Crooked Throws

Most of my throwing life, I never looked at a tutorial, or read or learned proper technique for throwing a yoyo. I throw left-handed, and have always had a consistent problem: when I throw it down and let it sleep, the yo leans/tilts to the right. I don’t mean a gradual lean - the yo is tilted as soon as it hits the end of the string.

Watched, and am following, the tut here at YYE, and changed my positioning to what was demonstrated, but still having issues with it coming into its spin tilting to the right.

I have noticed that if I try to compensate by tilting the yo to the left in my hand as I throw, that often makes the problem worse, and it leans to the right even more. Kind of odd.

Changing the position of the yo in my hand does help with the angle, but I think I may be losing in other areas by not following proper technique.

Is there a “the thing most people do that causes this is…” type of fix? Anyway, interested in your thoughts.

I did notice that when I focused on wrapping the string tightly around the yo, the problem seemed less consistent.

Practice really. And work on lining up your throw hand, Yoyo, and shoulder.

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Yeah it takes a LONG time to develop a really proper throw. My throw is still far from perfect and the occasional throw will have tilt or vibe. Luckily as you get better you learn how to automatically correct tilt while youre doing tricks, so it’s not really an issue.

tl;dr - practice more, but also don’t worry toooo much about the throw, just keep learning and practicing new tricks.

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You’ve developed bad habits. You’re going to have to work hard to break them. With your current concerns and observations, it sounds to me like you will work on this.

Center the yoyo in your hand, middle finger in the gap. Look at the yoyo before you throw to see if you’re level there. If you’re level there, that might help most of the problem. The rest is all practice and repetition, same as before.

Sounds good - thanks, everyone.

I looked at a few online tutorials, and they all pretty much said the same thing. Just wanting to make sure I wasn’t adding or leaving something out.

You can also practise over a tiled floor, or anything that will give you some sort of “line” - this might help give you a reference point to focus on.

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If you have problems throwing the yoyo with the yoyo aligned to your fingers, try throwing perpendicular to it. The below images might help.
Instead of the norm at the first image, try the second and third one.



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I’ve actually modified what you see in the first photo, above (thanks for those, btw!), just keeping my fingers pretty much aligned (not putting the middle finger into the groove) and practiced letting the yo just roll off. Throws are significantly better - just have to remember to keep the consistency.

I’ll also give grip I see in the other 2 photos a try. Pics are often worth 1,000 words. Thank you!

I’d normally use the grip like the second and third picture when throwing a Breakaway/sideways based trick. I find it has less stress on my wrists, especially when throwing horizontals.