Why Not

This pattern is part of the Why-Not Family and gives it its name.

The pattern was the first pattern with a heff that I learned. It was quite a big step for me at the time, so I would recommend starting with the 5 Club Why Not and some other patterns/tricks one that may make beginning with heffs in patterns a bit easier.

Patterns to do before this one

• one-person 441 (should get 50-100 catches)
• one-person 4 club fountain ( should get at least 10-20 catches)
• Jim's 2-count - This is also a compatible pattern, only two throws are switched
• 5 Club Why Not
• 4-count with 441 instead of 3 selfs
• 3-count with 42 instead of 2 selfs
• 9-count why-not (the why-not like pattern compatible/based on Jim's 4-count). If you have big trouble learning longer sequences, this may be harder for you than why not itself, but the pattern offers additional self-throws to recover from a not-so-well thrown heff
• It may be useful to start out with Jim's 2-count and do why not as a trick occasionally.
• If both jugglers can't yet juggle why not well, it is recommended that only one juggler throws why not while the other does Jim's 2-count to stabilize the pattern

Why Not

Siteswap: 77862

77862

Animation and diagrams on passist.org

Sequence: A starts with 4 clubs and has straight passes, B starts with 2 clubs and has crossing passes.

A 2|2: P S P H z
B 1|1:  H z P S P

P=pass

z=zip

H=heff

This start with 4 clubs for A has the advantage, that A can throw the complete (first half) sequence of the pattern plus one pass before running out of clubs. So if B only catches all passes without throwing to A, A can get used to the new sequence without the stress of having to catch incoming passes.

Juggler A should also do this "dry run" starting from the left hand, to get used to both sides of the pattern. This is of course mostly an advantage when B already knows the sequence. If B cannot do why-not well, it is recommended that B juggles a compatible pattern they are comfortable with like Jim's 2-count (see below).

There is an alternate start, where each has 3 clubs:

A 2|1: P H z P S 
B 2|1:  P S P H z

Here, B has the start into the sequence that A had with the 4-club start above.

Color coding: Three Clubs always do the heffs and passes, the other three clubs do self-zip and pass. So you could color-code the clubs that do the heffs.

Why Not vs Jim's 2-count

Here A juggles Why Not and B juggles Jim's 2-count:

Siteswap: 7862774667

7862774667

Animation and diagrams on passist.org

A 2|2: P S P H z
B 1|1:  F S P S P

F= Flip or Hold

This is a bit weird for B starting with a flip - an alternative is if B starts with a self from the left hand reacting to the first incoming pass.

Another alternative is to start from the 3-club-each start, in which the Flip is not at the begin of the sequence:

A 2|1: P H z P S 
B 2|1:  P S P F S

Here B juggles why not and A the Jim's 2-count:

A 2|2: P S P F S
B 1|1:  H z P S P

Next Patterns

Other patterns of the Why-Not Family:

• Not Why
• Maybe
• 3-person triangle why-not (c8839)
• 3-person trinangle why-not feed (aaac993bbbcc933)

7 club patterns with heffs:

5-count popcorn (async)

Compatible Patterns

4-club patterns - the combined pattern has 5 clubs:

Inverted parsnip is a very good pattern for one to do if both jugglers are still learning why-not to get longer runs and overall faster success:

• Inverted Parsnip (combined pattern and its start)

This one has zaps:

• 75224 combined pattern

6-club patterns:

Jim's 2-count is also a good pattern for one side to juggle if why-not is new for both jugglers

• Jim's 2-count combined pattern

Not Why is very similar to Why Not in difficulty:

• Not Why combined pattern

Not Likely has double passes

• Not Likely

8 club patterns:

• 97978
• 99697
• 99994
• a7797