Juggler's Workshop 

The Spring 1992 Juggler's World contains a review of The Devil Stick Book by Todd Strong, and to broaden your juggling horizons we're reprinting portions of the book here. These sections range from learning to get a devil stick going to some advanced moves. The text and drawings are reprinted by kind permission of the book's publisher, Brian Dube, Inc., 

We'll start with some comments on learning.

On Breathing

An important point is to breathe when you play with the Devil Stick. (Actually, proper breathing is important in many of life's activities; but we are trying to limit the scope of this book.) If you don't breathe, you will tire much more easily and quickly, which will shorten your practice time, and may hinder your improvement. Additionally, you will start to turn blue. While the condition is only temporary, it will bother your friends and family if you appear cyanotic.

Sharing the Conventions: A Vocabulary

At present there are no standard names for the different pieces of the Devil Stick set. I use the term "handsticks" to apply to the two shorter sticks, one held in each hand, and "center stick" to mean the larger, tapered stick. Since the center stick is the focus of most of the Devil Stick play, I also refer to this one stick as the Devil Stick.

Hold the handsticks in front of you with the center stick suspended between them (I know this is impossible, use your imagination). We are now in "home position" and can share some directions.

Using the mid-stripe of the Devil Stick as the dividing line, we can split the center stick into a top and a bottom half. Visualize a vertical line splitting the center stick lengthwise. The center stick now has two sides, the left side that goes with your left hand, and the right side that goes with your right hand.

Trapping, Beginning Variation #1

The first technique to try is called "trapping," "quicksticking," or "doubles ticking. " When trapping, both hands ticks connect simultaneously on the center stick giving twice the contact area than in other methods for double the control. Once you coordinate your arms in the alternating up and down motion, you should find it pretty easy.

Rest the center stick against your right hand­stick at the upper quarter point, halfway between the mid-stripe and the top of the center stick. Place your left hands tick on the other side of the center stick at the lower quarter point, halfway between the center tape and the bottom. The center stick should be leaning over to the right at a forty-five degree angle.

Keeping the end of the center stick on the ground, use your right (top) hand to push it over so it leans the other way. While the center stick is arcing across, raise your left hand and lower your right to catch it. Your left hand is now between the center stripe and the top of the Devil Stick, and your right hand is between the center stripe and the bottom. Remember, your hands do not switch sides of the center stick, they just change from the upper to the lower half.

The upper handstick makes a ramp for the center stick. Experiment with the position and angle of the handstick and see if you can make the center stick roll towards you or away from you. If you hold the handstick level and at a right angle to the center stick, the center stick should not roll at all. By keeping the handsticks horizontal and pointed straight ahead of you, the center stick will travel straight across in the wall plane without falling forward or backward as you lean it over the other way. Raise and lower the hand sticks using your shoulder and elbow joints to keep the handsticks horizontal. If you use your wrists to raise or lower the handsticks, you will change the slope of the ramp and the center stick will spin across in a horizontal arc rather than going vertically straight across.

Okay, let us see how things are going. You are trapping the center stick in between both handsticks each time it arcs across. The handsticks are connecting simultaneously. You are find­ing the "sweet" spot, halfway between the cen­ter tape and each end. The hands ticks are remaining horizontal. The center stick is going straight across, staying in the imaginary wall plane. Great!

Now, do the exact same thing, but up in the air this time. For some reason this makes sense to some people and baffles others. If you want some more hints, read on.

The top hand lifts the center stick off the ground. Set things up so your right hand is the top hand. As you lean the center stick over to the left, also lift it up about two inches. Catch it as before with your left hand on top and your right hand on the bottom. Now the left hand is the top hand. Lift the center stick up about two inches with your left hand as you push it over to the right. You don't need to lift too high to get the center stick in the air. One or two inches will be fine for this exercise.

Normal, Regular Devil Sticking, Beginning Variation #2

The second method is different from the first in that you only contact the center stick with one hands tick at a time. You no longer have to coordinate your two arms alternating up and down on the center stick, but the release and catch of the hands tick on the center stick be­come much more important.

Start as in the first method with one end of the center stick resting on the ground or some comfortable, level surface. This time as you push the center stick back and forth do so with only one handstick at a time. The contact point is still halfway between the center tape and the top of the center stick. When the center stick leans to the left use your left hand; when it leans to the right use your right hand.

Since you no longer have the bottom handstick to absorb excess energy, it is important to contact the hands tick to the center stick just right. Instead of using the handstick to hit the center stick as it approaches, you give with the handstick at the moment of contact. For a split­second, the handstick and the center stick are moving in the same direction towards the out­side of the pattern. While in contact and traveling together, use your handstick to slow down the center stick, stop it, and send it back the in other direction.

It is crucial that the handsticks be held in the proper position. If you bend your wrist to slow down the center stick, then the handstick will be pointing down and to the outside, causing the center stick to roll off the ramp created by the handstick. Using your shoulder and elbow joints instead of your wrists to move the hand­stick to the outside will keep the hands tick parallel and pointed in front of you.

Notice that your wrists are held much lower to the ground than might at first be assumed. As you lower them, your wrists should remain in the same horizontal plane of the hands ticks. You do not want the handsticks pointing down at the ground.

Okay, it's time to add gravity to the equa­tion. Just as in the first method, as you push the center stick back across, also lift up slightly with the hands tick to bring the center stick a few inches off the ground. Each hand now flicks up and across, up and across. Visualize the center stick rising and then falling onto the other handstick where it is steadied, and then flicked back up and across.