What juggling balls should I buy ?

How to choose your juggling balls?

Contrary to the image received by watching people juggle, juggling is a simple and easy pleasure, accessible to all. However, a short tour of the existing equipment is necessary to find your way around.

We explain on this page the different items that are made without going into details. This should give you an idea of which balls are suitable for you. Each item then has a full description when you view it on our website.

It goes without saying that these comments can sometimes reflect our point of view and thus be rather subjective! They have been written to advise you, it's up to you to do with them as you wish!

Beginners:

For children, the scarves are a good prop to discover how to throw and catch objects, they go up and down slowly, which will also give time to understand the basic rhythms of juggling.

Soft balls:

If you've been juggling for a while, you've definitely gone through the soft ball stage! Rather economical prices compared to other models of balls, these fabric balls have the advantage of rolling little on the ground and crashing in the hand when you catch them. It is the ideal ball to advise all beginners. They have a very pleasant tactile side which motivates to continue to juggle during these somewhat difficult moments of the first throws! Its big weak point is that if you juggle outdoors on tar or gravel for example, the lifespan of these balls will be rather limited. They're made of fabric and these balls are assembled and all sewn by hand (at least the closure of the ball because it's impossible to do it with a machine).

Stage balls:

We may be wrong, but we tend to discourage beginners with these balls for several reasons. They roll a lot because they are very round! They are not always easy to catch because they are very round and not very soft so they bounce off your hands! These balls are made of plastic and are hollow inside. Some jugglers like it a lot, others don't! It is above all a matter of taste.

For those of you who are familiar with the DX balls made by the Beard company in England, these balls are much softer in the hand (matter of taste).

Silx balls:

These balls are ¾ filled with liquid silicone, which allows the center of gravity of the ball to be placed below its center at all times. Using liquid silicone allows the trajectories of the balls to be very uniform (unlike for example sand quartz which requires to be much more precise with the throws). There is also an advantage for making contact juggling, a discipline where the balls are made to roll over the arms and the whole body.

They come in three sizes: 67mm, 78mm and 100mm.

The 67mm are particularly suitable for juggling from 5 balls and more. For the strong ones, you may find them a little too light to play with three balls! If you have "small" arms, then they may be suitable for a three ball routine. In the shop, we find that many girls appreciate these balls for their three balls routine and more.
The 78mm are ideal for juggling with 3 balls, the visual rendering of rather large balls is nice and the comfort is optimal for integrating contact in a three ball routine. They are also very popular for juggling with 5 balls although a time of adaptation is necessary if you are used to juggling with balls of a smaller diameter.

SRX balls:

These balls have a thinner shell if you compare them to the Silx and they crash quite easily. They use the same principle as the Russian balls, that is to say that a small part of the internal volume is filled with thin quartz sand, which places the center of gravity at the bottom of the ball. These balls are recommended for juggling with a lot of balls at the same time and for "heavy" jugglers! They will require very clean throws with a movement initiated by the elbow rather than the wrist so that it has a very straight trajectory. We sell this item a lot to people who juggle with 6 balls and more. Small detail that may be important: we also sell these balls a lot to people who travel a lot by plane because they crush easily to take up little space compared to more traditional balls.

Bouncing balls:

These balls are made, as their name suggests, to be bounced and therefore juggled with throwing them towards the ground. Their rebound ratio is generally between 80% and 93% depending on the brand and model.

The bounce ratio is the height at which the balls go up when you drop them on hard ground (tarmac, concrete, marble slab, some gymnasium floors etc).

The higher it is, the better the bounce will be. Be careful though, some demanding jugglers don't like it when the balls have too high a ratio. 90% seems like a good number! Of course, the bouncing juggling is not limited to the ground, let your imagination run wild.

We have not tried the experiment ourselves, but more and more echoes are coming to us from associations telling us that bouncing passing is something very easy to assimilate for children who are new to juggling, progressing, from 1, 2, 3 up to 5 balls for two (passing with 2 people). And so it seems that it is a good introduction to juggling for them because the evolution is fast and motivating.

Summary:

If you are a beginner:

• Scarves.
• Soft balls.
• Bouncing balls (we recommend the G-Force model from Play).

If you are passionate about juggling and you already practice a little:

• SILX.
• SRX.
• Bouncing balls (we recommend the G-Force model from Play or custom silicone balls).