Work with three

I’ve done a bit of work with three balls in the past week or so in an attempt to use some of the increased hand speed and coordination from my work with four and five to broaden my skill set with a lower number.

I am fairly comfortable calling the work I’ve done a success. I’ve finally broken my mental block against learning the shower, and I seem to increase my catches with each attempt. I think if i can ever manage to get some real time invested in working with the pattern I will be able to nail it down pretty solidly and transition into juggling a box pattern with relative ease.

Time, yet again, is the critical element in the equation. My time spent juggling has really dropped off in the past month. A result of many factors, I hope that the shortage of juggling time is a passing problem. I have high hopes for the coming weeks, and I think that if i can just set aside an hour a day to juggle and an hour a day to unicyle i will be able to get back on track. 

The biggest deterrent has been a general lack of energy. I think, though, that starting off with a nice ride around town on the unicyle will help pep me up and get me more in the mood to do some serious juggling. 

I’ve also been working on backcrosses with three balls. This is a pretty intense little trick, i have to admit. In the time i’ve spent trying to learn it i’ve learned to make under the leg throws pretty easily. At this point, after about a week of working on it very half heartedly  (i managed about three good practice sessions) i can start with a behind the back throw 10 out of 10 tries, and i can actually pull one off mid-pattern at about a 3-for-10 rate. 

it seems like behind the back throws, under the leg throws, and under the arm throws are all pretty similar skills. Each trick just involves carrying a prop and throwing it from a new location. To give myself time to pull off the tricks i’m less familiar with, i’ve found that i can just make a high throw with one ball. 

As i continue to work on backcrosses the challenge will be to first achieve a level of constancy, and then try to do it without making such a high toss. The high toss makes the trick work, but it also makes the pattern look broken. 

I did a small bit of fun club juggling at my brother’s wedding. I really like mills mess with clubs, in case that has not been made clear so far. I can get a toss or two of doubles into it and then go back into a normal pattern now, so it is good to see things improving on that front. 

I don’t think i have even tried to work on five much since my last post. I’ve just felt drained and unmotivated whenever i try. 

I am very tired and don’t much feel like writing any more. Hopefully i will have some more productive news for the next post.