Hey guys, just wanted to listen to your opinions on this. So earlier today I was just causally looking around the #trickcircle tag around instagram and just some yoyo videos from some upand-comers, and these throwers were showing off some really impressive tricks. This got me thinking about my own yoyoing abilities; I’m closing in on 3 years in this wonderful hobby, but I am nowhere near to making tricks/combos of such difficulty or such consistency. I understand that yoyoing is supposed to be a toy and be fun, and I still find it that way, but I feel like I’m already kinda falling behind this new generation. Anyone have similar feelings or opinions on this? I would like to see what you guys thinking about this. 
I feel like I can do a ton of difficult tricks, and I can learn essentially anything with a tutorial, but I have such a hard time making up stuff.
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I can’t fall behind them because I was never ahead of most of them. 
But yeah. I don’t know how they get tension slacks to fly all over the place with such consistency.
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Meh this doesn’t bother me. I will just keep going at my own pace then again, i also don’t have an instagram so that makes it easy.
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Tell me about it. I’ve been yoyoing for somewhere around 5 years and there are people who have been yoyoing for half my time and are 2x better. Some people learn faster than others, and their style just helps them adapt to different tricks.
I feel pretty much the same. Been yoyoing for almost 3 years too, but still aren’t very good.
I just make tricks when I feel like it and not care about others, but sometimes I find myself trying to force tricks. I think that everybody goes at their own pace and no matter how long it takes, you will be good at yoyoing in your own way.
I m too used to everyone being better than me in every field
This most likely isn’t uncommon in the community. I read a report a little while back the people who spend hours on facebook and the different types of social media tend to feel depression. think of all the happy pictures that people put on those places to make it look like how well their life is going. The same happens in yoyo videos. The player sits there for more then one take trying to get the video as perfect as possible so he can truly make himself stand out. What your seeing may not be just one take but many different takes to get the trick perfect. Now as for contests those competitors spend weeks even months trying to perfect all those tricks for just two minutes.
Don’t dwell to hard on those tricks they may not have them as consistent as it looks. We sadly only see the painting, not the paint behind it which i feel is the true beauty of the picture.
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I’ve been yo-yoing for about 8 years now, and I’m 10 years behind.
been doing it for three years and I’m not close to where I should be, but I still have fun with it and that is all that matters.
You are not, ‘falling behind’. It is just that others have progressed more than you… Which could be the result of many things besides natural aptitude, etc.
Yoing is not a Race. As you said; yoing is a Wonderful hobby. And it ‘is’ fun. It is not supposed to be fun. It is fun. But if you mentally designate a certain level of trick skills in order to identify yourself as ‘good enough’, than you may feel you are behind in a Race that only exists in your mind.
Just focus on having fun and learning as time passes.
I’ve been throwing yoyos around since 1998. If I entered a Yoyo Contest tomorrow, and there were 10 comtestants(me included) in the Contest; I would most likely finish in 11th place, behind the Janitor.
Doesn’t faze me a bit.
Use the people better than you as Inspiration. Be realistic and make it a personal goal to better your own skills. But spend little if any time on the, ‘I’m falling behind’ aspect.
Just keep at it.
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Words of wisdom from Dr Mo.
I started yoyoing at about the same time as Ibrahim Rahman, so for a while I used him as a barometer for my own skill development. In the first couple videos he posted, I was able to more or less keep up, but over time, he pulled ahead to the point where my skills could no longer compare to his. It was interesting to observe. I didn’t let it bum me out though; his good doesn’t equal my bad.
My friends said they fell behind and would never catch up. I got about 3 of them started about 6 months after I started. I taught them :P. 2 have quit. Another started before me and says I’m way better than him since apparently I could do in less than half a year what he was able to accomplish after 2 yrs. Their reasons are:
I already started 3A, 4A, and 5A with some 2A within a year of starting.
Add in some very mediocre doubles.
Now, I will hit 2 years in May. I still play tons of 1A and 3A, trying to step up my 3A, 4A, and 5A game. I’ve hit all the 4A tricks here, add some fingerspins without consistency. I don’t think I could do 2A anymore haha. I was able to do alternating loops and milk the cow, inside/outside, w/ both hands about a year ago before my friend with the loopers moved away so yeah…
Recently ran out of response pads tho… only two yoyos left with a pair in them (not the 3A pair sadly enough), running out of string, and with me starting college and all the tuition and housing pay I don’t think I’ll be throwing for a while 
I’ve been yoyoing off and on since 1988. I don’t even think about how more advanced people only throwing 3 years are compared to me. Just watch and learn, that’s what life is about, learning. When I played basketball and golf in the past, both very seriously, I always played with people better than me, it’s how you get better.
Rix, a tube of flowable or a few sets of pads and a 100ct of generic poly… it may not be the high life, but it’s a REALLY cheap way to prepare for much-needed decompression during your studies. Last a lot longer and is way cheaper than even 1 night at the campus pub.
Thanks, heard flowable could last long. I have to wait for like 12-24 hrs for it to settle right? Also I’ve heard about it not working so well in different materials like celcon or something… Is this true?
Yeah, 12-24 hours (I go 24) gives you peace of mind. “On paper”, it’s ready in only a few hours, but if you have another yoyo, it’s worth just waiting.
As for Celcon/Delrin, I don’t know how well flowable works for those.
There’s 3 years and then there’s 3 years. A guy that practices for 5 hours a day for a year will have put in the same amount of practice as someone who’s put in 1 hour a day for 5 years.
I made my best progress in my first 6 months of yoyoing, but then I was pretty much spending every free waking hour practicing. On the flipside, now that I’m only getting an hour or so a day (if I’m lucky) I’m not improving anywhere near as drastically.
The point is, some of these “up and comers” could have put in more practice in their first year than some of us have in 4 or 5… in 2 years they could have our equivalent of 10 years worth of practice, and be winning contests. 10,000 hours is the golden number… but how fast you get there depends on you. 
So basically, if it doesn’t bother you, then great! Keep on throwing and having fun!
…if it does bother you however, then why not see if you can find more time to practice?
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