Entering a 1A Ladder Division as an uber n00b

Yo-Yo Contests, Clubs, and Events
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Oh no! :frowning:

Burn out is real. And it sucks.
The enthusiasm and momentum we have for this hobby goes up and down over time. haha it’d be hella nice if we were always super pumped up and excited!
But don’t feel too bad! Please try not to be too hard on yourself!
We ALL go through these slumps! And it’s completely normal to start missing simple tricks we thought we had completely nailed down. I bet if you asked any pro they’d tell you the same thing. We all have the days where things just aren’t going our way and we struggle like hell.

It’s normal.
It sucks and it’s frustrating and it can really eat at your self-esteem…
But, it’s normal. You’re not alone on this.

It can be really easy to give up after a few days like this. To get frustrated and to pretty much say ‘screw it’ and throw in the white towel.
But I strongly believe that it’s the people who don’t give in…that push through and hold on…it’s those people who over time get good at this hobby.
It’s easy to quit when things aren’t flowing and our momentum has gone…but if we just hold on, better days WILL come. We just gotta keep on keeping on through these slumps.

You really pushed yourself really hard a couple of weeks ago! Damn you did well man! Look how much you picked up in such a short time? I’ve been nothing but impressed!
It’s okay that you’re going through a bit of a down time. You had a long/exhausting trip. Some of the ‘newness’ and excitement of this hobby has worn off…it’s okay. You’re okay.
And things will get better.
Maybe take a day or 2 just to relax and play with your yos. Don’t even worry about trying to nail all the tricks on the ladder. Maybe try some new things out…and if you don’t hit the new tricks, that’s okay! Just move on from them and try something else!

I really hope going to the competition will help spark some of the excitement for you!!

Maybe you should save what you’d spend on Black Friday…for the trip? You’ll be able to try and see all sorts of new yo-yos there, and maybe something there will catch your eye?

…
I’m proud of you man. It’s been awesome having you here on the boards. You’re such a bad *** in my books!
Please don’t be so down on yourself! :frowning:

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Aw thanks @twitch77 that was such a sweet post.
Although I think I was a little misleading, I don’t think I am burnt out…yet or want to give up.
On the contrary I keep looking forward to tomorrow’s practice.
It’s just I feel a bit frustrated at going backwards and felt a bit hopeless today and missing all my tricks that’s all.
It was more of a urghhhhhh I give up for the day!!! Rather than I give up, period. :slight_smile:

More like why am I so light headed and blur and clumsy today, don’t know what’s going on, maybe I should stop spending my energy looking at new yoyos and focus that on getting better first.
I lost sight of my priorities and started indulging on retail therapy etc.

Hehe but your post did make me feel awesome again so thank you.

Sorry if I sounded like I hate life hate yoyos.
It was more I hate my yoyo skill level today and I give up for the day, screw today’s practice, where is my wine. Lol

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When you’re exhausted you will need some rest - any practice you do will not be very effective. I find that when I’m tired (not even after a long trip!) I tend to make lots of mistakes, ding my yoyos, and not really have a good time - so I have to set the yoyos down and come back to them another day. Well, maybe I’ll grab a responsive and do some gravity pulls. That’s it though!!

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Okay…well I freaking love you. lol
I’m sorry for gushing over you so much. I tend to do that sometimes and I really hope I don’t make people feel super awkward because of it.

I just watched all 6 of your videos…and I don’t even have the words for it. I’m sure there has to be a word for how I feel…I’m just too much of a dum-dum to know what it is! lol
And I was grinning through almost all of them! Dang I enjoy watching you!
I’m not sure what it is exactly.
I think a lot of it is because I relate with you so much. We’re at about the same skill level, you struggle in a lot of the same ways that I do and have, you’re really hard on yourself like I can be…
It also doesn’t hurt that you’re just such a genuinely cool and nice dude. Very charismatic both on the forums and on camera.

lol I was laughing so much through your responsive video! haha :D. I wasn’t laughing at you…but more like I was laughing with you. I’m SO familiar with the sound of a yo snapping back and whacking you in the hands! lol…the pain is something I know well!
Also, I gasped out loud and said “Oh my god!” when you said you were going to try to do your plastic whip in this video lmao! You’re a much braver man than I am to even attempt such a thing on a responsive! haha

By the time I got to your Pyro video though…I started to feel a bit bad for you :(. I could see it in your eyes…the exhaustion and frustration.
Not a fun place to be :frowning:.

…
A few notes.
How the hell are you so freaking good at Kwyjibo man!?! Like…WTF? haha that’s crazy! I’ve been working at them for a couple months now, and I’m still not as consitant at them as you! Holy hell dude!

I think you’re eventually going to get SO freaking good at Boingy-Boings! You struggle to get them going, but once you do have them going…wow! They’re looking great!
They probably still feel super awkward for you…but on camera they look very good!
This is one of a few tricks I work on just about every day I yo. It’s going to take me awhile…lol

…Eli Hops! That’s so awesome! You’re so good at these!

And Skin The Gerbil. I struggled in the same ways with this trick as you are…there’s a reason it’s so far down on trick ladders. It seems like it should be such an easy and simple trick…but really there’s a lot of skill involved in keeping everything lined up and landing on all the strings.
I’ve no issues with it anymore, but just a few months ago I was struggling just like you are with it!

Oh and also…Pop’N’Fresh. It’s become one of my favorites! But it’s another one that took me awhile…and even still I struggle sometimes to do a bunch of them in a row. I also can’t do them super quickly like I’ve seen some people do. Not yet at least.
The first pop is easy…it’s that second pop.
This might be one of those tricks you work on in spurts. Work on it for a week or so, then put it away for awhile and come back to it in the future?

…
Sorry for the long post man. Sorry for gushing over you like an annoying fanboy lol.
But dang I’ve enjoyed having you around. It’s been such an honor and pleasure to be on this journey with you.

…
I think of yo-yoing like learning a new musical instrument. It’s hard. It takes practice. And it takkes a very long time to get really good at.
Sometimes it’s super fun…sometimes it’s a pain in the ***…sometimes things go really easy for us…other times it’s very difficult and frustrating.
It takes struggle to get there.

So struggle on man! I have no doubt in my mind that if you keep at it, you’ll continue to be awesome!

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I mean do what you want but this early into the hobby the wanting to get more yoyos might well lead you to feeling burnt out. You have some awesome stuff and I really don’t think you need anything more. Appreciate what you have and get to know it better! I can only wish I had as much high end stuff as you when I was this new!

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@MarkD, @twitch77, @beeebon

Thank you for the words of encouragement.
Yeah, you’re right @MarkD, maybe I should have just taken a rest last night. :slight_smile:
I rarely get frustrated, I think it’s the (however little it may be, being noob division, the pressure is real for me) pressure of the contest, being only a few days away now and I haven’t touched a yoyo for a week.
Although on the way to Korea I did sit on the plane for 12 hours holding the string up 2 inches above the yoyo and kept flicking it to try and get better at flick starts while watching movies.

I know there is zero pressure and whatever perceived pressure is not real and I put it on myself, it’s not that I want to win, it’s just that I want to perform to the best of my ability.
The whole, if you are going to do it, might as well do it properly, mentality.

@twitch77, thank you for your awesome post, you are awesome too.
You know the reason I keep doing these videos apart from the fact that it keeps me motivated is knowing that at least you will be watching my progress and I enjoy sharing my journey with you.

I look forward to my practice sessions and then making a run-through on video to wrap up each session. And I look forward to reading your feedback the next day.
Longer the better so keep it up, please! Gush away!
You are what is keeping my motivation at peak levels, it’s like having a yoyo club buddy while not really as this is one of those few hobbies where most people including me don’t really have other people to share our success, frustration, and just our passion for the hobby with. Like say I spend $200 on a yoyo, I doubt anyone would understand or care.
And who even cares what a Kwyjibo is and whether I am getting more consistent at it.

Yeah oddly, Kwijibo and Eli hops are becoming one of my more consistent tricks these days.

Boingy boing, you are right I have a bit of trouble getting in started, and I think I lost the rhythm a bit during my time off yoyos.

Having watched back the videos last night, I noticed that I was rushing a bit and my up and downs were too small and too fast instead of more fluid.

Going to try and get the feeling back today.

Pop n fresh is definitely the one I am stuck on at the moment.

I hope I don’t lose one life over this trick as I only need to make 2 cycles (so 4 back and forth).

Skin the gerbil, I only have an issue with the reverse lindy loop, so I think this can be ironed out with some practice.

I know before a contest you should practice on the yoyo you will use, and that is what I am doing most of the time.

But I am trying on various yoyo’s to try and make me be more consistent instead of just pure muscle memory. :slight_smile:

My goal at the moment is to just get to #18 Kwyjibo without crashing out midway, and to nail that one. :slight_smile:

You know what though, @MarkD, for my next yoyo purchase, I decided just now that I am going to make it an MK1 Diffraction V2 in green. :grin:

To be completely honest I have been umming and ahhing over the Diffraction V2 for a while now going back and forth over whether I should get one. Not that there was ever a pressure on me to buy one, but I wanted to because it’s @MarkD’s company.
The truth is, there are so many yoyos I want to buy and the Diffraction was on my wish list partly because I thought the pink/purple one looked beautiful, so it was a slight bummer when it got sold out before Black Friday.
But mainly, just because I enjoy our interactions and I just wanted to support you and give back to this community.

I think I mentioned in the other thread (“Thoughts on my next yoyo purchase for Black Friday”) that while lack of budget is an issue, I can afford to make the odd yoyo purchase if I don’t spend money on other hobbies (ahem…a.k.a alcohol) but I am more limited by the number of yoyos I have as my wife doesn’t really mind me spending money on things I want or need and doesn’t really track my spendings. But at the same time, she’s not keen on me going overboard (as I have a tendency to do so on my passion, be that hobbies or other things) and would not be too keen if I kept having new yoyos popping up, and having different coloured yoyos she never saw is pretty obvious giveaway. And I would just feel guilty too. (maybe I should be like twitch and get them all in the same colour, lol). I think I feel more guilty about buying lots of budget yoyo and having too many that I can’t use each of them as often, but less so for having a few of high-end yoyos that will get used more each individually. (this kind of answers @beeebon’s comment). I think it’s more about how many yoyos I have as I can only use one at a time (for 1A anyway) rather than how much I have spent on it in total (within reason).

But I really want to support you for being awesome, and give back to this community that I am enjoying and getting a lot of help from. :slight_smile:
And now that I have decided, I am really looking forward to it. I think putting off high-end expensive purchase and getting a more beginner-friendly yoyo was the right call to make right now. Besides I get a chance to try out a wide yoyo too!
(Green will keep @twitch77 happy as well)

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Thank you so much! This means a lot - Yoyoexpert has been a wealth of great interactions and advice from so many people, and I’m really happy to be able to give back. I really hope your trick ladder goes well at SRC, and even if it doesn’t, that you have loads of fun and get to try lots of other people’s yoyos and learn new tricks!

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Hey @MarkD I’m really sorry, on hindsight I think I made a poor judgement and misspoke.

I don’t think I should have said I am buying the MK1 Diffraction v2, mainly because of you, although somewhat true, I wouldn’t have done so regardless if the yoyo itself had no merit.

(e.g. if @twitch77 made a (green) yoyo I probably wouldn’t buy it :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:)

I just want to be clear that this yoyo has been on my wishlist by it’s own merit, but what I meant was there were other yoyos I also wanted to buy at the same time.
What made this jump to the top of that list is because of how awesome you are.

Hope that was phrased a little better. Sorry if I sounded a little like an arrogant count.
It was really not meant that way, but having re-read what I wrote, it came off that way to me, so it probably did to you too. :slight_smile:

Mucho love~

(I’m just gutted that the pink one sold out before Black Friday which would have made it an easier decision for me, I love the fade on that colourway :laughing:)

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I think I figured that was implied since we chatted about the design before. Thank you though!!

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Thanks @MarkD, yeah I thought it was implied too, but I just wanted to clarify it in case I was giving off the wrong message as I could see it could be open to misunderstanding. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Today’s practice went a lot better, and I even gave hook a go, although I only managed to land around 5 today (that is like 5 out of 5,000 tries). But did manage to get 1 on camera just about.

D-4 let’s do this bois!!! (@Glenacius_K hehe just kidding)

  • Also learnt that there is one more element on Gerbil that I wasn’t practicing, a reverse somersault after coming out of the lindy loop. So need to practice more on the gerbil.
  • Pop n Fresh I think I am getting there.
  • Boingy Boing needs a bit more practice on how to get the momentum started
  • Today was not a Kwyjibo day :sweat_smile: haha

Today was overall a better day, so I thought I might even share a photo with my coach @twitch77 on how I normally relax after a practice session, a bit of YYE forum, bit of watching videos of whatever, and a nice glass of homemade espresso martini on my bar table (or anything really that has alcohol in it haha).

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Awesome! I’m so glad today is a better day for you!

I’m glad you posted this…cause I’ve been having an off day today and made the decision earlier that I wasn’t going to pick up a yo for today.
But then I saw you post this and it inspired me to go get some practice in!
I’ve now practiced a bit each day for the last 30 straight days :D.
Also, once I started…I really enjoyed myself. I’ve been struggling with hitting a couple of combos I’m working on, but hit them both today…was also hitting Kwyjibo easier today as well!

Great job on doing a bunch of Pop’N’Freshes!
I don’t think each pop counts as 1 rep of the trick though. Like you were counting out each pop…but the whole trick involves 2 pops (so for this ladder you’d have to count out 4 pop).
haha NO idea if that makes sense!
At any rate, it’s great to see you progressing on these! :smiley:

I still can’t believe how good you are with Eli Hops and Kwyjibo! Even on your off days like today with Kwyj…you make it look good!

Also think it’s cool that you’re working on Snap Starts! I think it’s such a cool trick. I almost never wind my yo-yo up any other way anymore…though I almost never get my yo spinning as fast/hard as you see the guys do on youtube! lol…hopefully I’ll build the muscles or whatever for it.

…
Oh! And I thought of a few tricks you may (or may not) be interested in trying out once the competition is over and you’re ready to move on from working on the ladder.

Black Hops (though you may want to learn Rewind…or at the very least, Triple Or Nothing, first):

And the next 2 would probably help make learning to get Hidemasa Hook more consistent…
I’m right there with you though, I only nail 1 hook about ever 2 bazillion attempts. And by the end of the evening my shoulder has been sore as hell from all the failed attempts! haha

Ghost Bind:

Laceration:

Oh and also…
Wrist Wrap:

…
Anyhow, thanks for sharing your daily journey with us! :smiley:

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Great progress! Your hops are good and your form/throw are good so far.

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Thanks @MarkD.

Looking forward to taking it up a level with the Diffraction V2 :slight_smile:

So I traded my Pyro + a little cash to pay for shipping in both directions for a G2 Covenant.
The G2 Covenant that’s on its way is green.

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Not the actual photos, I found these photos on google, but I think it’s the same colour.

So debating between sticking with the green colour way for the Diffraction or change to a blue one. Such a nice dilemma to have. :slight_smile:
#FirstWorldProblems

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Thank you @twitch77 for being part of my daily journey :slight_smile:

I am glad I inspired you to yo yesterday.

I’m out on a night out with a few mates tonight.
Brought a yoyo with me though hehe.
A cheeky shot, while waiting for people to turn up.

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What you said about pop n fresh makes total sense.

Yeah I do want to learn black hops and actually get round to the latter half of rewind.
But I am not looking at any tricks that doesn’t further my progress on the trick ladder at the moment.
If I am still relatively sober tonight I plan on doing a little pop n fresh and boingy practice as usual and then start working on laceration binds and laceration trapeze with the aim to see if I can land two consecutive hooks by Saturday :heart_decoration:

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Omgosh the Covenant is soooo purty!
I’ve not played one so far…I only own 1 G2 yoyo so far…but it’s without a doubt the highest performing yo I’ve ever used (though not necessarily the funnest).
G2 just makes pure magic on strings. Can’t wait for your Covenant to show up and to hear your thought on it!!

Also…and let’s just keep this between us? I’ve a reputation to uphold!
But…I think it’d be cool for you to go with the blue Diffraction 2 instead of the green. That way you’ll have a bunch of color in your collection!

…Okay. I can’t believe I said that. It feels like I spewed out a bunch of dirty words there and I feel rather sick from it.
I think I need to go wash my mouth out with soap!

Oh absolutely :smiley: And I totally agree!
My suggestion were just some ideas I had last night that I thought you might be interested in checking out after the comp is done and you no longer have to work on the ladder everyday.

…
Hope you’re having (or had) a great time with your friends!!

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Thanks Twitch!
I had a great time with my mates last night.
Found out yoyo and alcohol did not mix and I couldn’t even do double or nothing properly after drinking lol.

Yup thanks for the non green support (just between you and me :wink:).

Decided to change to blue. So that I have some variations is colour for me to try.

Today was my penultimate practice and I think it was positive overall. The whole session was a good positive reinforcement for me going into the final stretch before the contest.

Check it out. Even got a few hooks on camera. :slight_smile:
Also thought I might change the setting to more festive. Normally I don’t like to yoyo in this room incase I end up throwing my yoyo at the tv by accident.

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Nice job man, and I’m glad you had a good time last night!

I really like the leaning Christmas tree lol :D. I should really start decorating soon. I love Christmas decorations!
Does your tv connect to the internet? It’d be really neat if used some sort of screensaver app or youtube video :D. lol It’s the only time I ever use my big tv out in my living room. I have a really cool aquarium app I use a lot (with my roku)…and during the holidays I turn it into a fireplace, or there’s some really pretty Christmas themed screensaver apps on my roku device I use as well that plays holidays songs.

Nice job on the Pop’N’Freshes! You’ve come so far on it in such a short amount of time!
And Nice job on the hooks as well!

lol I’m afraid I’m going to have a REALLY hard time keeping up with your progress once you’ve dominated the upcoming contest.
But maybe having some friendly competition will help us? :smiley:

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Yeah with a 4 year old and a 1 year old, the tree doesn’t seem to stay straight for long, my little one likes to keep pulling at it. We opted for an artificial tree this year too because of the kids. :slight_smile:

Yeah my TV is connected to the internet :).

I can land hooks every so often, but it’s not consistent enough that I think I would be able to do on the first try yet. But if I get as far as the hook and fail on the day, I think that will be a pretty happy outcome :slight_smile:

I would love some friendly competition.
Maybe we can do like a trick a week challenge?

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This would be fun! I think it’d help me a LOT to have someone at my level to work with and to keep me motivated!
I don’t push myself very hard…but if I have someone else I’m trying to keep up with, I think I’d be able to push more.

I’d love to work out some details after you’ve finished destroying the competition this weekend! :smiley:

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