Tonight while I was at the ball diamond I amazed this little kid (I think he was 6) while doing a few tricks with my dv888. I remembered that I had one of the metal body dollar tree yoyos, and a bunch of string. I searched through the string I had with me and found a string, cut it down to size, and gave it to him. He looked at me and asked if it was his, and I told him he could keep it. I taught the kid how to use the yoyo, how to wind it, and how to put the string on his finger. I think I made the kid’s day. Do any of you guys have any stories like this? I’d assume a lot of you guys probably do, so if you want to share put them here 
Hmm… I don’t do a lot of public YoYoing so I haven’t done this.
I have given away one or two Yoyos here and there.
Im giving my cousin a dollar tree yoyo soon 
I have one when I we were waiting at for a table called the blue moon cafe in Baltimore. (it was on the food network) so As we were waiting the waiter was amazed by me and my tricks so he asked for me to perform inside the restaurant. And after wards that same waiter gave me a cinnamon bun for free no charge since we went there for breakfast! And by the way it was delicious!
Hmmm, give a kid a yoyo and he’ll yoyo for a day. Teach a kid to yoyo and he’ll be able to yoyo the rest of his life.
Oh, wait, that’s about fishing.
Give a man a hamburger and he will eat for a day, teach a man to hamburger and he will eat for a lifetime.
3 Likes
I have this kind of experience all the time. I basically run the yoyo club where I live, and I’ve made a rule that everyone that shows up at club for the first time gets a free yoyo. Costs me a little cash, but worth it to create new yoyoers. Best example,though, is this last weekend. Saturday was International Games Day, and the public library here had invited the club to have a table at their celebration of the event. We gave away 93 yoyos in three and a half hours, almost all to kids. Great day.
Yes … I throw in public and there’s always a kid that goes out of his way to watch…It usuallu goes like this.
Me:“Do you want to try? I’ll show you.”
Kid: looks at mom first she nods “okay”
I cut the string… Show them how to put the string on the yoyo and how to throw and get it to return.
At that point it’s reeeaaaly hard for me to take it back. Especially if they are really trying to do it.
Share the love… It’s fun!
I haven’t done this…only with kids already in the yo-yo community. I’m not around kids that often, and when I’m around my friends’ kids, I’m hanging with the adults and we are focused on catching up, in the little time we have to do so. As an adult, I just wouldn’t be comfortable handing out free toys to random kids out in public…unless the parent is with them. But, I will try it with a kid I know well.
I’d rather focus on kids who show some interest first, or kids I know well enough to know if they would be genuinely interested in a skill toy. I will try this soon.
1 Like
When you think about it, there should be a found raise to give yoyos to kids in Africa. Because the kids don’t do much there, besides going to school (I’ve been there). It’s one of the reasons they have good soccer players: the kids always practice soccer. So if we were giving cheap yoyos to African kids they’re going to be like awesome yoyo players and they will have something creative to do. But we gonna have to find some way to teach them tricks (they don’t all have access to Internet).
1 Like
Ya i have given yoyos to kids before, but they always quit afterwards.
I have tried to start my friends on yoyos if that counts. The hardest part is I useally have an unresponsive with me (sometimes with a counterweight) so it’s hard to have that for the first real yoyo. I need to start carrying my responsives with me
Being a teacher I am around kids every day. I am always on the look out for cheap yoyos to bring to school for the kids. My situation is a little different as I don’t just give them away, but we have them in our school store and I have a case of classics that I carry around all day for the kids to use if they have any down time. I teach at a school for kids with behavior problems and it is amazing how hard they will work to be able to yoyo. I have probably introduced 30 plus kids into yo young that consistently throw on a daily basis. It is taking over the school like wildfire. There is nothing better than seeing them land their first tricks.
3 Likes
Reminded me of this…
http://www.yoyoskills.com/?p=6462
That’s the way I got introduced to this whole new world of yoyoing. I saw someone yoyoing and was amazed and he gave me my first unresponsive yoyo
Im down to one throw again. Hahaha, since i got the g2 triton its been all i use. I gave away my token to a buddy, my nickel plated summit also has been passed to new hands. Idk why i do this, if i kept every high end ive bought id have 14 high end yoyos now. I only see the need for one, but one doesn’t keep me happy, i find the need to move on and find new ones. G2 is going to be my go to for now on though. All the clyw kids have veered me away from them. Not saying clyw isnt good or nothing by all means it was like a dream come true when my marmot came in the mail five years ago. Just got tired of all the hype… But yes, i give most of my yoyos away. I also have a limited addition pabst blue ribbon Duncan imperial. But thats not going anywhere. Twas a gift.
1 Like
Where in Africa did you go? If you haul out an atlas, you will notice that Africa is quite a big place with many countries, over 50, in fact. As you can imagine, there are a number languages and cultures in “Africa”.
I am going to have to disagree with you regarding football, or soccer, as you may call it. African teams are lousy by global standards… Nowhere near the likes of European or South American football teams. An African team has never got past the quarter finals of a World Cup. Ever.
It’s true that Africa has produced some remarkable individual footballers who have gone on to have successful careers in European teams, but this usually requires additional skill and training from their new managers.
Buying a bunch of soccer balls and donating them to Africa isn’t going to do much (if anything) to improve the quality of African football - there needs to be a long term investment in infrastructure, leagues, coaching and mentoring.
The same is true for yoyos… I appreciate the fact that you would like to donate yoyos to needy communities, but the reality is, without the long term support of local “coaches /players” (for lack of better terminology) who can organise meetings, run clubs and possibly even setup a yoyo league, simply “donating” yoyos is going to do exactly diddly-squat to develop the African yoyo scene.
I’ve been trying to set something up here for many years, and have even been interviewed on national TV 4-5 times. Promoting and developing something like yoyos takes a lot more time and effort than simply “donating” some cheap yoyos that you probably wouldn’t play with yourself. Having product available would help a ton and I wish I had a stock of yoyos to hand out to kids who seem keen (our currencies are weak, our people are poor), but it is only one aspect of a very big picture.
As lighthearted as this post might seem - it exactly hits the nail on the head. It’s pointless to donate unless you can follow it up with the long term resources for that person to develop their skill set.
To the best of my knowledge, at this point in time, the only African countries who have decent, capable players who are actively trying to promote and spread the joy of yoyoing in our communities, and who could make legitimate use of donated stock are based in South Africa and Kenya.
As Poupou rightly mentions - internet access can be a challenge in most parts of Africa… So ask yourselves, how would you promote yoyos if you couldn’t point people to online resources? If you come up with any ideas or solutions, please let me know, I would love to hear from you.
1 Like
I have given out loads of yoyos to kids, teens and my peers too. Most want to remember the good old days (my peers) or just to try it for fun. When you meet them again, they honestly cant remember what they did with the yoyo 
I am curious too about which part of Africa you went to because I am sure we have hobbies too. Some kids too are picking up modern hobbies, for example…
http://i957.photobucket.com/albums/ae53/benarudo/Nairobi_zps37aee73b.jpg
and if you consider gaming a hobby too, our internet speeds are good enough to have…
http://i957.photobucket.com/albums/ae53/benarudo/LanBash-2_zpsba7e1cea.jpg
And we have people crazy enough to pull stunts like this, cuz, you know, fixing a broken bone is not much of a hassle at the hospital (he ollied onto, not over, the three boards)…
http://i957.photobucket.com/albums/ae53/benarudo/Ollieon3boards_zpsb19f97b2.jpg
So yea, We do much more than football.
Hoping the tours that YYF and Duncan make around the world make a stop in Africa someday and help inspire those who might have an interest. Cuz meeting professionals, and see what one can do with this simple toy of ours, goes a long way in inspiring new players:)
4 Likes
I’m a teacher too and started a yoyo club at my middle school 3 years ago. I’ve given away TONS of yoyos - some responsive, some not. Some kids have given up the hobby, some are still throwing and are now in high school. And even if they give it up, maybe they’ll pass the yoyo on to someone else - a sibling, a friend, or whatever. I’m just glad to have introduced so many kids to yo-yoing, both boys and girls.
1 Like