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T0dd · Joined: 24 Sep 2024 Posts: 45 Location: Philadelphia

I have a few balls now: a 3" rubber Kong doggy ball, the lovely 4" blue acrylic ball I bought from starsower, and a 2.75" clear hybrid acrylic (or whatever you call it). I practice with all three, but now I have a Three Bears feeling about them. The 2.75" ball is too small and too light for my big hands. The 4" ball is nice but I don't think I'm good enough to control it yet. The doggy ball is also too light, and the texture isn't good, and my dog wants it bad. How does he know it's a doggy ball?

I think I want, for practice purposes, something acrylic or hybrid, that's about 3.5"--heavy enough to feel substantial in my hands, but a bit easier to control than the 4" ball for a while. I'll find something.

The moves--- I'm doing the catches and working into butterfly/windshield wipers. I have to fight the urge to bend my fingers, particularly going from cradle to palm. I think that's because I'm trying too soon not to have the ball be visibly airborne, so I'm instinctively tucking the fingers so it can roll over. But it doesn't look good that way. Keeping fingers straight, the ball is still visibly airborne, which is obviously a tossing move and not what I'm after either. But every so often I get a good one and the ball just grazes the fingertips. So I'm hoping my cerebellum is paying attention to these and it'll get better.

Back-to-back transfers--- These are improving, and don't feel as utterly alien as they did at first. But I have a long way to go to smooth them out.

Enigma--- The great thing about this move is I can and do practice it while sitting and watching TV, just checking peripherally that the ball isn't moving around much. And after practicing with the 2.75" ball, the 4" ball feels really anchored.

Walking palm isolation--- I probably shouldn't be working on so many different moves at the same time, but I just feel that this is a good one for a beginner.

Squeeze-ups, or whatever the hell they're called--- As somebody already pointed out on this forum or somewhere (I've been browsing around reading so much stuff I can't remember), this terms is misleading. When I figured out *not* to squeeze the ball up, the move started looking better.

That's about it for one week.
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Todd

Illumilatte · Joined: 13 Apr 2024 Posts: 468 Location: San Marcos, Texas

Sounds like a LOT for week one!

You might want to get a 4" stage ball. They are much lighter than acrylics...but it will have a much better texture than your doggy ball. You will get used to the weight of it, and since it's bigger than the 3" it will be easier to control.

I think you will get the hang of the 4" ball, it sounds like maybe you just need to build up the strength in your hands. Not implying you are weak or anything just hands aren't used to these kinds of things everyday.

If you have the money for it a 3.5" is probably a good thing , but if you order it online just add on a stage ball...they're usually pretty cheap...plus they aren't very destructive.
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Arnar · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2024 8:33 pm Post subject:

stage balls are basicly amazing
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Dizz · Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2024 1:11 am Post subject:

I think you should get a stage ball for working on muscle memory, and an acrylic for fine tuning. Especially since stages are a lot cheaper and don't scratch. It's 'sticky' to grip your skin, but will roll smoothly for almost everything except multiball. 3.5" or 4" would be good if you can do it, the larger the ball, the more impressive the trick. (visually easy to see) I have small hands and do well with a 2.75 or 3" ball.
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T0dd · Joined: 24 Sep 2024 Posts: 45 Location: Philadelphia

The verdict is clear. I should get a stage ball. Before going online, I might take a look downtown (Philly). There's a magic shop that also has juggling supplies, according to the yellow book. I've bought magic stuff there, so I'll give him a call.

Another question... Do you find that when you're starting to learn a new move, you feel like you're starting from square one, or does what you already know make it easier to learn new things?
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Todd

Royal · Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2024 1:40 pm Post subject:

Definitely what you know makes it easier.
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T0dd · Joined: 24 Sep 2024 Posts: 45 Location: Philadelphia

More impressions...

I practiced outside in a (secluded) grassy area with an acrylic today. That's a good thing to do, because in that setting I'm less worried about the ball flying into something. Consequently, I make bigger movements and get a better result. I think a lot of these movements have to start big and then get smaller as they become more controlled. Eventually my butterflies won't look like I'm directing traffic at an airport.

I hope.

I arbitrarily define one "set" as 10 butterflies with each hand, and 10 back-and-forth cradle-to-cradle transfers. Eventually I'll splice all that together into a single continuous repeating pattern, but that'll take a while. I then add 10 "walking isolation" moves. These look horrible and lumpy but I do them anyway.

Five sets= one session. I have to get at least one session per day, preferably more. I know it's not a huge commitment of time, but life has a way of intruding.

An interesting thing... I'm right-handed (no, that's not interesting). Although I'm less likely to drop the ball with my right hand, I seem to get more smooth rollovers with my left, when attempting these butterflies. My right hand seems more "athletic" and prone to toss the ball. But when I get the smooth rollovers with either hand, I'm very pleased with myself. It feels like I just did something impossible.

I'd like to work on palm circles, but I figure if I can't even make the walking isolation look good, I'm not ready for palm circles yet. I want to resist the temptation to learn a lot of moves half-assed.
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Todd

mcp · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2024 10:54 am Post subject:

big is great! Big = BETTER! The bigger the move, the harder people will think it is, and the further away it can be seen from! Double win!

Obviously that's just two pros for big moves, I'm sure there are others for 'small' movements too.

Moreover, "The harder people will think it is" is a small garden path sentence! Woot!

khan · Joined: 16 Dec 2024 Posts: 46 Location: San Francisco

Palm circles take a while to get good, so you might as well start now!

Different people learn differently though, if I had worked on only a couple of moves until I had them perfect before moving on, I think I would've gotten bored really quickly.

Drew · Joined: 29 Jun 2024 Posts: 989 Location: Bristol UK

Q: What's better than a stage ball?
A: A heavy stage ball: http://ministryofmanipulation.com/reviews/contact-balls-review/

cant_think_of_a_name · Joined: 25 Jul 2024 Posts: 97 Location: UK

sweet! I have that ball. And it is indeed super-sticky and therefore great for learning body rolls. I would recommend.

Loco Dantes · Joined: 27 Mar 2024 Posts: 546 Location: Buffalo NY

If your looking for girth and weight tho, Unless you can get a heavy stageball, Im not sure How much a regular one would help you. I would think the doggy toy would be heavier >_>
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T0dd · Joined: 24 Sep 2024 Posts: 45 Location: Philadelphia

I'm thinking that something like these guys, http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-VINTAGE-CROQUET-BALLS_W0QQitemZ300155566945QQihZ020QQcategoryZ79789QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem, with a few coats of polyurethane, would be pretty good. A little over 3", good weight (I think), no value. In fact, a coat of black paint, and then the polyurethane, might look pretty good.
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Todd

cant_think_of_a_name · Joined: 25 Jul 2024 Posts: 97 Location: UK

Or...go for the heavy stage ball that drew pointed out. As far as I can see, same price as a normal ball but better for what you're looking for. makes sense

T0dd · Joined: 24 Sep 2024 Posts: 45 Location: Philadelphia

Except....I don't care for the tacky surface.

But something cool just happened. A baby step. I was sitting watching House, attempting to do palm circles. I'm at the point where just getting the ball to roll in a circle, without isolating it, is a problem. It's amazing how the simplest-looking move can be so difficult to do. At any rate, by the end of House, the ball was moving in pretty good circles, without too much overt effort. I didn't try to isolate it; I just want to get the movement into my cerebellum. But it was nice to find that I was doing it, and possibly the fact that I was watching House and not paying too much attention to my hands helped. Oddly, my left hand caught on fast.
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Todd