My issue is not that I can’t catch the yoyo… but perhaps HOW I catch it.
Right now it hits my fingers pretty much every-time and it, well, hurts. My hand is completely sore lol.
However, I’ve been doing the trapeze and dismount today and notice how in the tutorials it appears to be caught mostly in the palm - while for me it lands near my finger tips.
So. How can I improve my catching?
Practice more until you can’t even catch it because your hand and finger tips are so sore, then practice more and more and more.
I kinda do this thing where my index finger on my throw hand is kinda down and it seems to for some reason take some of the sting out. But I’m still popping my hand pretty good.
After you get used to the pain, it goes away. Sort of like your middle finger when you started.
Is the string on your middle finger in the right position? Between the joint closest to the tip and the middle joint?
Catching has never been an issue when I know its coming. The only finger smacks I would get is when the yoyo would grab the string and come up when I didn’t want it to.
Yeah, I have the string in the right place. It constantly hits my the inside of my forefinger every time I catch it.
What yoyo are you using? Some shapes are just uncomfortable. When you throw your yoyo it is spinning really fast and you make it return, it will hurt, while if you have done few tricks and it is starting to slow down it won’t hurt.
Remember, that there is no “right” way to attach the string to your finger, I prefer to have it farthe back on my finger, and others do consider that “wrong” (my point has already been proven in this very thread). Some of the best players in the world don’t even use there middle finger!
That’s true, string position is just another preference of the thrower I was just thinking of a reason to get finger wacks like that. When I started I kept my string low on the finger and I would bruise my palm and fingers all the time. I was playing a responsive yoyo too though
I’d like to be playing on an unresponsive yoyo but I can’t bind yet so I waste a lot of time when I’m just trying to work on my sleeper or small things like getting in and out of trapeze.
When I first started throwing in earnest my finger with the string attached was really sore for a while. After a short time it got better. It sounds to me however your catch is your problem. It shouldn’t be. With your hand dexterity and coordination I’m certain you will be able to get this straightened out with some slight tweaking.
Here’s my suggestion; have you watched all of André’s beginner videos? I don’t wish to discredit your skill level, but a little review of the fundamentals may go a long way towards refining the quirks in your throw and catch which are giving you trouble.
Please remember this, you can always come here to this forum with questions. You’ll find a welcoming community anxious to help you advance. That’s what they’re all about here.
(well, there are a couple of jerks here, but just like Princess Bride’s flame spurts in the Fire Swamp they make a peculiar clicking sound just before they go off, so you soon learn how to avoid them.)
(make sure you have watched André’s tutorials under “Learn”. it’ll help you I think.)
Thanks, I think my catch is the issue too.
I’ve watched all the beginner videos 1-2 times pretty much everyday for the past week now. I’ll go back and review them yet again tomorrow just to make sure I’m on par.
I do have another concern, one that I’m sure has been addressed before.
Bearings, where should I change to an unresponsive one? I know when I get to more advanced stuff it’s going to be needed but I’d like to spend more time on moves like trapeze without worrying about it snapping back to my hand unexpectedly.
Honestly the pain just goes away with practice. As for bearing I switched when I went to the intermediate section. I had a Henry lizard and it couldn’t spin long enough for one brain twister revolution ( with my better throw now I can even do kwijibo with that thing :D) so I’d reccomend switching then. Never to early to learn how to bind, just make sure you have a solid throw and never give up!
I’ve considered switching too and played around with the ‘speed bearing’ earlier today… I really enjoyed having less response since it’s ultimately where I’m heading but I currently can’t bind or start a dead yoyo. I think tomorrow I’ll go ahead and switch though - then tough out those minor details. 
Are you just practicing trapeze-dismount-throw-trapeze-dismount? I did that for quite a while when I first learned. Don’t be too impatient; wait a few seconds longer brfore the dismount. (let it slow down a bit before you call it back!) Some people learn to bind quicker than others. Remember, if go to an unresponsive yoyo, until you can bind it will mean every throw will be throw-trapeze-try to bind-windup the yoyo by hand-throw-trapeze-try to bind-wind up the yoyo by hand-etc. :
Haha. Yeah, I’m aware that it would be rather annoying but it will force me to do binding properly and really pay attention to the details. I don’t have issues with the dismount for trapeze besides the fact that the yoyo doesn’t land in my palm, it always hits me in the finger tips lol.
I had played with responsive yoyos a lot when I was young. Once I got my throw consistent and got the split bottom mount the yoyos kept catching and busting my fingers so I just forced myself to bind. I was playing Duncan yoyos at the time so i couldn’t just switch bearings, I had to remove a friction sticker and commit.
On a side note I havent forced myself to snapstart yet. I’m getting into advanced level tricks but haven’t put much time into the start. That will probably be this weeks goal.
My advice is to put the speed bearing in and force yourself to learn the front bind at least for sleeper based moves. Check out the bind vids at highspeedyoyo too they are great for learning different binds.
I’ve started working on snapstarts.
Out of curiosity - does the dismount shown for UFO (in Andre’s video) work with an unresponsive yoyo? I’ve been working on that move and while I can’t seem to get it to work yet, I’m curious if I’ll still be able to work on it after I switch to unresponsive.
Also - does the dismount he shows for Trapeze work on unresponsive yoyo’s as well? There is no bind for it, so I’d assume not but I figured I’d ask.
The UFO works mostly with responsive yoyos.
UFO is one of the tricks I chose to skip over for the time being.
So then what do you non-responsive players do to lessen string tense, besides taking it off and doing it that way?
I can see why you’d skip over it - I wouldn’t mind doing the same haha.
Throw a sleeper, grab the string about 90% down, bring up and over my non-throw hand so the yoyo is on my pinky side, palm down, and the string is on my index finger/thumb side. Bring hands together, examine wraps, then release, grab again as if to rock the baby, wrap the string counter what the wraps were earlier. Start over until string doesn’t want to twist around itself.
Do a mach-5 but stop half way, then pinch the string connected to the yoyo with your non-throw hand and pull it to the side of the yoyo. I know that this sounds confusing, and I don’t know any tutorials for it. It is in this video at 1:09.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9TXl3ujGa4&feature=player_detailpage
I appreciate the response - downside is… I’m way too new at this to even think about attempting that.