At my kid’s school, they did a NED show. Following that show is the obligatory sale of poor quality yoyos. As a result, there are lots of new kids throwing who need help. I’ve already helped a bunch to put the string on their finger right, hold it right, orient the string right and throw properly.
I hurt my right arm recently, so I’m done throwing for a bit to let things heal.
I have 4 kids. 2 are in school, 1 in pre-school, 1 not in pre-school yet.
The two eldest, a girl and a boy(in that order, the other two are girls) are bringing their yoyos to school. No, not NED stuff. My boy, the #2, you may know, does throw. Pretty good for some 7 year olds. Andre’s seen him, so I’ve got “cred” to back me up. My eldest was into it, briefly, then bailed. Now, I think thanks to this NED stuff, is back into it and is throwing her responsive-set-up Legacy II.
I told my kids that I can’t really do much to help the other kids because of my arm injury. I told them they would have to step it up and help the other kids since I can’t do much right now. I guess they took it seriously. Today, at the school, while waiting for the teachers to bring them in(they were in their lines), I saw both my kids helping correct kids with “new yoyo’er problems”.
I’m sure the next few days, I’m gonna be seeing broken strings and broken yoyos. Strings I can replace. Broken yoyos… these NED throws aren’t worth repairing. I’m already talking to parents about “upgrading”.
This is absolutely great to hear! You definitely have done something right. Sounds like you have at least 2 awesome kids(you didnt mention the other 2 lol) and they are spreading the yoyoing spirit.
Wonderful news! Keep it up and keep them involved! ;D
I think if your arm is hurting whether due to throwing or anything else, it is the right thing to stop for a bit to allow things to heal. Glad you came around on this.
Great news. I love hearing stories like this. And if you need more throws on the cheap, talk to me. I live close by in San Jose and I’m looking to move about 30+ yoyos into young kids hands who are moving into the unresponsive arena. Some metals, some plastics, all in very good shape if not almost new.
Rumor has it they stopped making those and the ones you see at dollar tree are all that’s left and there won’t be a restock. This is just a rumor though, not sure if it’s true.
Yeah, gotta stop throwing for a bit to let the elbow heal. I do have to move a lot of audio gear for a show I have tomorrow, no way around that though. I do have crew who will help. After that, not much heavy lifting needed for a bit, I think.
Sounds good. I’m a way away from that. I want to talk to parents directly and give them information so they can make better informed decisions towards quality stuff, be it new or used.
Being a parent myself, but also not just into this whole yoyo thing, but relatively new, I documented a lot of my thoughts and experiences on essays stored on my network. Plus, I remember that big learning curve of how yoyos changed from the Butterfly and Imperial of my youth to what they are now. While many of the parents are 10-15 years younger than I am, they didn’t have as much exposure than I had, so they know even less.
What I can do is say I have contacts who have quality yoyos available for sale, which will save them money over a new one. I may have to BST them from you, and then just flip them over to the parents at the same price I was charged so the parents get what they were told they would get.
I would not recommend those because:
I don’t want kids getting hurt that way. Getting popped in the head, yeah, as long as it’s during a play session and through proper(but not controlled) play.
I feel responsible to take it upon myself to make sure that people get good information. The dollar tree yoyos are tempting. They just aren’t a good choice for all people.
Yeah, if you really want to energize kids… Crank up their enthusiasm and guarantee they continue the ‘yo yo way’, might as well kick start them with a Total piece of Junk Yoyo. Hahaha.
Dollaretreejunkyoyomodder bait, perhaps.
But to give someone just starting out, something that doesn’t even make a good paperweight? Doubtful.
Ya notice before you even step into the doorway of a Dollar Tree, you can ’ feel the Junk energy’. It is almost like a radioactive Geiger counter thing.
I’ve been using my 3 dollar tree yoyos for Offstring over concrete. I’ve been keeping my eyes closed to make it more difficult to catch the yoze.
Every time I hear a horrible noise, I smile. Smiling is good.
We’ll keep in touch. I think I’m very close to done collecting yoyos, so these would be great for club meetings and the like. I think I remember a post you made earlier in a “yoyo rental” thread about how kids didn’t respect things that weren’t theirs. This way, you could have a bucket of yoyos that you didn’t care about getting bashed up. In any case, I’ll be here when you need me. However, if this stretches into summer, I may put them all up for like $30 a piece and be done with it. But that gives you 6 or 7 months to decide.
I remember NED shows! It was a long time ago though. I do remember that I volunteered to cut string and give out yo-yos after-school. I got a free Boomerang Yo-Yo from NED. I still have it lol. I think that the NED show was what brought me into the magical world of yo-yoing. I also remember the NED guy doing a double or nothing and calling it his best trick… I hope he has gotten better yo-yoing wise :D.
You never fail to make me laugh lol Does NED still sell the Super Sonic Spin II? If so, have the parents buy their kids that throw. For $15, it’s one of the best beginner throws you can get. By beginner, I mean very young kid beginner. That was the throw I started out with. The response doesn’t ever need to be changed, and the bearing never needs to be cleaned since it is plastic.
They are selling the Ned, Boomerang(auto-return) and the Cosmic Spin II.
I heard one parent saying they were shocked the yoyo cost $15. I guess it wasn’t a good thing I was throwing my Phenom. They asked how much that yoyo was and they darn near passed out when I said “$140”. Good thing my Anglam was still safe in my bag!
I then proceeded to explain that there’s a lot of great yoyos under $20 that are suitable for beginners, and some that can even grow with them as they migrate from responsive to unresponsive play and still stay under $20. She was receptive to that. I showed her a Classic and she felt that simply by looking at it, it was significantly more substantial than the Cosmic Spin II yoyo as far as construction and durability was concerned.
It would be great if the NED show wasn’t tied to a brand, but instead could have custom caps done to existing better models, or flat out sell specific non-NED branded products with better forward thinking.
Right now, if my arm is better in about a week, I have a demo/tutorial session planned for my eldest’s class(4th grade). A lot of kids bought yoyos but are not using them properly. I saw one kid do a down-throw(palm down), and the yoyo slammed into the ground and broke. The string was too long. On top of that, the string slipped off the kid’s finger since it was through the loop. The loop was on the index finger. Ned or not, nottoo many yoyos can survive that kind of unintended abuse.
I don’t plan to amaze them with tricks. I intend to show them the basics:
String length.
How to put the string on your finger
Hold and proper orientation
Proper front-style throw with tug return
Talk briefly about changing strings.
I’ll get their attention with some tricks. Then go into my canned material, then get those with yoyos up and ensure they are all doing things right. Gotta start them off right so they don’t develop bad habits early.
The good part is this class is near where I wait to get my kids after school, so these kids can basically get a free lesson or help any day of the week if they so chose to do so.
So much $Tree hate. Makes me so sad to seee people bashing the best-performing 1A yoyo i’ve ever owned. The one that has taught me so much… If you want a genuine unredeemable real piece of junk ja-ru has it covered hands-down.
No but seriously this is a great thing you’ve done. Train up a child in the way he should go…
I was slammed with preparation for a gig Friday so I didn’t share.
The death of a yoyo. I saw a bunch more NED yoyos get smashed to the ground. Broken strings, not on finger right, strings too long. Unfortunately, I will see more of this. Fortunately, only for another week. Why only another week? First, the NED sales end, and second: Christmas Break.
Some kids are actively asking for help. This is good. A lost art is asking for help in regards to certain things. Simply taking the time to show a kid how to put the string on properly, then hold and throw can go a long ways. With so many kids doing it wrong, it’s good a few are wanting to make an effort to “do it right”.
A kid was having problems with his auto-return yoyo. I was like “OMG”. The yoyo had like NO weight. The Yomega Brain is such a vastly superior yoyo in terms of construction, and it generally sells for the same price, around $10. Upon opening it up, I didn’t do a full dismantle, but the axle wobbles around inside when the yoyo is opened up. I am guessing it’s a completely threaded axle, which is partially covered by a plastic sleeve to emulate the smooth portion of the Yomega Brain yoyo’s axle. Over this is a plastic transaxle, but with no gasket for the clutch mechanism to grip. The kid’s string came out of the “groove” in the transaxle portion and slipped into the gap and was acting as if the yoyo was tied/pegged. After I fixed it, it wasn’t much better. It’s just too darn light. No wonder kids are having problems with these items. I am strongly tempted to buy a set just for the purposes of mods
An interesting side-note:
My kids have been accused of using my yoyos. Rest assured, they are using yoyos I have purchased for them, which I have confirmed to their accusers. Well, not completely. Richard keeps using my Photon Spirit(he has a metal one coming), but he was saying it was mine, not his. He loves to pull start that one and he can then hold it on his thumb as a gyroscope. I can’t even do that!! The rest of the time, he’s been using his OneStar and an Unleashed.
I wonder how many more yoyos will meet their pre-mature death this next week.
This is a bit off topic, but I’d just like to state that Fellowship of the Strings is the coolest thing I’ve read all day. I want to move to your town to participate.
Makes me so sad to seee people bashing the best-performing 1A yoyo i’ve ever owned. The one that has taught me so much… 