Juggling Girl
Developing a hobby is a perfect example of “learning by doing” and one project that exemplifies this is Madrone 4H Club’s Juggling project. Led by two youths, Spencer (15) and Mitchell (12), the Juggling project is held once a month at the Rohnert Park 4H Center and currently has 10 members ranging in age from 9 to 16 years old.
Spencer and Mitchell started teaching themselves how to juggle by watching videos on YouTube. They also joined the Santa Rosa Juggling Club, and were tutored privately by a family friend who was formerly a professional juggler. They enjoyed their new skill so much that they decided to share their new knowledge with others and thus the Juggling project, and two Junior Leaders, were born.
The first project meeting focused on teaching the members how to make their own set of juggling balls (using birdseed and balloons!). Then they worked on tossing just one ball back and forth from one hand to the other, then tossing two balls in an arc, crossing in the middle, and finally 3 balls in a pattern called the “3-ball cascade.” This basic trick is a difficult one to master and takes a fair amount of practice. But once people get the hang of the cascade, other tricks come more easily.
Spencer and Mitchell hope that by leading this project, they will be giving the members the gift of a lifelong hobby to enjoy and share with others.
