Stickball (also known as Stykball) originated in Brisbane's West End (Australia). It is a form of ball and stick manipulation where the stick becomes an extension of the body, balancing, spinning and throwing an oversize tennis ball. It incorporates elements of dance, acrobatics, hakeysak, body rolling, contact juggling, staff manipulation and juggling. Even though it can be approached, trained and performed as a very skillful form of 2 objects manipulation, the initial spirit is a more communicative one:

Stickball developed as a non-competitive freestyle multi-player game, usually played with 2- 9 players. The players stand in a circle all holding sticks, usually broom handles. They then pass a giant tennis ball to each other by rolling it along the stick and launching it. The objective of the game is to keep the ball flowing. Each player is unique in their technique. The game involves smoothly moving the ball from one person to another using the ball and the stick, never hitting the ball but rather keeping contact and balancing, gracefully guiding and redirecting the movement of the ball.

The game is cooperative rather than competitive and is beautiful to watch. There are no fixed rules, so it leaves a lot of room for creativity and allows players of any skill level to join or leave the circle at any time, it is also possible to use other objects or body roles to guide the ball. The spirit of the game is one of fairness and co-operation.


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