TuJugling: Comparing Two Juggling Learning Methods in College Students

NCT07528924 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: #6000
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will compare two ways of learning juggling in university students during a regular practical course: (A) juggling based on throwing the balls in the air and (B) juggling based on bouncing the balls off the floor. The study will also examine whether the order in which students learn these methods (A then B vs. B then A) influences how their performance improves over time. Students will follow two 4-week practice periods separated by a 1-week break, and juggling performance will be assessed at three time points (baseline, after period 1, and after period 2). Performance will be scored from video recordings using anonymized study identifiers. Questionnaires about mood and flow experience will be collected at each assessment, and handgrip strength and brief computerized cognitive tasks will be assessed at baseline and the final evaluation in an exploratory manner. The main comparison of training methods will focus on results after the first period to reduce the influence of prior practice, while results after the second period will be used to describe learning trajectories, order effects, and transfer to different execution conditions.

Conditions

Motor Skill Learning; Juggling Performance

Keywords

Juggling; Motor learning; Educational intervention; Motor performance

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Juggling Performance

  Juggling performance will be assessed using a study-specific standardized battery of juggling tasks. The raw outcome is the number of successful catches in a single continuous attempt, two attempts per participant. Tasks have different raw caps depending on execution type (unimanual vs bimanual). Higher scores indicate better performance. Unimanual tasks: 0-30 catches. Bimanual tasks: 0-60 catches → normalized score = raw score ÷ 2 (0-30). \*Air-throw and Bounce tasks\* One ball, right \& left Two balls in simultaneous columns (one per hand) Two balls with alternating throws, switching hands Two-ball cycle, right \& left Three-ball task using both hands \*Training-specific progression patterns\* RA - Active Bounce RB - Passive Bounce RC - Imperative Bounce A - Standard Cascade C - Cascade with Cycle CH - Successive Columns

  Baseline and 4 weeks.

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Juggling performance in different surface conditions

  Baseline and 8 weeks.

• Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) - Positive Affect Subscale.

  Baseline and week 4 and week 8.

• Brief Inventory of Optimal Experiences (Flow)

  Baseline and week 4 and week 8.

• Handgrip Strength Measured by Digital Dynamometer

  Baseline and week 8

• Matrix Rotation Task: accuracy (%)

  Baseline and week 8

Study Arms (2)

Intervention A: Throwing-based juggling

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention A consists of throwing-based juggling tasks performed according to the block-structured progression defined in the official course video tutorials

Other: Intervention A Throwing-Based Juggling Training

Intervention B consists of bouncing-based juggling tasks (ball rebounding off the floor)

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention B consists of bouncing-based juggling tasks (ball rebounding off the floor) performed according to the block-structured progression defined in the official course video tutorials.

Other: Intervention B Bouncing-Based Juggling Training

Interventions

Intervention A Throwing-Based Juggling Training OTHER

The program comprises two 4-week intervention periods (period 1 and period 2) separated by a 1-week separation interval. Training will be primarily self-directed and supported by standardized official video tutorials that progress from lower to higher motor complexity in structured blocks, and by a per-session log. A session will be considered valid when the student practices juggling for 20 minutes. Three frontennis balls (standard course equipment) will be used. Training may be conducted wherever the student prefers (e.g., home or university facilities). Students will advance to the next pattern when they achieve 20 consecutive successful catches in the current pattern (applicable to one-hand and two-hand patterns). Intervention A consists of throwing-based juggling tasks performed according to the block-structured progression defined in the official course video tutorials

Intervention A: Throwing-based juggling

Intervention B Bouncing-Based Juggling Training OTHER

The program comprises two 4-week intervention periods (period 1 and period 2) separated by a 1-week separation interval. Training will be primarily self-directed and supported by standardized official video tutorials that progress from lower to higher motor complexity in structured blocks, and by a per-session log. A session will be considered valid when the student practices juggling for 20 minutes. Three frontennis balls (standard course equipment) will be used. Training may be conducted wherever the student prefers (e.g., home or university facilities). Students will advance to the next pattern when they achieve 20 consecutive successful catches in the current pattern (applicable to one-hand and two-hand patterns). Intervention B consists of bouncing-based juggling tasks (ball rebounding off the floor) performed according to the block-structured progression defined in the official course video tutorials.

Intervention B consists of bouncing-based juggling tasks (ball rebounding off the floor)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Enrolled in the Motor Games course.
• Aged ≥18 years and able to understand and provide informed consent.
• Provide explicit agreement to participate in the study assessments.

You may not qualify if:

• Injury or medical condition that prevents safe participation in juggling, based on self-report prior to baseline assessment.
• Uncorrected or insufficiently corrected visual impairment that prevents seeing and tracking the balls during practice and assessments.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad de Granada: lead

Study Sites (1)

Faculty of Sports Science

Granada, GRANADA, Spain

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Andrés B. Fernández-Revelles, Sport Science

  Universidad de Granada

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

JAVIER Fernández-Ortega, PhD Student, Sports Science

CONTACT

+34 616 39 57 85; fernandezortegaj@ugr.es

Andrés B. Fernández-Revelles, Sport Sciences

CONTACT

+34 616 39 57 85; abfr@ugr.es

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: CARE PROVIDER, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Andrés B. Fernández-Revelles, Principal Investigator, Associate Professor; Javier Fernández-Ortega, PhD Student

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 18, 2026
• First Posted: April 14, 2026
• Study Start: March 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 15, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: April 14, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: This access will be available starting 6 months after the primary study results are published.
• Access Criteria: To obtain access, requestors (researchers) must submit their proposal and a signed Data Use Agreement to the Principal Investigator at fernandezortegaj@ugr.es. The request will be reviewed by the research team to ensure ethical and scientific compliance.

Locations

ES (1)