Anna JUGGLES Life: March 2017

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This week I continued to learn "The Shower", which is a new 3 ball juggling pattern. I already know how to do the regular 3 ball cascade and trying to learn this new pattern was a real struggle for me.

I discovered that there is definitely a reason why the 3 ball cascade is commonly known and preformed compared to other patterns. It is much, much, easier to learn and preform. I remember a couple weeks ago when I was just starting to learn to juggle, I picked up the motion and rhythm of the cascade very quickly. From then on out, the only way to improve was to keep practicing and try to juggle for longer each time.

http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/organics/papers/buhler/paper/html/node2.html

Other than the fact that both use 3 balls, a regular cascade and "The Shower" do not have many similarities. "The Shower" is a constant circular motion and your right and left hand throw the balls in different directions at the same time. That part is very hard to get down. It's kind of like trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same. Obviously, it's achievable and not too difficult, but persistently throw the ball upward with you right hand and sideways with your left hand has been a real challenge for me. In a cascade, the motion of your hand mirror each other, which is very easy to control.

The other difficulty about the new 3 ball pattern is the speed. The distance of the throw are much shorter and therefore much quicker than the 3 ball cascade, which has proven to be very hard to keep up with.

https://www.tenor.co/view/speed-cheetah-gif-5593962

From YouTube videos and the library of juggling, I've learning some great tips to help me with this. Starting with one ball to master a certain throw and then move to two and then to three has been very helpful. I've gotten the general motion of one cycle of "The Shower", but I am definitely nowhere close to being a pro.

They say that practice makes perfect, so that's just what I am going to do. I'm going to keep working on this skill to get better, but in the mean time I am going to start to learn 4 ball juggling.

I know you're probably thinking, "Anna, if you can't juggle a new 3 ball pattern, how are you going to do 4 balls???????".

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/confused-nick-young

I actually think 4 balls will be easier become it is a pattern I am familiar with. 4 ball juggling is a constant pattern, just like a regular cascade with an extra ball. If you read my "Really Rad Riddles and Research" blog post, I talked about the math behind the speed of 4 ball juggling vs. 3 ball juggling. So obviously the speed will be a problem, but I don't think the motion of the juggle will be too hard.

I really like to juggle. Well, the regular 3 ball cascade, anyway. It's just really fun. Sometimes if I'm just in the kitchen, I'll pick up three balls and just start to juggle (juggling after dinner in the kitchen is also a GREAT way to get out of cleaning up and doing the dishes FYI). I really enjoy juggling, but I have to admit, learning is unenjoyable. It's really frustrating not to be able to get the motion of "The Shower" down. I really want to be able to do it though, so I'm not going to let the frustration of learning overwhelm my desire to acquire the skill. #trusttheprocess

http://www.opencourt-basketball.com/joel-embiid-says-the-76ers-have-a-chance-of-reaching-the-playoffs/

Hope you're all having a wonderful and juggled-filled day!!
Pce out

Anna :)

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The Give and Take Jugglers is an entertainment juggling group who does performances in Philadelphia as well as school assemblies to showcase how a fun yet simple activity can promote a wealth of happiness.

https://www.jugglers.com/

I reached out to the juggling groups in hopes to discuss their juggling experiences! They were extremely nice over emailed and two of the members responded with detailed, big-picture answers to my questions, which is exactly what I was looking for. Their names are Alison Wattman and Dave Gilles.

When I asked Alison about the skills needed to juggle, she responded, "Hand eye coordination and lots of patience. Persistence: a willingness to fail over and over and over until you get it right." I have been described as an annoyingly persistent person on multiple occasions, so hearing the importance of a skills I acquire in juggling was relieving. I am usually a very encouraged and passionate person and have found that that's the best way to achieve my goals. I'm really excited to further explore the challenges juggling presents! Alison writes, "Other than that, juggling helped me practice persistence, gave me confidence, and taught me about "letting go" and not judging yourself. When you fail in front of an audience, you can either freak out and obsess over it, as I used to the first year of performing professionally, or you can learn how to move on gracefully and "let it go". That was a hard one to learn, and truthfully I'm still in the process of fully embodying that one".

Alison also told me about how juggling has contributed to her community. Not only is it her career, she also mentions how she has made many close friends from juggling. Juggling, or other similar interests, create a sense of community that can unite people. I think she brings up a really interesting point!

Dave Gilles also makes a really interesting point about juggling' contribution to society. He writes, "Come to think of it juggling can be annoying too if it's presented like "look what I can do and you can't." And for some reason jugglers seem to like puns, which some people find annoying. We in Give and Take have always approached it as, "this is really fun and do you want to learn?" So is it good for society? I guess it is in the sense of sharing something fun with others, and discovering the joy of working hard at something and finally getting it." Both Alison and Dave agree that juggling brings people together.

And come to think of it, I have found the same thing. Learning how to juggle has already brought me closer to my water polo coach, Greg, because he was one of the reasons why I decided to learn. It has also be proven to be a fun activity to showcase when hanging out with my friends. They get to laugh at me and then I get to teach them how to juggle when they get over how silly I look. The feeling of being able to share what you have learned with others and have them be excited as well is indescribable. I am so happy that juggling has opened such opportunities for myself and my community.

So all in all, emailing and hearing back from experienced jugglers will not only help my skill and knowledge, but it also made me aware of the world around me. Small and simple activities, such as juggling, can make such a huge impact on your community.

So. You think you can juggle? I think you can too. We all can, and we all can live happier lives because of that.

Pce out and I'll see you soon to discuss my progress with "the Shower" (yikes)

http://giphy.com/gifs/vulture-kanye-west-yikes-uncomfortable-XSmpUwI0Z2KHu

Juggle it up!!

Anna

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This week I started to learn "The Shower", which is a new type of 3 ball juggling. For those of you who are new to my blogs, I've mastered the regular 3 ball cascade and plan on learning two more 3 ball juggling patterns before moving onto 4 ball juggling.

Click here to see a video that briefly explains the pattern!

3 ball juggling wasn't too complicated to learn and I had a lot of fun doing so! It took me about a week to get the motions down. Here is a video of the longest I've juggled for:

I used the Library of Juggling to learn the new juggling pattern. The website provides animations and explanations on the patterns, which makes it easy to follow yet hard to keep up with. I chose the "The Shower" pattern to learn because the website listed a regular three ball cascade as a prerequisite, so I thought it would be very fitting to learn.

libraryofjuggling.com

I began to learn the pattern the same way I learned 3 ball cascade: plastic bags. Who knew such lake-polluting, earth-destroying, global-warming-creating bags could prove to be so helpful? I'm really happy about this discovery because of how much improvement I've made because of this! I talk more about my use of plastic bags in my juggling process in my last bonus post, so go check that out!! Learning "The Shower" was definitely more difficult than learning a regular cascade because it is a completely different and more complicated movement. In a regular 3 ball cascade, your hands and arms are kinda just chillin' there waiting to throw and catch the ball. But in "The Shower" it's a constant movement of spazziness.

Needless to say, I am not very good at "The Shower" thus far. I can't totally do it regardless of hardworking attempts this week. I've used the Library of Juggling and YouTube videos for learning guides, which have been very helpful, but I still can't get it down!

Part of my plan in the beginning of the project was to learn two new 3 ball juggling patterns, but I believe it's in my best interest for future juggling skills to spend more time mastering "The Shower", rather than half mastering it and half mastering another skill. In the wise words of Ron Swanson…

https://www.tenor.co/view/ronswanson-nickofferman-wholeass-halfass-neverhalfass-gif-3565471

So, this upcoming week I will be continuing my learning progress with "The Shower". I plan to practice the skills more and improve my coordination, since that seems to be my major problem.

In addition to learning "The Shower" this week, I also heard back from some jugglers that I reached out to a few weeks ago.

The first juggler I heard back from was Dave Landowne from the International Jugglers Association. He told me he was a juggler in addition to the webmaster of the IJA site, and he emailed me as a representative juggler. I asked him about why/how he learned to juggling and the skills needed and acquired from juggling.

jugglers.org

David Landowne explained that he was compelled to learn juggling after seeing an impressive yet basic juggling act at his local community theater. He said he taught himself under an apple tree in one afternoon, which I thought was a really unique anecdote.

Besides from the ability to throw and catch a ball, David says "The other skill is patience with yourself". He explains that you, the juggler, are always in control of the ball. When mistakes are made, jugglers get easily frustrated. You have the power to change the direction or timing of a throw/catch, so learning to be patient with yourself and your developing skill is very important. David says learning patience is a skill that has contributed to his everyday life, as well as being able to catch things that accidentally fall off the table. Haha.

http://www.collegehumor.com/post/6987398/15-cats-knocking-things-off-of-tables-until-the-end-of-time

David also advised me to show my skills to a juggler. This will

1. eliminate any embarrassment or performance anxiety

and 2. allow me to ask and receive advice on my specific juggle

David Landowne's response was extremely helpful, valued, and greatly appreciated!! I decided to reach out to an actual group of jugglers in Philly, called the "Give and Take Jugglers"!

Stay tuned for a bonus blog about what Alison Wattman and Dave Gilles from the "Give and Take Jugglers" had to say about their experiences!

Thanks for reading and I'll ttyl!!

Chao!!

Anna :)

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After my research, I immediately picked up three tennis balls in attempt to juggle. I also immediately failed. I've seen juggling before, and I thought I might as well try to juggle to asses my skill before-hand. Without knowing the correct hand motions and coordination skills, I basically just threw the 3 balls in the air with failed attempts to catch them and throw them up again.

In order to improve my juggling skills (could they even be considered skills though??), I searched YouTube for "How to Juggle". Surprisingly, the first result was by Rachel Ballinger, a YouTuber I am familiar with and watch regularly. After watching her easy-to-understand and entertaining video (click here to see her video), I gathered some very important tips for learning how to juggle.

Start with one ball

In the video, Rachel explains how most people want to just start with 3 balls right away (can she just @ me already??). The key to an easy juggling experience, however, is to start with one ball and throw it back and forth in an arc motion. After you feel comfortable with this motion, you can incorporate another ball by throwing one ball from right to left and another from left to right simultaneously. This creates a smooth learning process

Look at the arc

Always focus on the arc of the juggle cycle. Rachel explains how it is physically impossible to focus on all three ball at once, even though that's what most of us will probably want to do. You'll get too caught up focusing on one ball and then miss another. If you tilt your head and focus on the top of the arc, you'll be able to catch the balls without directly looking at them.

Talking about the arc of the ball's path makes me think of my Algebra 2 class and the vertex of a parabola with a negative a value. I think it would be so cool to figure out the parabola of my own juggling cycles. Would that be something you would all be interesting in reading about too?

Go against the wall

It is a natural human tendency to throw the balls that you juggle in away from you. It's hard to keep the balls in front of when you're constantly throwing them and resisting the urge to throw forward. When most people start out juggling, they end up running around the room to catch the balls that are being thrown forward. To get out of this habit, Rachel suggests that you juggle against a wall. This way, you can't move forward when you juggle… unless you want to run into a wall; then by all means, go ahead!!

I decided to get started with my juggling. I tried to throw the balls in the way I just learned, but the balls moved too fast for me to process and control!! I needed something that would move slower through the air… something with more air friction… something less dense…

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?

I got three plastic bags to replace my balls. I started going through the motions of the juggling I had just learned with time to see all bags, where they were, and where they were going. Using plastic bags before I went onto real balls was a necessary step to have a smooth learning process.

After I mastered plastic bag juggling, I went to the balls. With two balls in my right hand and one in my left, I was able to throw one from my right hand and one from my left and catch it with the opposite hand. Still, only two of the three balls were being juggled. I was reluctant to throw the third ball in the air because I was so focused on catching the two balls. Finally, I just went for it and continued the cascade with a third throw.

I mastered the general motion of the cycle and from then on it was just practice. Practice against the wall, practice looking at the arc, practice throwing all three balls. The most surprising thing for me, however, was how tiring juggling is! I mean it really is a cardio workout (no it's not but just let me roll)! Every time you drop a ball you have to run across to the room to get it, just to throw it up and drop it again and run across the room again. You'd be surprised how out of breathe you'll get from an exciting stationary activity.

When I kept dropping the balls, I got very frustrated but still kept juggling. When I wasn’t showing any improvement, I wanted to see exactly how my hands were moving and why I kept dropping the balls. I propped my phone up in front of myself and videoed myself juggling on the "Slow Mo" feature on the camera. Despite the horrifying faces I made in the midst of juggling (LOL), I was able to see exact when and which hand placements limited my juggling. This was a very helpful tool that I plan to use when learning the rest of the types of juggling!

I already know someone is going to make a meme of my face at the end smh

At the end of the week, I had definitely completed my goal to master the basic mechanics of 3 ball juggling. However, I ran into some problems with my other goal, which was to be able to juggle 3 balls for 30 seconds straight. Before I knew how to juggle, I didn’t know much about how it worked and what was realistic. I've gotten pretty good at 3 ball juggling, and the longest I can juggle for is 15 seconds. I don't think I set my goals using the right measurement. I shouldn't have set my goals in units of time and instead in units of juggling cycles. I even reached out to my coach Greg, who has been juggling for months now, and he said that he was unable to juggle for 30 seconds straight. I'm obviously still going to work towards the goal of 30 seconds, but I am going to set a more apparent goal as well:

NEW ADDITONAL GOAL!!!!!

Be able to complete 10 juggling cycles of three ball juggling continuously

In the meantime, I will be learning how to juggle the "Chops" method. Click here to see exactly what it is.

Thanks for keeping up with my blog and I'll catch (get it, like in juggling you catch balls) ya later!!

Anna :)

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