Off The Head Juggling Trick

Video Transcript

"EMIL LAMPRECHT: The next trick I'm going to show you is a kind of a combination between a Body Throw, a Pattern Stall, and just something funny to show the audience. I call it Off the Head. It may have another name but it certainly doesn't have a siteswap application since it's just a regular pattern. The trick just with one ball may not look very interesting because it's just this, but in pattern it can look quite amusing. Now, the important elements of this trick are these: you have to throw the throw before the Off the Head stall high enough for your hands to do that motion in a controlled way. Usually, when learning this trick people do one of two things: hit themselves in the face or throw the ball clean over their head and land somewhere ten feet behind them. You want your hand to be controlled travelling to your head. So, I'm going to do the throw, a high throw with my left hand to accommodate that speed and place it on my head. Now, because I'm looking up at the high throw, I even have an elongated stall. I've smashed the bean bag against my head so that it stays there. This gives an even more interesting effect. So when you start getting it down so you can do it constantly, your head bobbing controls the speed of the pattern, which is pretty cool. Now you want to be able to do this on both sides. One other problem that you'll have is that when you speed up, like I did, your fingers will tend to flick back and forth. You want to make sure you're controlled enough traveling to and from your head that your catch is complete and your placement is complete. It takes some time and determination, as does all juggling tricks, but it's a lot of fun for audiences and can be a lot fun for the juggler, too."