Reverse Mills Mess

Other Tutorials:

Guillaume Riesen (video)

     The Reverse Mills Mess is a variation of Mills Mess in which the original pattern is time-reversed, meaning that every throw of the Reverse Mills Mess is done where and when a catch would be made in the regular Mills Mess. This means that all of the throws in the Reverse Mills Mess are made from the center, and all catches are made on the outside of your body.

    To learn the Reverse Mills Mess, start with one ball in each hand. With your dominant hand, make a throw from the center of your body out toward your dominant side. Then, bring your non-dominant hand toward the center of your body and make a throw identical to the first. Finally, cross your non-dominant hand underneath your dominant and catch the first ball. Catch the second ball with your dominant hand.
    As shown, practice this on both sides. Once you are sufficiently comfortable with the throws, you can chain the cycles to together.
    To add in the third ball, start with two balls in your dominant hand and one ball in your non-dominant. Make the first two throws as you did in the previous steps, and then make a third from your dominant hand in the same position and direction as the other two throws. This last throw should be performed when your non-dominant hand is crossed under your dominant hand. As that last ball descends, make a throw with your non-dominant hand from the center of your body toward your non-dominant side (i.e. in the opposite direction of all preceding throws) and then cross your non-dominant hand over your dominant hand to catch the third ball.
    Practice this on both sides. To run the full Reverse Mess, simply continue the cycle on the other side (the first throw of the new cycle is the last throw shown in the animation above). The pattern will seem awkward at first, especially if you are already comfortable with the standard Mills Mess. In general, the Reverse Mills Mess is not as fluid and graceful as Mills Mess, and spectators probably won't be any more impressed by it.