Mills Mess Shower

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     The Mills Mess Shower is a variation of Mills Mess in which a horizontal pass is cleanly inserted into the pattern. This creates a slightly quicker and more complex trick without much added difficulty. Obviously, it is important that you already be reasonably comfortable with both Mills Mess and the Shower before attempting this pattern.

    To begin learning the Mills Mess Shower, start with two balls in your dominant hand and one ball in your non-dominant. Cross your dominant hand over your non-dominant hand and then make a throw from your dominant hand toward the center of your body (as if doing the first throw of Mills Mess). As you make that throw, uncross your arms. As the first ball begins to descend towards your dominant hand (the same hand that threw it), you are going to make a throw from your non-dominant hand along the same arc as the first throw. You will then make a horizontal pass from your dominant hand to your now empty non-dominant hand, clearing space for your dominant hand to catch the first ball. Your non-dominant hand will then throw the horizontally passed ball along the same arc as the first two balls. While making this throw, you are going to cross your non-dominant hand over your dominant hand, catching the second ball in your non-dominant hand. Your dominant hand will then make an under-the-arm throw toward the center of your body, clearing space for it to catch the third ball. The ball just thrown will then be caught by your non-dominant hand, which should still be crossed over your dominant hand.
    As shown, practice this on both sides. You have just completed one cycle of the Mills Mess Shower on each side of your body. To connect the two cycles together, simply make an over-the-arm throw from your non-dominant hand (which will be crossed on top of your dominant hand at the end of the first cycle) and repeat the same throws on the other side of of your body. Just keep juggling in the rhythm of Mills Mess and you will have trick down pretty quickly.