ContactJuggling.org

“I Just Got A Ball, Now What???” By Dizz

1. Get a ball. It should be between 2 ¾ inch to 4 inches wide. (70mm – 100mm) It should be smooth, even weighted (not filled), and round. (no eggs here, but oranges are acceptable)
2. Hold it… get used to it on the palm of your hand. Open your hand up flat and let it sit there.
3. Hold it on the BACK of the hand. Make a “cradle”: spread your fingers out wide and dip the middle finger to give it a place to sit. The fingers should be hyperextended to kind of make a bowl on the back of your hand. There is another way, which works as well. Make a V between the index and middle finger. Get used to it there. Walk around, move from side to side and up and down. Do all this with the other hand as well.
4. Everything you do, learn it on both hands.
5. Transfer the ball from one hand to the other.. Gently roll the ball between your hands. Back of the hand to back of the other hand, front to front, side to side, back to front, etc. Don’t be sloppy. Try to keep your hand relatively flat, while still in control of the ball. You control the inertia, it doesn’t control you. Tilt your hand and move your fingers as necessary to get it to go where you want.
6. Another exercise… palm circles. Put the ball on your palm…. At the base of the fingers. From pinky to thumb, dip each finger down to move it in the proper direction. This will effectively roll the ball to the thumb. As each finger goes down, the one behind it goes up… like a wave. Then go the other way. So far, this is not a circle. To make a circle, give the ball a little push and rotate your wrist as needed to go from thumb to pinky going around the heel of the palm….. and then the other way.
7. Both hands, both directions.
8. Smile, take a break. Drops are another step to learning and are inevitable. These movements are not natural to you yet. Go back and try again once you are ready.
9. There are different families of moves.
a. Butterflies – rolling the ball from the back of the hand to the front and back again.
b. Isolations – making the ball appear to be stationary in space, while you move around it to create the illusion.
c. Body rolls – Rolling the ball anywhere on the body, including arms, back, check, legs.
d. Stalls – holding the ball in a single location without moving. Can be placed or rolled into a stall point.
e. Transfers – Moving the ball from one part of the body to another. (hand to hand, hand to chest, etc.)


I just typed this up to add to the wiki. Any comments or suggested changes?

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You control the inertia, it doesn't control you.

Smoooooooooooooth, Dizz. Good job!

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Never underestimate the complexity of buttered toast

Added to the wiki, with links added for references: http://www.contactjuggling.org/wiki/ind ... ,_Now_What

Opinions?

Edited to drop the ???, which made weird characters in the address bar.

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You control the inertia, it doesn't control you.

sorry for asking for help on an older thread, but while waiting for my first ball to come in im practising cradles with a tennis ball. Im right handed, so i am practising almost completely with my left hand. Should I do alot with my right hand too, or will it come more naturally to that?

Practice both hands, both directions. Amount of time you spend with each should depend on your skill and judgement. If your bad hand is frustrating you, practice more on it, but in smaller time increments. It's a slow learner and needs extra tutoring and not too much at once!

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You control the inertia, it doesn't control you.

Dizz nailed it. Though drop the tennis ball and find yourself an orange.. It will treat you a lot better. Tennis balls are far too small and light.

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Never underestimate the complexity of buttered toast

Plus they just don't taste as good as oranges do...

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Help! The law of gravity has been repealed!
What doesn't kill you makes you harder to insure.