🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi fellow jugglers,
  I've noticed recent threads on club juggling, and I can keep quiet
no longer :-)

First : Clubs & me : I first juggled clubs ('juggled' meaning 6 throws)
about a month ago, and bought my first set two weeks ago. I got Beard
practice clubs, at $41 each, although I got $1 off each because I've
been such a regular customer at the place I got them from :-)
I'm now spending about an hour a day juggling them, and improving
rapidly.

This ties in with the 'sore hands' thread - these clubs have
_wonderful_ handles. I juggled a few sets of clubs belonging
to various juggling friends of mine, and these are easily the
most 'hand-friendly' handles. Of course, I still got a few bruises
on the wrist while learning the _right_ way to throw & catch clubs,
and a few bruises elsewhere from practising in my bedroom, facing
a wall. 

First hint : The best place to practice _ball_ juggling (that I've found)
is standing in front of a bed, pushed up against a wall. It avoids
a lot of the bending down & picking up balls, and the chasing after
balls when you make a wild forward throw (especially while practising
5 or more).
On the other hand, this is _not_ the best place for club juggling,
because they tend to bounce when hitting something. So far, I've
had rebounds off the bed, the wall, and even the ceiling, hitting
me everywhere from head to shins. So, be warned - juggle clubs
in a clear space at least, outdoors if possible. (There's a beach
which is (literally) a stone's throw from my house - I think I'll
be spending a lot of time there over this summer).

Second : My thoughts on how to start juggling clubs. This took me
a while, mainly because I only got occasional grabs of other people's
clubs at juggling practise sessions (Plug : here in Adelaide, a group
of jugglers meet every Monday night - e-mail me if you're an
Adelaide juggler, and want to join in, and see lots of people juggling
5 balls effortlessly, and one who does 7 (and is working on 9 !),
and all sorts of club passing, and sometimes even Combat). I used
to approach the clubs the way I did with balls : throw one back and
forth between the hands, then start with one in each hand, and swap
them. The problem (for me) came with trying to move up to 3 of them -
they just _never_ did what I wanted them to do. What I _think_ would
be a better way to start off, is to stay with one club for longer,
and spend some time on experimenting with various heights and numbers
of spins - singles, doubles and triples at least. You really need
a feel for this _before_ you start trying to throw 3 clubs around,
I think. Also, get used to starting with 2 in one hand, and getting
the right throws across to the other hand.

Finally, I'd be interested in hearing what prices are for Beard clubs
elsewhere in the world. The prices locally are :
Beach  $19 each
Practise  $41 each
Euro  $45
Spotlight $46

(I think I have the names right). All prices in Australian dollars,
currently $AUS 1 = $US 0.68, and falling :-( (and about 0.44 pounds
Sterling, for those in England/UK)
I was surprised seeing prices of $8-12 mentioned in earlier articles,
but once you apply exchange rates, and allow for freight costs and
different qualities of clubs, club prices here may not be all
that expensive ... 


So, that's my $0.05 worth (for now :-)

-- 
David T Cook   e-mail: dcook@spam.adelaide.edu.au   Phone: +61 8 228 5709
Assistant Computer Manager, Stats, Pure and Applied Maths, Adelaide Uni.
"Behind the lines, a face that glimmers. Still looking for a face that shines."
       - Heartland, The Sisters of Mercy