With a blitz-quick flick of his wrist, a shower of cards rained down in Chase Cottle’s living room.

The cards strewn about the floor were from one of the 120 decks the Maple Crest Middle School eighth-grader received for Christmas.

“That’s all he asked for,” Cottle’s mother, Danelle, said.

“Now they’re all on the floors in theaters,” Chase added on.

Handling cards with finesse has been one of the most difficult parts 13-year-old Chase has encountered as he has taught himself magic.

But it has paid off for him.

Cottle spent a weekend in August in Carlisle, Pa., at the Magician’s Alliance of Eastern States 2009 Convention.

While there, he entered the second magic competition of his two-year career, winning awards for best junior stage performance and stage manipulation. The judges also scored his act higher than any other — professional or amateur.

Since his victories, the phones have been ringing to book Cottle as an entertainer.

Self-Taught Techniques

Watching magicians such as Lance Burton and Chris Angel perform on TV was not enough for Cottle. He had to do it himself.

It began with a beginner’s magic kit he received for Christmas two years ago.

He has since spent at least an hour every day rehearsing his routine. Time he used to spend playing on sports teams he now spends practicing his sleight-of-hand tricks.

“You go over it repeatedly,” he said. “You clean up the mess, and you do it again.”

Unlike most kids studying magic, Danelle Cottle said, her son did not have a professional to show him the secrets.

“A lot of [magicians] are amazed,” she said. “Most his age have been taught by famous magicians.”

Instead of a tutelage with a professional, Cottle spent his time studying magic tricks he saw on TV, dissecting how they were done, then teaching himself how to do them.

The Convention

It was a last-minute decision for Cottle to travel out to Carlisle, Pa., for the magic convention.

It was by suggestion of Indianapolis professional magician Robert Sode that he went.

Sode said he met Cottle at a magic seminar in February. Cottle later e-mailed him asking how to book shows, Sode said.

“I said ‘First, you’ve got to get out there and be seen,’” he said. “Get out there and try competing.”

A few days before the convention, Sode told Cottle he was going, and the two drove out east together.

Cottle originally planned only to attend the conference, he said, but entering the competition happened last minute and with some luck.

He had to sign a waiting list to get into the competition because of his late decision to go, but one of the competitors dropped out just before they left.

The convention was filled with sales, lectures and professional and amateur magical acts, he said.

As Cottle took the stage, the routine began with a flick of his hands and out launched an umbrella with confetti that trickled onto the stage.

Cottle rolled up the sleeves of his tailed overcoat and out came an array of balls, handkerchiefs, lit candles and cards, each of which he intricately twirled about.

Two weeks later, as he finished viewing a DVD of his performance, he reflected on what has been hardest for him — acting out his routine with visible enthusiasm.

His family pointed out his shy demeanor as he sheepishly grinned and fumbled with his cards.

The Career Begins

At the age of 13, Cottle knows what he wants to do when he is an adult.

Starting a professional career will let him be like his idol, magician Lance Burton.

“He was one of the first I ever really saw,” Cottle said. “Before he got old, he was the best.”

The sleight-of-hand tricks Cottle does now will pale in comparison to what he wants to do if he masters the grandiose illusions he has seen Burton perform.

“He uses birds, girls, that sort of thing,” Cottle said.

With some help from a manager, the opportunities for paid shows have begun since he won at the Pennsylvania convention.

He has performed during set breaks for local bands and theaters in Indianapolis have approached him.

The magicians alliance has also invited Cottle to its 2010 convention in New Jersey. He will receive an all-expenses paid trip out there to perform.

• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at (765) 454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.