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Trick throws are a way of turning basic juggling patterns into more difficult tricks, by changing the way you throw the objects. In some tricks, the objects are thrown from an unusual position and caught in the normal position.

  • Backcrosses: An object is thrown behind the back, and caught in front with the opposite hand after coming forward over the shoulder on the same side where it's caught.
  • Shoulder throws: An object is thrown behind the back, and caught in front with either hand after coming forward over the shoulder on the same side it's thrown from.
  • Under the arm throws: The arms are crossed, one on top of the other, and an object is thrown from the lower hand.
  • Under the leg throws: A leg is lifted up into the pattern, and an object is brought under the leg and and thrown from this position.
  • Body throws: A club is brought between the legs from front to back, going behind the back while both feet stay on the floor, thrown from this position, and caught in front with the opposite hand after coming forward over the shoulder on the same side where it's caught.
  • Back-to-front body throws (sometimes called "reverse body throws", though they're not actually time-reversed body throws - see blind catch below) are similar to normal body throws, but they go between the legs in the opposite direction. A club is brought behind the back, then goes between the legs from back to front while both feet stay on the floor, and is thrown from this position, and caught in front with the opposite hand.

When you do trick catches, the objects can be thrown from the normal position, but caught in an unusual position. These are usually time-reversed versions of trick throws.

  • Reverse backcrosses: An object is thrown from in front of the body and is caught behind the back in the opposite hand after going back over the shoulder on the same side it's thrown from.
  • Reverse shoulder throws (lazies): An object is thrown from in front of the body and is caught behind the back in either hand, after going back over the shoulder on the same side where it's caught.
  • Under the arm catches: The arms are crossed, one on top of the other, and an object is caught in the lower hand.
  • Under the leg catches: A leg is lifted up into the pattern, and one hand reaches under the leg and catches an object in this position.
  • Penguins: An object is caught with the arm extended down and twisted so that the hand faces out to the side with the palm up. This is similar to a reverse shoulder throw, but the catch isn't made behind the back.
  • Blind catch: A blind catch is roughly a time-reversed body throw. An object is thrown from in front of the body and goes back over the head, and the catching hand reaches between the legs from front to back and catches the object behind the back while both feet stay on the floor. Because this is so difficult, and requires the juggler to bend over to make the catch, blind catches are usually only done one at a time, rather than in a continuous pattern.

In some patterns the throws and the catches are made in unusual positions. You can throw and catch the objects in the same position, or throw them from one position and catch them in another position.

  • Reverse cascade or fountain: The objects are thrown on the outside of the pattern and caught on the inside, instead of being thrown on the inside and caught on the outside.
  • Halfshower: One hand throws on the outside and catches on the inside, while the other hand throws on the inside and catches on the outside.
  • Cross-armed juggling: One hand does every throw and every catch under the arm.
  • Overhead throws: In a full overhead pattern, all the throws and catches are made in the overhead position. In one-sided overhead throws, only the throws and catches from one side are made in the overhead position.
  • Behind the neck throws: In between throws in this pattern the torso twists slightly in the direction of the hand that will throw next, and then while that hand is in a position farther back than normal, it throws one object and catches another. Throwing and catching in this position and making the throws low enough makes the objects go behind the neck/head.
  • Contortion: Juggling with one or both arms wrapped around the back.
  • BBB (behind the back blind): A low pattern with the throws and catches all made behind the back, usually with the balls touching your back while they're in the air so you can tell where they are. It's also possible to do patterns where you can see the objects, with all the throws and catches made behind the back (behind the back looking). These patterns are done higher than BBB.
  • Froggy style juggling: All the throws and catches are done behind the back with both hands reaching between the legs, while keeping both feet on the floor.

You can change the path an object takes between being thrown and caught, without throwing or catching it in an unusual position, by making the object bounce off of something.

  • Lift bounce: Dropping a bouncing ball on the floor and lifting it back up to the height it was dropped from after catching it.
  • Force bounce: Throwing a ball down at the floor and catching it after it bounces back up.
  • Kicks: Between being thrown and caught, an object falls down below the level of the hands and is kicked back up ("bouncing" off the foot), in front of the body, on the side, or behind the back.
  • Knee bounce: An object falls down below the hands and you bounce it back up with your knee.
  • Elbow bounce: Hitting a falling ball back up with either the inside or the outside of the elbow.
  • Shoulder pads: A club is thrown so that it lands on the juggler's shoulder with the handle end facing back, and then it reverses its direction of rotation, comes back down, and is caught on the fat end, in the hand on the same side as the shoulder that it "bounced" off of.

In some toss juggling trick throws with rings and clubs, the throws and catches can made in the same position as in the basic pattern, but the objects are oriented or rotating differently.

  • Flat fronts: Outside throws done with the rings or clubs pointed out to the side, so the sides of the props are visible from the front.
  • Pancakes: A ring is thrown so it rotates visibly, with the top rotating toward the juggler like a club.
  • Flats, singles, doubles, triples, etc.: The rotation speed of clubs (or rings thrown as pancakes) can be varied to turn basic patterns into more difficult tricks, such as 3 club doubles, 5 club singles, and flats.
  • Reverse spins: Throwing clubs so that the top rotates away from the juggler.
  • Slapbacks: A club is thrown so that it rotates halfway around, and then hit on the shell so it rotates back the other way before it's caught.
  • Helicopters: Throwing clubs so that they rotate while staying horizontal.

See also[]

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