Warming Up by Steven Ragatz

Visualization and Juggling by Steven Ragatz

Numbers Training by Steven Ragatz

Throw height and rate by Steven Ragatz

The "explosive" tricks like pirouettes, flips, rolls, etc. done underneath a flash have similar techniques. For a three up pirouette, I count it in four. In my head, and sometimes out loud, I count 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, where the first three counts are throws, and the fourth is the turn. It is important to see the clubs go up before you start to execute the turn. If the turn is done correctly, it will take almost no time to execute. So, the issue is more about control than speed. Most of the time, troubles are caused by turning too soon, causing the last throw to be skewed.

Another way to think about it is to say to yourself, "See it - turn - See it again". You see all three clubs go up, you turn, and you see all three clubs in the air before you start catching.

As with any trick, if you can break it down into smaller, simpler parts, you can train those parts separately. Certainly, learn a good, fast, controlled pirouette first, keeping the feet and arms tight. Then, train the three club flash, imagining where the turn would be (on four!). After that, you can begin to combine the two skills.

Train the trick with one up, then two up, and finally, three up.

Some folk advise tossing and clapping hands in place of the turn. I never found that to be very helpful, as the trick doesn't involve and hand clapping. But, you might try it if you need to force the flash to be faster.

Try playing with the timing of the flash. I think it is best if you can flash the props up in the same rhythm as the pattern, rather than stalling one throw, and pushing them all up more quickly. If you do the latter, then they all come down in the wrong timing, and you have to recover right away to continue the pattern on the other side of the pirouette. So, if you flash seems slow, try increasing the rate of the base pattern before the flash. A fast paced cascade leading into the trick will help out allot.

Triples are most common, in either a cascade flash, or in a column flash.

Steven Ragatz