwing the third ball again (six catches), eventually it will feel smooth, you won’t have to think about all the little details, and you can finally stop staring at a wall.

When I finally got to three balls I was extremely excited until I got stuck at three catches. I would annoyingly automatically stop after the third catch but at some point after many failed attempts a switch flipped and I was able to get six catches! then ten! then 15! then 20! Now my highest counted number of catches is 143. Whenever my form gets messy I drop down to one ball and focus back on the basics. It’s important to drill in good form because that is what keeps your throws clean and consistent. 

12: Don’t give up! It’s a lot of fun! 

Pro Tip: If you’re getting frustrated that the balls bounce/roll far away everytime you drop them you can practice standing in front of a bed so the balls just land on the bed instead.