Albert Throws

Albert throws, named after the American 13 ring juggler Albert Lucas, involve throwing the clubs between your legs, from front to back, while keeping both feet flat on the ground. Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, bend forward a little at the waist and try to throw a club between your legs so that it comes up over the opposite shoulder:

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Keep your feet down flat and don't put one in front of the other. Stretch your arm as far through your legs as possible, you should be able to get your hand out the other side so that you can move your wrist to throw. Above all keep your legs locked straight, if you bend your knees then your bottom will stick out and force you to throw over your leg, rather than over your shoulder.

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It is easy to 'cheat' when doing an Albert, by bending your knee or putting one foot forward, but there are a couple of good reasons to try to practice it properly. The first is that it simply looks nicer when done correctly, and the second I mentioned in the introduction to this section: you may be able to get away with a poor posture when doing just 1 or 2 throws, but if you want to learn continuous Alberts then you need to stand correctly.

I have seen Albert throws done with singles and with doubles, and on the whole I think singles look a lot better because the clubs stay very close to the body, and the pattern is a lot quicker. If you find doubles easier then by all means use them, but first take a look at someone doing the trick on singles and see if you think it's worth the extra effort.

With both of the above versions you will have to move your head from side to side to see the clubs coming over your shoulders if you do the trick continuously. This is a hard trick, but one that is worth learning.