Random Ah Ha - More efficient way to sweep across body

Today I came across a way to help control my balance a bit better when quickly moving the stick from one side to the other. Its especially useful when the ball in in close.

If I have the stick out in front of me (see earlier past) and tried to swing it quickly from one side to the other, the large arc that it sweeps out and the distance that the stick must be out in front to get past my body made for slow movement, often led to me stabbing myself in the stomach as I passed and caused the unicycle to twist in the opposite direction due to the large radii.

The thing I found today was that instead of sweeping a big arc with the stick extended out it was a bit more effective if I drew the stick back and around my side (retracting back past my hip) and then when it fully 'retracted' push it forward while continuing to rotate it with the lower hand. In this way the blade tracks along a straighter path rather than a large arc which seems to results in less twisting of the uni to counteract the sweep due the action being dominated pulling and pushing action rather than upper body twisting which naturally needs the uni to counteract it.

A key to making this comfortable is to make sure the lower hand slides along the stick so that it can remain at a good distance from you body when the stick is retracted. This also help give better control and accuracy to the stick placement.

Update:

This retracting to the side seems to be valuable in avoiding the feeling of being cramped up when handling the ball in close. I used it when trying to dribble the ball from left to right and it felt like there was a lot more control and speed in the movement.

Update:

I tried using this approach when handling the ball through a series of cones. I was suprised at just how much counter-twisting this action still resulted in. As a result I found it very difficult to guide my way through a slalom course of cones because when I turned the wheel to go around a cone and then reached for the ball and pulled it in the pulling action changed my course. I think I need to twist away from the ball just prior to pulling it in or start the pulling action by keeping my arms fixed and using a deliberate turning of the uni to start the action of pulling the ball in. Which ever there needs to be some counter rotation before the ball gets pulled in with this approach.