Tomahawks - Chops
| De :Don Higgins (higginsclan@sympatico.ca.nospam) Objet :Re: Tomahawk throwing tips, please.
Date :2004-02-10 20:37:48 PST |
try learning to throw one tomahawk at a time (double spins) to yourself and perhaps learn that first. Throwing to someone else once you're good at throwing to yourself should be a breeze. First try it with one club, then try it from cascade. When I see others passing tomahawks nicely, it's usually doubles. Practising to yourself a bit first is usually wise as you simply get more tries in in any given amount of time. don
| De :Jimbren1 (jimbren1@aol.com) Objet :Re: Tomahawk throwing tips, please.
Date :2004-02-10 22:40:37 PST |
>1. How many flips should the club do? Is it a single or a double flip? Strangely it is a double. I throw them from a horizontal position (fat-end behind me). The catcher tries to catch them horizontal (fat-end toward the thrower). Note that a regular passed single is actually a 1 1/2 since it is caught upside down from how it is thrown. So from that, a Tomahawk is a half turn more than a regular pass. >2. Is there any arm motion or is it all in the wrist? It seems to be mostly a wrist thing with help from that parallel thumb. >3. We're having some collision problems with one of the other clubs in >the pattern. Should we >through to the inside our outside of that self throw? My throw begins above my shoulder near my ear. That is above the self. Maybe your selves are too lofty. It took me a while to learn to catch this club up high and horizontal in position to throw it. Practicing alone does help a bunch. >4. How far apart should we stand? I have a feeling my students are >standing way too close together. >I keep reminding them to move apart, but the other day, their clubs were >almost colliding. The distance is the same as regular passing. The end of the throw should be in front of the catchers left hip. The trick is caught palm-up in front of your left leg. So the Tomahawk is aimed at the top of the catchers left leg. If the club arrives too outside, it is hard to catch without the knob hitting your wrist first. If the club is too inside, there is a possibility of collisions with selves and great concern should be given to possible collisions with potentially painful areas. So I think the key is to aim so the club goes to an area in front of the left leg or a bit outside for safety reasons. The distance the club travels is just less than a regular pass, because the catcher is reaching a bit forward to catch it. With the extra rotation and shorter distance the spin is faster. Also note the club is in reverse spin, which allows for the catcher to catch with his hand low palm-up. A variation is to throw a Tomahawk as a single which looks very nice and is easier to catch. It does seem more difficult to get the touch for this throw. A variation for the catcher if the club comes in too far outside is to catch the club knob-up. He has to grab the handle before it gets too horizontal. Now the catcher needs to deal with an upside-down club in his pattern. Practice just throwing at a catcher with his hand in the catching position. It almost seems like you are throwing short and kind of down, but it might just come in and slap the catcher's hand. That's the idea. Later, Jim We call this trick a 'Chop' which is quite comfussing. A Tomahawk is a much better name.
| De :Little Paul (lp@juggler.net) Objet :Re: Tomahawk throwing tips, please.
Date :2004-02-11 03:16:05 PST |
[...] >>2. Is there any arm motion or is it all in the wrist? > It seems to be mostly a wrist thing with help from that parallel thumb. I'd agree, mostly wrist, although from the way I've just thrown a pen across the office (trying to work out how I do it, but without any clubs to hand) there is a bit of forearm movement in there, but very little upper arm movement. >>3. We're having some collision problems with one of the other clubs in >>the pattern. Should we through to the inside our outside of that self throw? > My throw begins above my shoulder near my ear. That is above the self. Maybe > your selves are too lofty. I think I tend to throw outside of the self. > It took me a while to learn to catch this club up high and horizontal in > position to throw it. Practicing alone does help a bunch. Very true. I found it helped immensely to practice the "getready" seperate from the throw, and outside of a passing situation. >>4. How far apart should we stand? I have a feeling my students are >>standing way too close together. I keep reminding them to move apart, but >>the other day, their clubs were almost colliding. > > The distance is the same as regular passing. Very much so. If they don't have enough space to easily pass the occasional double, they need to move apart more. That seems to work for me as a "spacing guide" :-) > The end of the throw should be in front of the catchers left hip. > The trick is caught palm-up in front of your left leg. This is important, I've seen a lot of people trying to learn how to catch tomahawks who miss this point, and get all confused because of it. > So the Tomahawk is aimed at the top of the catchers left leg. I used to do this, and had loads of accuracy problems. Then someone told me to "aim at the crotch of the other person" and, strangely enough my throws became a lot more consistent, and whilst they don't land *exactly* where I'm aiming, they're a lot more catchable. > So I think the key is to aim so the club goes to an area in front of the left > leg or a bit outside for safety reasons. Safety reasons? This is club passing! If you don't get bruised or break a fingernail you're not working hard enough ;-) > A variation is to throw a Tomahawk as a single which looks very nice and is > easier to catch. It does seem more difficult to get the touch for this throw. But it's well worth learning, think high, lofty, floaty thoughts when making the throw, and try to just gently place the club where it needs to be. Think light, think delecate. > Practice just throwing at a catcher with his hand in the catching position. It > almost seems like you are throwing short and kind of down, but it might just > come in and slap the catcher's hand. That's the idea. Another tip that helped me is, try not to throw in a straight line, throw the club up a little. This makes the path of the club longer which means you don't have to spin them as quick, which in turn means they're more pleasant to catch. You can always speed up later. -Paul
| De :Little Paul (lp@juggler.net) Objet :Re: *** Passing *** Return Bashes
Date :2004-08-09 02:12:01 PST |
On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 10:31:53 -0700, Adria M Moskowitz wrote: > I guess I'll just have to stick with my "crappy tomahawks". Unfortunately, > they've been improving and, not only have I not hit anyone in the face > within the last year, Ahh... that's where you were going wrong. Tomahawks should *always* be aimed at your partners crotch. -Paul
| De :Martin Frost me at stanford daht edu (nospam@stanford.edu.invalid) Objet :Re: Club half spin recoveries
Date :2005-01-13 16:30:05 PST |
scott@juggler.net.nospam (Scott Seltzer) writes: > Mrs Norris wrote: > > I have seen the Karamazovs passing tomahawks/chops, and they used to > > catch the club upside down, early, on purpose, and recover with a wristy > > half-spin. Is this common ? > > I've seen a number of older acts that do this. > > One theory that I think I read in a recent Juggle Mag article about the > FKBs is that it's a special trick and deserves a special catch. Nah, this is just the way that chops always used to be caught. That's how I learned (and it was painful with unpadded, wooden handled, homemade clubs, till I learned how to catch them carefully). Also, they can caught by the shoulder where passes are usually caught, so it's easier/safer to throw fast (impressive) chops that go there rather than inside near the waist. If I have to recover a half spin with a self, I generally use a half-spin self (or slide the club down in my hand so I'm holding it on the handle backwards and throw a single from there). If I have to pass such a club, I usually throw a half spin there too, though depending on the exact catching position and the speed of the pattern it might be a horizontal half spin or some other wild throw. Martin
| De :Javawizard (javawizard@aol.com) Objet :Re: Club passing -- HELP!!!!
Date :1999/10/02 |
The 1.5-spin self-throw is my most common response. This is not always a
repair for a mistake. For instance, most jugglers until about 12 years ago
threw chops and shoulder throws to be caught as high as regular passes, and
they were designed to be caught upside-down. Pass with any of the Karamosov
Brothers, and you'll see them sink to the floor to catch a 'modern' chop throw
in the old upside-down manner. (Well, Tim Furst doesn't anymore, but all the
old-timers used to do that).
Back to the subject at hand: Another way out of the upside down club
situation is to throw it back high and flat to your partner's left hand. This
gives you lots of time to straighten out your other two clubs, which are most
likely slightly out of control also at this point. If you throw it back high
enough, it comes in nice and pretty, right on time.
Have fun!
- Jeff Napier -
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