So I’ve seen a lot of yoyo appreciation threads and that got me thinking—there are a lot of yoyo tricks that deserve some appreciation too! This could be a nice way to nerd out about some tricks and maybe learn a little trick history. It could also be cool if people wanted to make vids of themselves doing the trick but that should in no way be necessary to contribute, just could be interesting to see all the different takes on some classic tricks.
Black Hops is one of my absolute favorite tricks and this seems like the perfect trick to try out this trick appreciation idea with! I love this trick because of how simple yet hard it is and how many core yoyo concepts are taught through learning this one trick. You start by throwing a triple or nothing and hop out to the trapeze, and then onto the back half! It’s like a technical exercise type trick that is super satisfying to finish. I still get nervous before that last undercut every time. I also think a lot of people try to learn Black Hops because it was the last trick on the sport ladder and it’s nice to see a trick most yoyoers are familiar with. I’m certain almost everyone has had the experience of landing that final hop only to fumble the release of the throw hand strings.
I have no idea who made this trick or any of the history behind it but I would definitely like to know.
(Sorry this video is filmed terribly in my kitchen, I’m still trying to figure out how to get better footy.)
Let me know if y’all like this idea of a trick appreciation thread and how y’all feel about Black Hops!
Agreed! The first half is so fun and satisfying and the second half is so hard and stilted (for me). It’s kind of like playing scales on an instrument you’re learning (a few tricks on the ladder feel like that actually). I also like it because it’s a trick I’m familiar with but also see the pros talk about and incorporate elements of into stuff they’re doing.
Black Hops is named after the yoyo legend Tomonari Ishiguro whose nickname was Black, it’s his trick. Just another foundational yoyo player who set the stage for modern yoyo play with his unique tricks. He was the 2007 artistic performance division winner at worlds, and placed well in 1A every year prior from 2001.
I’m not really a fan of black hops (sorry), but I respect the trick and Black a lot. I kinda feel this way about a lot of earlier yoyo tricks tbh, I just don’t really enjoy doing them. I think tricks like black hops were cooler when the yoyos they were done with were a lot worse. These like old hyper focused tricks feel sorta weird and kinda divorced in a way from modern tricks. With modern tricks skewing to be far less cohesive in favor of just being an amalgamation of several vastly different concepts and elements.
Im confused are we specifically appreciating Black Hops or any trick we like? If it’s any my trick of appreciation is the Green Triangle or ‘GT’. I just love how what started off as a pretty simple trick by Paul Escolar turned into a trick that has become a cornerstone in yoyoing. In almost every tutorial or routine you watch nowadays you’re guaranteed to see a GT in there somewhere. Also here is a link to learn more about the trick, I only knew who invented the trick but it’s origins are actually pretty interesting! Good thread man, I will def try and film a combo with a few GTs later to add to this post.
I’m always coming back to Black Hops. I too can’t seem to get the second part down consistently. I find it difficult to manage the string on all the way out to the last position. Very fun trick though.
The Grind Machine was unresponsive though, unless you’re remembering Augie using like a FAST 201 or something. A lot of these old tricks were made on and performed mostly using yoyos like the Renegade, HyperWarp Wings, Freehand One, etc. Highwalled small bearing yoyos with a starburst or some other kind of big aggressive response.
I feel like not having the yoyo respond during the trick is half of the “trick” during something like black hops or spirit bomb. They’re still neat tricks, but I feel like yoyo technology and just general trick structure has changed so much that doing these older tricks with modern yoyos just kinda feels weird. Like how trapeze used to be a big trick on a slim wooden yoyo, but now when doing it on an unresponsive yoyo it just feels totally different.
Ahhh I got you yeah that makes sense, I actually forgot a lot of those tricks were done on responsive yo-yos. I can picture my knuckles now if I tried spirit bomb on my FH1
Oldschool players were built different lol. I feel like especially younger kids might not look at some of these tricks and be very impressed, but the moment you think about the people who inveted these tricks in the early 2000s on super responsive yoyos you’re just like “sheesh…”
I pictured this one just for black hops and if people liked the idea, there could be more for other tricks. Sorry I was trying to introduce the idea of a trick appreciation thread first. I see how that is confusing for sure and I would totally be down for a gt appreciation thread also
For sure and thank you for the history lesson! I’ve seen some of Black’s freestyles before (how could I not remember the showmanship) but I had no idea this was his trick. I totally understand your feelings about the place of older tricks in the modern era. When I got my first high walled unresponsive Yoyo, I couldn’t land anything anymore. I had to relearn everything and focus way more on my technique, which has helped me so much in the long run. As soon as I went back to my modern performance monsters, it felt like cheating. I still can rarely (never) pull off black hops with a responsive Yoyo so I need more practice there, but that’s what I like about a trick like this—once I can land this with a responsive yoyo, I know my skill will have gone up and that new skill will carry over to other tricks and when I’m just flowing.
I totally see how tricks are tied to the era they were created and I like to guess the era based on the names (like how the dragon ball z reference in spirit bomb dates that trick). I definitely respect the old school players for being able to innovate and pull off all that they did with the tech they had, it’s wild. I like my modern performance monsters for learning new tricks and being creative and sloppy but I don’t feel like I’m starting to really get a trick down until I can land it on something high walled and slim-ish.
Was it like in stalls or did they actually do the entire trick while spinning? Either way that’s cool if you find that thread or know which one it’s in lemme know
Milestone achieved except I have since watched all of Blacks worlds performances and I don’t think he start doing this trick until he switched to unresponsive so I don’t know why I was so set on doing this lol. Definitely learned a lot about responsive play to get here.
