Learn to Juggle on a Unicycle

By Chris Taylor

Before you start this lesson you should first be able to:

Juggle three balls while standing on the ground. (Click here for instructions)

Be able to idle on your unicycle (Click here for instructions)

At first you will likely have 3 problems:

You will have trouble staying in one place while idling.

Your arms will be swinging all over the place trying to balance on your unicycle.

Because of the first 2 problems your juggling pattern will become unstable.

In order to juggle on your unicycle you will need to overcome these 3 problems:

Problem 1: Practice idling until you can idle in a small area without making any violent movements with your upper body.
Problem 2: Practice idling with your arms folded. Keep practicing this until you can idle in a small area with your arms are folded, with very little movement in your upper body. (This may take some practice.)
Problem 3: Practice juggling while off of your unicycle.

Juggle while walking forward than quickly change directions and walk backward.
Juggle while slowly turning in circles to the left then change directions and spin to the right.
Juggle while zigzagging back and forth.
Juggle while walking forward in a figure 8.
Juggle while walking in a figure 8 and face one direction the whole time.
(Part of the time you are walking forward, backward, left and right.)
Try doing exercises "a" through "e" while walking faster, or even jogging.

Now you have practiced some drills for juggling on a unicycle, lets put it all together.
With three juggling balls (or clubs) in your hands start idling on your unicycle. Get yourself into a steady idle then "let it fly" start juggling.
This should work after a few tries. If it doesn't, identify which problem you are struggling with. Then do some more practice for the problem you are experiencing.

After you have learned to juggle on your unicycle you can try some of the following variations.

Try juggling clubs while riding on your unicycle
Try juggling & unicycling to the beat of some music. (This is good if you want to perform.)
Try juggling while idling on 1 foot.
Try juggling while riding down the sidewalk. (See how fast you can go.)

Have fun, and good luck learning to juggle on your unicycle!

Chris Taylor

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Created on: Feb. 17, 2002
Last updated on: Aug. 18, 2003