Staff Flow Drills: Part 2 - Figure 8's for Fun and Profit

When you first learn northern staff, one of the first things you practice is the figure eight.  It's an essential movement, you are told: it's for blocking, they say.  And while you might agree that you would not approach someone wildly spinning a staff in this manner, you may not be certain of how to do much more than intimidate novices with the movement in your own practice. The drill, as introduced here, focuses on one half of the figure eight and provides both defensive and offensive interpretation of the movement.

I'll start by saying that there are two versions of the figure eight that one often sees.  One is a badly done (but fast) version that is sometimes seen in contemporary wushu wherein the staff is held at a distance from the body.  This version uses mainly the arms to effect the spin with minimal reinforcing body motion.  It works great for show on thin staffs, but is much more difficult to do using anything substantial.  Anh once had me using a lead pipe to practice, and I can't imagine controlling the staff at any distance from my body. 

Fig 1: The tuck in blocking an attack.

The second version, which I am also seeing some from some of the better contemporary wushu athletes, involves a body turn and tuck and keeps a portion of the staff against the body for a fair portion of the movement.  The tuck and body contact provide reinforcement against impact when one blocks (Fig 1).