Well I have an YYF Airwave arriving this week hopefully.
That should make a big improvement, so far I can throw catch and bind return. That’s about it.
But thanks. I like all the styles, it’s hard to pick one to practice.
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This is one of the coolest parts of the hobby. Something that others make look easy, and feels impossible, eventually becomes easy for you, too, after you put in the work. I’ve felt this same way about many other tricks, all the way from early on in my journey, to more recent stuff that drove me up a wall until I started nailing it almost every time.
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For sure.
I completely remember thinking that my YYF Shutter was broken, cause it didn’t bind. Thousands of binds later, its a natural motion.
I study and teach martial arts. And the same thing applies. Drill something enough and you can remove the ‘thought’ that gets in the way.
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Dude… take comfort in the fact that if you’re on a forum called YoYoExpert dot com… you’re better at yoyos than 99.9% of the WORLD 
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I feel this way often as well when I look at the top players.
I think that there is a healthy level of comparison between you and everyone else. I compare myself to top competitors all the time to motivate myself and see how to improve. But don’t drive yourself crazy over it. Use it as motivation to practice!
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I know I am one of the worst here, but that is okay. I have soooooo many hobbies that I don’t spend a lot of time on any one item. But bottom line, I enjoy it and I enjoy this community. That is all that really matters.
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And people who are uploading incredible videos… people who are winning championships… people with all the coolest sponsorships who exist on a transcendent, mythical level of skill… what is all of that worth? What’s it doing for the world? Being the greatest ever (whatever that means) + $3 will get you a cup of coffee, so there’s gotta be more to it.
If your yoyoing is contributing to make you a better person - someone who can feel the simple achievement in being able to do something today which you couldn’t do yesterday or last year… If you can look at someone who’s just starting out or getting their first look at yoyoing, empathize, and engage them with the basics without acting like you’re some big deal yo-yo player… honestly if you can just take some JOY from throwing in this crazy messed-up world… that, my friend, is more than enough.
NONE of the comparisons or metrics for what it truly means to be a good player have a thing to do with how great your technique is or how many tricks you’ve “mastered”. If you can learn to throw like yourself - and for yourself - if you can learn to see and accept yourself through yoyoing, and then channel it to help you see and share the value in the journey, those are the only tricks which mean a thing. And if you have that, then no national-master world-champion Instagram-famous hall-of-famer holds an iota of worth over you.
It’s cool to be good at yo-yoing. Nice to feel recognized and have that experience. But if you’re only propelled toward it by the feeling of what you’re not - of what you SHOULD be because of how you compare with other players - it’s all hollow. Look inward at the amazing things you’re able to do. Let yourself delight in that and dictate your own standards for how you progress. 
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Looking forward to reading your book, Stalls and Regens for the Soul, @edhaponik!
(In all seriousness, I have enjoyed what I have read of your kinopah blog, and would totally buy a yoyo/philosophy book if you wrote one…)
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Yes. 2 1/2 years in and I feel so inferior skill-wise but compared to where I was 2 years I am friggin’ awesome! As long as I always stay better than what I was I’m happy.
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Yes! I don’t know very many tricks and I wanted to give up every trick when I first started learning it telling myself it was stupid anyway. Sometimes it takes months to finally click but when it does…total bliss!
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Dude, I have not seen you around in a looong time. Welcome back. Dude!
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Haha. Thanks; but I never left - just lurked and yoyo’d more instead.
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See, I feel like I’ve got the opposite problem because I might be the best player in the community. Although, my shrink does say I’m possibly the worst case of Dunning–Kruger effect she’s ever seen, so there’s that.
But seriously, comparison really is the thief of joy. There are 7 BILLION people on the planet so you will probably never be the best at anything, even if you’re trying your best at being the worst. 
Unless yo-yoing is how you put bread on the table, then don’t worry about it and instead focus your energy on the stuff that actually matters in life.
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As long as I am part of the yoyo community, you cannot be the worst player…
At the very least, you will have to wait for me to fade out…
And then… you can sing the blues
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Sometimes I feel the same. It takes me an abnormally long time to learn a trick or even an element of a trick. When I picked up my first yo-yo, it took me about 2 weeks to figure out how to throw it down!! But, I have realized just the process of yoyoing and learning at my own pace with no comparison to others is what makes me happy. Focus on what makes you happy! We just need to keep reminding ourselves!
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We all have skill sets that may overlap.
Throwing yo-yos and/or also being part of the yoyo community does not command a certain skill level or even skill building potential.
Some people are just crazy good at pulling trick right out of their (hat/pants/whatever?).
Some folks are so darn good it’s kind of intimating.
If you throw yo-yos, sit down for a minute or two and identify your end game.
Do you aspire to ‘compete’? Do you aspire to make yoyo videos? Do you want to get good enough to teach others? Do you dream of being sponsored? Do you feel like you can never avoid the pressure of not/or/never being a higher level player? Can you feel good at just being good enough to throw some cool tricks and be satisfied at having fun and slowly getting better over time? Can you mentally adjust that some people are just not trick making machines?
Throwing yo-yos is ‘supposed to BE fun’. It is supposed to be an escape from not having fun.
You aren’t supposed to throw yo-yos so you can make yourself miserable because you kinda suck at it, when you see others don’t. ‘You’ are not others… You are you.
Throwing should be a part time adventure to ‘escape’ doldrums and generate positive endorphins. It should make you smile. You should realize that 99 percent of the entire World population will NEVER touch a yoyo…<> and you are better than all of them.
Even the very best of the best athletes are not exactly equal in skills/abilities. Every single one will have some sort of limitation and accept that.
I’ve had plenty of yo-yos for over 20 years. I don’t practice hours a day… But I honestly don’t remember ever ‘inventing a trick’ I can claim.
I would like to eventually be ‘better’. But I recognize you get out what you put in to something. I put in just enough throwing time to have some solid fun and can’t let my lack of yoyo awesomeness faze my enthusiasm.
In 1997 I rolled a yoyo down the string. At that moment something registered in my mind. At that moment I knew I would throw yo-yos for the rest of my life. I didn’t have any vision that I would have to be very good to enjoy throwing.
I just knew yo-yos clicked with me.
Here I am 24 years and 1500 yo-yos later. I pretty much have a yoyo with me everywhere I go.
I can’t throw without smiling. Sometimes I get frustrated when I just cannot do a trick segment that others make look waaaay to easy. But I accept that. I can live with those moments. Because I am ‘not them’. I will always be me.
Some things I do much better than yoyoing. I am better at most everything I do other than yoyoing.
I think most everybody that spends some quality time throwing has more fun than those that don’t throw.
Yo-yos don’t make me a somebody. They just help shape the somebody I already am.
I Love yo-yos and I Love throwing yo-yos. And how good I am is way down the critically important list.
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Drops Mic.
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I taught my neighbor to throw a few months ago and with the way he is progressing he will be better than me in a month and I love that as I created what I need most - an in-person teacher! I love that he will surpass me very soon. I feel great about that!
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i’m somewhere between the worst and the best… i enjoy what i do, and i enjoy the relationships and friends i’ve made.
and, even if i was the worst, i can get better… but, i don’t care enough to judge myself against some arbitrary line or barrier of cool that someone else sets. that sandbox is for other people.
my yoyo, my rules, my happiness…
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This is an important topic and I’m glad some people who
have been around a long time weighed in.
I’ll also add, if you ask any of the best players what yoyoing means to them you’ll get a whole lot more than how good they are. Ask Jensen what is the most important part of yoyoing to him and i don’t know if being recognized as the best in the world is up in the top few bullet points. Andre competed and placed highly for a while, but I wonder how he values that compared to knowing he’s one of if not the primary source of yo-yo knowledge for an entire generation of American yoyoers.
And like @EOS44 said, I’m bad at yoyoing.
I loved that this was the first reply, because knowing his skill level it’s perfect. Because nobody thinks they’re good at yo-yo, except maybe the very best, who as they’re waiting for their freestyle to come up, they think “man so and so just went before me and killed it, that was so good no way I’ll beat that “
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