When you notice that the stick is out of control,
make sure that your handsticks are parallel to one
another and horizontal. You should now be able to
start from a kneeling position, and slowly stand
up whilst tapping the devil stick. Try to keep the
movement slow and even. If the pattern becomes fast,
this could be because the handsticks are too close
to each other.
When you can achieve a smooth tapping motion of
the devil stick from handstick to handstick, you
are ready for some spins! This is known as a steady
rhythm or "tick-tock".
Flips/Spins
Spins allow you some time when the devil stick
is in the air. This time can be used for a number
of more advanced moves. Spins are very easy to do
though!
SINGLE SPIN: Get a steady rhythm going and
then push and lift a little harder with one handstick
to make the stick do a half turn.
DOUBLE SPIN: You require a bit more force
than for a single spin (experiment until you get
the right amount)! The stick should do a complete
360 degree turn, before it lands at your other handstick.
Vertical Tricks
| JUGGLING! |
You have 3 objects in your hands (two
handsticks and one devil stick), so it
is possible to juggle them! You may have
to experiment a little if you want to
add this trick to your devil stick routine,
as you will need to find a way to get
into the trick and out of it again!
You should build up to being able to
juggle 3 clubs in order to make this trick
easier on yourself. You would then simply
throw the devil stick high at any point
in your routine and begin a cascade pattern.
|
| PROPELLOR |
The devil
stick rotates continuously around one hand
stick (just like an aeroplane propeller).
In order to do this, tap the devil stick
across from your weaker hand to your favoured
hand, and when it arrives, instead of knocking
it back, keep it spinning in the same direction
by circling the devil stick with the hand
stick and pushing it up just below the middle
each time it comes around. This is a difficult
trick! Once you have mastered it in one
hand, you should try doing a propeller in
the other hand. |
| HELICOPTER
/ WHIRLPOOL |
The devil
stick revolves in a horizontal plane. Get
a steady rhythm going, and when it lands
on your left handstick, pull the handstick
towards you. As the devil stick comes across
to your right hand, you then push your right
handstick away from you slightly. Keep going!
Keep your handsticks close to the centre
stick for more control. Once it begins to
rotate, try to flatten the pattern out so
that it is spinning smoother. This would
be the trick I use to get the devilstick
facing the right way in order to throw it
high and begin juggling the handsticks and
devilstick!) |
| FLOURISHING |
When you
have a handstick free (eg the devil stick
is on its way to the other handstick), you
can "flourish" (twist the handstick
round your fingers, throw in the air, turn
it round etc). |
| DOUBLE
STICKING |
The devil
stick is hit at two different places simultaneously.
One handstick hits the devil stick one quarter
of the way up, and the other handstick hits
the devil stick three quarters of the way
up. This is also known as trapping. The
devil stick is far more stable when you
use double sticking, and less likely to
run away or towards you. |
| UNDER THE
LEG |
Throw a single
spin which gives you a bit of time, and
during that time lift your opposite leg,
reach under your leg with that handstick,
and catch and toss the devil stick back
to the other hand. Practice this trick until
you can do it fluently under either leg.
After some practice, you may find that you
can "jog" in place hitting under
the leg with alternating left and right
handsticks! |
| BALANCE |
Balance the
stick upright on a handstick, then try to
spin it over and catch it once again in
the upright position! Try doing this balancing
trick during a normal routine! |
Single Sticking
One handstick is now doing the work of two! Tap
across with your handstick, then quickly pull your
handstick out of position, and move it swiftly to
the other side to be able to tap the devil stick
back across! The devil stick will probably need
a half or full spin to give you enough time to move
your hand across your body. Plenty of variations
(see Single Sticking Variations)
HOLDING THE HANDSTICK TERMINOLOGY: Normal
grip and Pencil grip hopefully explain themselves
as the way that you hold the hand stick
Inside-The main stick is on the
hand stick and is between the two hand ticks like
in a normal Tick Tock.
Outside-The main stick is on the
hand stick but is not between the two hand ticks
Front -in a normal tick tock the
front of the stick is opposite your hand from your
body
Back -in a normal tick tock the
back of the stick is between your hand and your
body
Over Hand - you reach over the
main stick
Under Hand - you reach under the
main stick
Normal grip/Inside/Front -- Pencil grip/outside/front
Normal grip/Inside/Back -- Normal grip/outside/Front
Normal grip/Inside/Front -- Normal grip/outside/front/over
hand
Normal grip/Inside/Front -Flip- Normal
grip/outside/Front
I dont know if your getting the idea but basically,
done in rapid succession, normal single sticking
can become something else entirely. Combos and modifications
of similar transitions can make up over 50 variations
of 'single sticking'
This section of single stick tricks
was written by Brian Hirschberger from Portland.
- Thanks!
Some tricks from Tom Scally (thanks!)
WRIST CATCH - To do this trick,
you need to be holding the handsticks roughly in
the middle. While performing the basic tick-tock
motion, move your strongest wrist in to the position
of where the handstick would be and use the back
of the handstick to trap the devilstick in between
your wrist and handstick. Turn your wrist inwards
and let the devilstick go, and it will flip over
your wrist, ready to be caught on the stick in your
weakest hand.
NECK ROLL - As you flick the devilstick
up from your strongest hand while tick-tocking,
lower your neck so that the lowest half of the devilstick
catches your throat. If it catches correctly, it
will roll over the back of your neck. You won't
be able to see when or where the devilstick will
land, so if you put your weak hand so that it mirrors
your strong hand, it will fall on to the handstick,
ready to tick-tock again.
HANDSTICK SWITCH - First, practise
using your strong hand to flip the devilstick 180
and catch it with the same hand. As you flip the
devilstick inwards, quickly transfer the handstick
from your weak hand to your strong hand, leaving
you tick-tocking single-handedly with both handsticks
in your strong hand. When you flip it inwards, you
have the opportunity of grabbing the handstick back
with your weakest hand, or you could grab both and
keep the trick going.
A couple of tricks sent in by Chud (many thanks!)
*Stop-Go* - From normal tick-tock
give the stick a slightly harder tap with your weaker
hand. Let the stick get to horizontal and stop it
with your stronger hand (this needs a shorter tap
than normal so pull the handstick away once the
stick is stopped, this also makes the trick look
better). Quickly tap it upwards with your weaker
hand to make it continue in the direction it was
going before it was stopped. Once you can do this
try doing it one-handed (re-start the stick using
the same hand you stopped it with) or adding extra
spins before or after the stop.
*Tumbling* - Start this trick
with a single clockwise propellor spin on the right
handstick. Stop the stick when it is horizontal
and start a single anti-clockwise propellor spin
on the right handstick. As it comes round for the
second rotation, pass it across to the left handstick.
Do one anti-clockwise propellor spin on the left
handstick and stop it at
horizontal again. Now try reversing the directions
and passing it back. With some practice you can
pass the stick back and forth for as long as you
like.
*Kick-Up (variations)* - From
tick-tock let the stick drop so that it will be
horizontal when its about knee height. When it gets
to that height kick it in the middle hard enough
to get up to chest height and continue tick-tock.
If you kick it slightly off centre it will spin
more and you can kick it from foot to foot. You
can also drop it from a helicopter spin but you
need to get the spin so that it lands straight across
your foot or it might hit your leg on the way back
up.
A couple of tricks sent in by Callum Wilson. (many
thanks!)
*Behind Back* For this trick
it takes a bit of of practice and yoga! What happens
is your doing the tick-tock rhythm and then when
the devil stick goes onto your weak hand you move
your other hand right behind your back to the other
side and then start doing tick-tock again, then,
to get back you do the same but in reverse so the
weak hand goes round the body and out to it's normal
position.
*Hands* This one is quite an easy
one to do although some people call it 'cheating'.What
you do is you have the tick-tock rhythm going and
then when it goes onto either handstick you drop
the handstick in the other hand and start doing
tick-tock with the palm of your hand and a handstick.
Then when it goes onto your palm you drop the other
handstick and do tick-tock with both your palms.
It's helpful to do this double-sticking to keep
in control. When you've mastered this you can actually
do half the devil-stick tricks with your hands!
(apart from ones like the flourish and juggling!)
I think it's a very good ending
trick to have and a great trick altogether.
Other Tricks sent in
Carnie foot stall:
From the standard tick tock, drop the stick so it
will fall onto your foot horizontally, try to stall
it on your foot by moving your foot slightly down
as the stick approaches. This takes some practice,
one the stick is stalled, throw one of the hand
sticks in the air so it spins vertically a few times
and the n catch it and kick the stick back up to
yourself. If you can stick with only one hand stick,
then purposely act like you couldn't catch the hand
stick you threw in the air, to make people think
you couldn't do it. Then smile and say "not
a problem" kick the stick up to yourself and
start sticking with only one handstick. They'll
get a kick out of it. (from Jason Weller)
Continuous Propellors: Do
the Propellor trick, then
after every rotation or every other rotation switch
the other handstick into the pattern for the devilstick
to rotate round. You can now just choose which handstick
the devilstick propels round! (from Chris
Hodgson)
Buzzsaw Stick Release: Basically
if you were holding the hand sticks so they were
in a 'prep for buzzsaw' position (i.e. the main
stick is pointing straight from your body out and
hand sticks are at 1/4 and 3/4) then(this is the
trickey part) you lift the stick closest to you
so the main stick starts to act as if it would be
thrown forward if you didn't do the next part which
is: as the main stick becomes verticle and the hand
sticks are on the same side of the main stick as
your body you release the hand sticks with a little
forward thrust and they wrap around the main stick
and if your quick enough(this took me a while to
get down) you catch the hand sticks in the opposite
hand than you had them in before and the main stick
will have made a 180 degree forward roll. (from
Brian Hirschberger)
Horizontal Stick Tricks (aka Cigar Box Tricks)
With the Devil stick lying horizontally across
your two handsticks, there are a number of tricks
you can try.
To get the devil stick horizontally onto your handsticks,
there are two methods I use:
If you have mastered all these tricks
and are ready to move on, then please let me know.
I will be happy to write more of the tricks that are
possible with the devil stick. One good way to reinforce
what you have learned, is to teach others. When you
explain a trick, it sometimes helps to reinforce it
in your own mind (and you will therefore understand
the trick better!)
