Juggle 3 Balls

When I ran cross country, our coach told us, Practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.

There was another quote, from Yoda, we often heard before our runs: Do or do not. There is no try.

The juggler Kit Summers put in some impressive practice sessions. In his book Juggling With Finesse he writes,

When I was in Hawaii with the remarkable juggler Barrett Felker we would practice in the wrestling gym at the college. Sometimes we would practice in the day, go home and have dinner, the back to the gym to practice some more. Please don’t tell them, but if the gym was locked we would climb in the window and then practice. Some nights we stayed until two in the morning.

He also gives some advice about being positive during practice sessions that I don’t understand. I’m a positive person in general, quite patient and tend to keep my emotions in check, but I could never handle drops in the way he suggests:

“When you drop while practicing (if you drop, that is!), do not say to yourself ‘Oh !@#$ I dropped’ but think of it more as ‘Oh good, I get to try again.’”

I gave my mom her first juggling lesson this morning. We couldn’t have spent much more than five minutes, and I’d say we’re still squarely in the This-Is-Impossible stage. That is to say, we’re right on track.
Continue reading →