By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Beginners or experienced jugglers were all welcome to pop over to the Walpole Public Library (WPL) on Monday, July 29th to partake in the first class of a juggling workshop. Participants were able to either learn how to juggle or work on their existing skills.
Due to the excellent weather, attendees of high school age and/or older were able to gather on the patio right outside of the WPL. This was the first out of three classes that will be conducted over the next month.
Teaching these classes is Philip Czachorowski, although he could not make it to this first class due to a family emergency. Filling in for him was his wife Louis Czachorowski who was taught how to juggle by her husband. She assured all attendees that she was definitely qualified to help teach this first class and she was certainly correct!
As everyone formed a circle formation outside, Louis handed each person one juggling ball. To start out, all they had to do was throw the ball in the air and catch it. The objective of this was to get everyone comfortable with throwing the ball up and having it fall right back into their hands, both dominant and non-dominant. Louis explained that they should not reach for the ball and simply let gravity do all the work. She additionally pointed out that the ball should be thrown around eye level and arms should be located right around their waist when throwing up the ball.
Once attendees were secure with this motion, it was time to throw the ball from hand to hand. After working on this for a while, whenever anyone was comfortable enough to do so, they were ready to start using two balls. This became a little more tricky as attendees had to follow the pattern of throw, throw, catch, catch. It was all about getting both balls in the air at the same time, not switching a ball to the other hand to throw.
This took a little bit of practice and patience but everyone went at their own speed that felt right for them. For those feeling brave enough to take on three balls, they were encouraged to do so. Louis suggested starting each throw with their dominant hand since that would most likely feel more comfortable, especially with three balls.
Within the next two classes, attendees will continue to fine-tune their skills and hopefully move on to mastering the act of juggling. These classes will be on Monday, August 5th and Monday, August 12th at 6pm. In between those times, Louis mentioned to attendees that they were more than welcome to keep these balls and practice further at home.
For more information on this Juggling Workshop, please visit the WPL’s website at www.walpolelibrary.org.
