How to start a yoyo club

Yo-Yo Contests, Clubs, and Events
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I see several people who share the same wish that they had people in their area to yoyo with. I thought I’d write down some thoughts to share about how to start a yoyo club. Mile High Yoyo Club has been going strong for almost four years in its current form and we continue to grow and thrive. Here are some of the simple things we’ve done that has resulted in a group that meets twice a month, often with 15-20 members in attendance:

JUST START – The first most obvious step is to just start! If you don’t have any club in your area and you want one, start one. Name your club something simple that includes your city and the fact that you are a yoyo club. Post up on YYE forums and Facebook.

CONSISTENT DAY/TIME – Choose a day/time that you can be consistent with – something like the second Saturday of every month from noon-3pm. A consistent location is also important. This can be as simple as a park in your area or as involved as a toy store in your town that you network with to make arrangements for a local meet.

GET A FB PAGE – I’m not a fan of social media either, but Facebook is still a really good place for groups to organize events and many people will find your group through Facebook. Bite the bullet and make a FB page for your group to network and post meets.

HAVE A HANDFUL OF DECENT BEGINNER YOYOS – Something responsive like the Whip or Spinstar or the Snapback if you have the budget. Keep these on hand for kids who see your club and walk up and want to learn. You may or may not choose to give away these yoyos but at least having a few yoyos for a new kid to borrow will be important. Make sure it’s something that can adequately perform Sleeper, Forward Pass, Walk the Dog, Hop the Fence and Around the World – these are great tricks to teach newcomers.

STICK WITH IT – It may just be you or you and one other person for a few months, but your club WILL grow. When I started in April of 2019 it was literally me and one other dude. Then another guy found us. Then more and more until now we have two meets every month with 15-20 people attending each one!

STICKERS – If you have the means, getting some stickers for your group can really add to the excitement for new and existing members. It makes the club feel “official” when you have some type of swag. www.stickermule.com is a great provider who runs specials on a regular basis where you can get 50 stickers or 50 pins at a promo price of around $29. This is an easy way to get some nice handouts for members.

That’s pretty much it – it’s honestly not that hard. Before you know it you will have a vibrant community of yoyoers to hang out with. I’m a HUGE advocate for yoyoing in person whenever possible. As with music, when you play with others you all level up WAY faster. It also creates an environment where everyone is learning and teaching while they socialize around a common interest which is really fun!

Let me know if you have any questions! With Spring and Summer right around the corner now is the time to get YOUR club going!

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Were you reading my mind I literally, for the past couple of weeks, was intending on starting a similar thread for questions on how to start a club. Crazy. Thanks.

My idea is a little bit different in that I have a couple youngsters, third and fourth grade, that I’ve met with a couple times. Both of their parents are teachers in the school that my daughter attends. They’ve given us a room for learning yo-yo. It is absolutely the funnest thing and they are so eager to learn.

Sampson (already named VP of our club) is already SO GOOD. He’s doing DNA already (kind of) and knows all the players and trick names. It’s so amazing He will one day be teaching me for sure.

If anyone has any tips for this age demographic I would love to hear them but for now I think the points you make are still valid. We’ve started but need to be more consistent with a time and place.

Here’s to the next generation!! Thanks for kicking me in the butt to ask for help!

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Yeah man we have a few young kids that come with their parents and the same is true their little minds and hands move fast! No other advice for that age but definitely consistency of time and place is even more important for parents who have to schedule and plan. I also try to more actively ask the kids what trick they are working on and give them a “next step” trick.

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Talk to stores that sell yo-yos or other skill toys. I got to know the folks that own a Science Safari, which is kind of an educational toy store. They are already set up for various classes and meetings. They have let us meet there once a month for years now, no charge, and we try to be kid friendly and always keep beginner stuff on hand. It turns out almost all the guys that have been regulars are college age or older.
So stores that sell yo-yos or just want to have that club thing going on are good to ask for a venue, we have tried meeting in parks, but NC gets warmish and AC is nice. Some malls and shopping centers allow small groups, although I don’t like that environment . If you think you have enough folks interested you can talk to the park system if there are community centers they will sometimes have free space. The juggling club in Raleigh meets every week at a park system community center, they give us the space free because the club has been going on for decades.
Most clubs I have seen draw an older crowd, although Steve Brown had an amazing club in Cleveland that had lots of kids. I guess it helps if you are a National yo-yo Master and have the inside track with Duncan.

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@AndreBoulay @YoYoExpertEric some time ago I think I heard mention of a starter kit for clubs. Is anything like that in the works?

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In the works! :slight_smile:

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Great! Got a rough idea of timeline?

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