Hi folks,

Got this from a friend of mine. This guy is amazing!!! Turn on your speakers.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776181634656145640

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

Do you think he's a Beatles fan?

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

The guy is good. I'm a half-fast juggler myself and it would take me years and a serious focus to approach him. A lot of people seem to think that numbers is where it's at -- always wanting to do more objects, or the audience always asking for more. I'm glad to see someone show how three is plenty. WC Fields did some pretty incredible tricks with 3 balls -- I think his movie, "The Old Fashioned Way" had some of his tricks. You probably know that's how he got his start in show biz.

This fellow's tricks were not easy -- doing 3 in one hand is way tough -- I tried to get that down for a long time -- best I could do was about 5 to 10 throws before dropping one or all. If you make one bad throw, two will come down at the same time and it's over, or else you use the other hand and do one of those catching two balls at once.

I urge anyone to try it -- took me about 2 weeks to get it somewhat down, ever since then, I swear, I frequently catch things before they hit the ground -- like something you drop in the kitchen, glass or a cup.

Teach your kids -- some studies indicate beneficial improvement of mental capacities from it.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Thanks for the link. The kids will love it. I'm sure they'll be out there trying to do it with their tennis balls all night. (Hope cmac is right)

The rest of us here are just going with the one word: WOW !

Good entertainment for sure.
Thanks again.

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1980 300D - Veggie Burner !

I learned on tennis balls and they're better than nothing. Not that good for juggling though. You have to chase them, and the fuzz dries your hand making them tougher to catch. Bean bags are the best -- they don't bounce, and what would have been a missed catch with a ball will often be a catch with a bag, cause two fingers can pinch it in enough to get a purchase. A ball, OTOH, would just go squirting away. If one is going to use an actual ball, lacrosse balls are recommended. Firm rubber, good size and weight.

Flying Clipper Alt. Sports makes really good juggling bags. The proprietor is a hacky sack champion (they all call it footbag) and has a store in Eugene, OR devoted to juggling and footbag.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

so cool!

i'd like to see him doing that in front of an orchestra ...

LaCrosse balls are great if you are doing 4 or more balls. They bounce well. So you can have 2 in the air and 2 bouncing. I never got to 5.

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Thank You!
Fred
2009 ML350
2004 SL600
2004 SL500
1996 SL600
2002 SLK32
2005 CLK320 cabrio
2003 ML350
1997 C280 Sport

Amazing! And a reminder to me that not all of The Beatles' music is over-rated.

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."

I never got the bouncing thing going -- didn't spend that much time on it.

Never got to 5 either. It's a whole 'nuther plateau, one not easily accessed.

There used to be a guy who would practice doing 7 in Red Square at the U of Wash (big red brick courtyard between the two main libraries). He could string together, I'm guessing, 20 or 30 throws and catches before everything crashed to earth. He HAD to use beanbags. With 7 balls, oh my God, he'd be chasing those things forever. I used to think the perfect place to practice with balls would be a raquet-ball court.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I would love to do some juggling to build hand eye, should help with martial arts I guess.

What's the best way to get started?

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

I really think it does help -- hand to eye coordination, that is. The important thing to master is consistant throws. A lot of beginners get to where they can half-way do it but they keep throwing the balls out in front of them. Since you release a ball just before you catch the one coming to your hand, if you're lunging forward to catch the one you threw out too far, that throw is going to have a lot of forward momentum on it, and the whole thing falls apart.

A good way to practice good throws is to do 2 in a circle. You'll want to do it both ways, but start with your right hand throwing a ball in a trajectory that will top out at roughly the top of your head. You want it parallel to your body, and aimed to fall right where your other hand is. When the ball is at the top of its arc, throw the other ball, the one in your left hand, sideways and catch it with your right hand (what else? ).

Many people try to throw both balls at the same time in this exercise. That's useful for future embellishment, but for now, it's better practice throwing them opposite each other in the cycle. Switch hands and do it both ways. This technique can be expanded to 3 in a cirle which is a nifty little trick as well.

To do the standard style, sometimes called the cascade weave, just visualize that each ball is going to be thrown under the one coming to that hand. For best fluidity, you throw when the one coming to the hand is at the top of the cycle. You can buy time in the beginning by waiting until each ball is almost down to the catch hand to throw. This looks more jerky, but you can smooth it out as you get better. The upward motion of the hand throwing will take it right into the one coming down. There's always a ball coming to one side or the other. You've got to get rid of the ball in your hand so you can catch the one coming to it. Pretty easy when you think of it that way.

The fellow in the video starts out with the reverse cascade, in which you throw each ball over the one coming to the hand. It's a bit tougher than the standard, but not too much. Some of the tricks he did are not real tough, but many were. Stringing all that together w/o a single drop is amazing. A bunch of times he came at the ball with his fingers pointing down -- called clawing -- where you sort of snatch the ball. Aim that just a bit wrong and you slap the ball across the room.

I'm telling you -- a little bit of practice every day and you can do it in a couple of weeks or so. Once the urge bites you, you'll have no trouble finding the time to practice.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Open straight razors.

Here's an article my mom sent me a while back, about the possible benefits of juggling:

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

That was the coolest juggling exhibition I'd ever seen ... then I came across this;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6283096511750618839

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."

That was awesome! I can't juggle worth diddly squat. Maybe one of those klutz books will help. The act is great. The music makes it 10x as great!

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman