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Forums > Technical Discussion > Don't Use Tennis Balls to Practice...
Login/Join to ParticipatePosted:I just discovered something. There are several disadvantages to using tennis balls to practice, one being if you mess up doing a butterfly they will nail you really hard in the _____
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, scratch that thought. Well anyways, USE COMETS! Er, use poi with tails! It slows down the poi tremendously, and this helps A LOT! I figured out how to do a MUCH BETTER 360, improved my reverse weave a lot, and learned my first GREAT combo, a weave->windmill (not technically a windmill, just a weave around my head, my wm suck..)->540->BTB weave->reverse weave! With tails on my poi I was flowing from move to move, it came very naturally! I nailed my BTB weave using these tailed poi, and learned how to transition from the BTB weave to reverse weave, and am still having probs going from reverse weave into BTB but its going much better!Maybe its because I started practicing in my garage, so I have more room. (Lets just say I broke more then 1 christmas ornament when practicing....). But I do think tails help a lot, so try it out, it did WONDERS for me!! I'm trying to polish all my moves for my first public performance! Well, its the annual theatre costume ball, and I think I'm gonna bring my stuff and spin, hopefully the spinner that was there last year will show! She was AWESOME. None of my friends have seen me spin before, so I want to make sure I look sharp. (Theme for Ball this year is Holidays, I'm going as an Indian for Thanksgiving, and one of my buds is being a pilgrim
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) PLUR - john
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, scratch that thought. Well anyways, USE COMETS! Er, use poi with tails! It slows down the poi tremendously, and this helps A LOT! I figured out how to do a MUCH BETTER 360, improved my reverse weave a lot, and learned my first GREAT combo, a weave->windmill (not technically a windmill, just a weave around my head, my wm suck..)->540->BTB weave->reverse weave! With tails on my poi I was flowing from move to move, it came very naturally! I nailed my BTB weave using these tailed poi, and learned how to transition from the BTB weave to reverse weave, and am still having probs going from reverse weave into BTB but its going much better!Maybe its because I started practicing in my garage, so I have more room. (Lets just say I broke more then 1 christmas ornament when practicing....). But I do think tails help a lot, so try it out, it did WONDERS for me!! I'm trying to polish all my moves for my first public performance! Well, its the annual theatre costume ball, and I think I'm gonna bring my stuff and spin, hopefully the spinner that was there last year will show! She was AWESOME. None of my friends have seen me spin before, so I want to make sure I look sharp. (Theme for Ball this year is Holidays, I'm going as an Indian for Thanksgiving, and one of my buds is being a pilgrim
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) PLUR - john
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Posted:i dont think i could ever give up my tennis balls, yes, granted they hurt when you nail yourself in the nuts, but hey, you learn not to do it, and i learned actually with washers tied to the end of strings,a nd let me tell you, you have not experienced pain till a small bundle of metal has lodged itself in your crotch, shin of forehead... :shudders as he remembers the welts:besides, i find tails very aggravating, they tangle, and make weird noises which i find annoying, i like to practice in silence usually...and i can take my tennis balls anywhere, they easily fit into cargo pockets...and if you give up tennis balls you give up the use of the phrase "let me get out my balls" or "would you like to play with my balls"which to my immature mind is a never ending source of amusement...
Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!
DeletePosted:try using golf balls. there heavyer, slower and smaller than tennis balls, but dont mess up. i almost needed morphine when i sacked myself. painful. very very painful. ow. ------------------Just a Thought... Ignore it if you wish...
~A Soft Rubber Bodybuilding Smurf~
DeletePosted:NO! do not try using golf balls, those things are deadly! And you may not survive the experience. "would you like to look at my balls"or for my rubber spiked flails..."Oh, they are quite soft, would you like to feel my balls?" ask to play with them..."you want to touch my balls?"
we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!
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Posted:all i can say on this thread:1: i hate comet poi, because they are 1)too slow, 2) i mess up more with the tails.2: golf balls? your a head case man!3: beaming poi, need i say more on those!4: i love my tenis balls and could never leave home with out them..which very rarely i do
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5: good way to make poi, as a lot of my friends use this method ie: kato.. socks (tubesocks to the americans here) with either a tenis ball or even bubble wrap, that packaging material that you can spend hours sitting there popping!. make some finger loops at the top tie some thing round the bottom to keep the ball nice and tight... sweet: new home made poi.. you will find you dont mess up at all with these and you can decorate them in many colors and even make them UV too!have fun and watch the wedding tackle, dont want to be out of action...PK
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5: good way to make poi, as a lot of my friends use this method ie: kato.. socks (tubesocks to the americans here) with either a tenis ball or even bubble wrap, that packaging material that you can spend hours sitting there popping!. make some finger loops at the top tie some thing round the bottom to keep the ball nice and tight... sweet: new home made poi.. you will find you dont mess up at all with these and you can decorate them in many colors and even make them UV too!have fun and watch the wedding tackle, dont want to be out of action...PK
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PK.
"To be an angel, one need not have wings.
In giving love there is an equal grace.
Nor need one seek the aura in the face,
As love unveils the beauty of all things."
*Francois Couperin.
Posted:Yeah... I dont know abour GOLF BALLS... but my friend, who happens to be kind of squirrelly, practices with BASEBALLS. Those things are deadly. Not to mention that they are in black socks tied with black shoelaces, so if he practices at night, he might as well wear a blindfold, cause he caint see nutin!------------------My balls are on fire!
My balls are on fire!
DeletePosted:you can also take a sock, role it up and put it inside another sock, so you have a tight ball of cotton inside a long sock, make another one and POOF! completely non-lethal practice poi! if your worried about security, just put on an extra set of socks, then take of your socks and make poi out of them! great for airplanes and other such "restricted" places!
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we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!
DeletePosted:Try putting tails on tennis ball poi by making a simple cover with a sewing machine and velcro... It slows them down and makes them flow nicely. and u can get wicked fur from Spotlight to use as the covers!!
WHO SO EVER RUNS WITH MONSTERS, BEWARE, LEST HE BECOME ONE.FOR WHEN YOU PEER INTO THE ABYSS.THE ABYSS PEERS INTO YOU.
DeletePosted:im tellin you guys dead glowsticks wrapped in bubble wrap..if you need tails use ribbon or light floucy fabric with elastic bands..thats the route i went..i even wrapped them in stolen glowtape which i scored of the unsuspecting theater company i worked for. heh heh heh.. they wernt using it and it went towards art...
Teach tolerance, not competition.
Send food, not bombs.
Posted:i use old bike tubes that are rolled up and frayed that is combined with plasic squid so they look like a mutated tennis birdie.
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Posted:No way, I had a much easier time once I cut the tails off, made it way easier for me to do the btb stuff and not get the tails tangled. That and once I hit myself in the nuts a couple of times I never did it again, Knock on wood
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Posted:Hi peeps,I found that it was a little more frustrating to learn moves with the comet poi because they tangle. On the other hand, you can see the exact axis you are spinning on for moves like behind the back where you can't see.Oh yeah - they are smoother because the tail acts as a stabaliser.For practice, I use UV fabric sewn into a kind of tapered tube, this is then filled with leather off cuts. The whole thing is quite short - about 50cm from tip to tip.No pain!Love and glowTEMPEST
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Posted:Hey, I use tennis balls with some tail things I made out of an old scarf. It's true they do tangle but it helped me to see where I was going wrong.I use plug chain instead of string because it's silent (and I can't explain why!) compared to string.Tried about 30cm of string tied to my juggling clubs also.... not good, don't bother!
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------------------A pleasant chap with no ulterior motives....
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------------------A pleasant chap with no ulterior motives....
If music is the expression of emotion, politics is merely the decoy of perception.I sing with fire.
DeletePosted:what mr junkie isnt telling you all is that his tails arent made from an old scarf, but an old pair of his mums tights...
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theyre great too look at (on or off...), but they whiff the place up a bit when he uses them indoors
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theyre great too look at (on or off...), but they whiff the place up a bit when he uses them indoors
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you can take the cat out of the jungle, but you cant take the jungle out of the cat
DeletePosted:tennis balls rock for all the reasons Whiffle Squeek mentioned and more.i'm a bit of a speed freak and tennis balls go like the clappers. love it!plus, have you ever seen brand new tennis balls under uv. they glow and leave awesome tracers.can see where you are coming from with the comets but give me my tennis balls any day of the week.
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Charles
BRONZE Member since Jun 2001
![Charles]()
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
Location: Auckland
Total posts: 3989
BRONZE Member since Jun 2001
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
Location: Auckland
Total posts: 3989
Posted:Bassjunkie, string s are more likely to make noises if they are 'sharp'.This means they 'cut' the air with edges or ribbing etc, and that is usually th ereason why strings or chains make whistling noises.So hard edgies, lots of ribbing (ier a hard edge inside the two ribs) or marbe small holes that force the air through them all make lots and lots of noise at high speed.Sounds like your plug chains are well rounded with links that are large enough to stop the whistling noise.Of course, this isn't always the case but usually they are th ereasons.Cheers------------------Charles (INFERNO)newdolbel@hotmail.comhttp://juggling.co.nz
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