So I’ve been running a yoyo club in Lamar, CO for a few years now and have had dozens of kids get involved in yoyoing. I have yet to attrack any adults (18 & up) into yoyoing. While I love teaching and working with the kids, I sure could use some help from a few adults who also love to throw. Any ideas on how to attrack adults and get them hooked on yoyoing?
Couple ideas I have are doing a skill toy class at our local community college; or going into adult bible studies and giving a quick presenation with a lesson? I’d love to hear some more ideas!
Honestly, if they want to get into it, they’ll make the effort to reach out to you, most likely while you’re doing your thing, or they are aware that you play yoyo. Adults act differently than kids(mostly).
I have an adult at my kid’s school attempting to buy a yoyo. Gotta get him over that hurdle and then he’s good. His kid just got a NED yoyo and he as a Pulse, so the mechanics are there to get them started. Trying to get him into a Legacy III, Classic, or New Velocity.
I’ve also noticed if I had “stock” on hand for sale, people would buy. It’s like they see, then have to immediately impulse buy to really get started. It’s like you have to get them to overcome the hassle of going to a store or ordering online. I also feel that, as much as I like ordering online, the internet is the worst way to get started initially. The drive can fizzle between exposure/want/desire, then the order(drop) and then arrival a few days later(can be gone). I just don’t want to deal with sales issues, too much hassle.
Yeh not a whole lot of adults that would even consider getting into yoyos as it is for “kids” or just isn’t cool for an adult to be doing.
I got back into it because I used to play when I was in middle school/high school but quickly fell off and just kind of felt like it might be fun to learn all the tricks that I wanted to learn but never did.
My kids have been staying afterschool for these “Reading Counts” tests. I won’t go into that whole thing. As a result, I’m at the school later. While the kids are inside taking these tests, I’m outside trying to throw. My arm hurts, but I can function so it’s healed enough for me to keep at it.
I was approached by 3 adults who want to start to learn to throw. I had to direct them to the local TRU to get Velocities. If this stuff keeps up, I’m gonna have to become a YYJ reseller and carry Classics, pads and Speed bearings and sell them as $20 bundles. Or the Surge for an unresponsive starter.
Not that I’m against Velocities. I have one. I just vastly prefer the Classic, especially for an “adult” player.
I won’t hide it. I’m old. 44 and I love yoyoing. I had a Duncan Butterfly and an Imperial when I was in second grade. But I only played with them for a short time and was done with it by third grade. What got me back into it at the age of 42 was the videos I stumbled upon online. When I saw people doing crazy tricks, I just had to learn how to do it too. I think a lot of adults don’t realize that a yoyo isn’t the same toy anymore. A fixed axle yoyo is considered nostalgic now. It was only the beginning. The yoyo world has grown well beyond “Walk the Dog” and “Rock the Baby”, which are the extent of most adult’s knowledge of yoyo tricks.
What I would do to attract (not attrack - sorry, I’m the grammar police) adults is to show them some videos. Send them some links. Show them pictures of the guts of a contemporary yoyo so they can see the bearing and understand how it works. But most of all, show them how cool it can be no matter what your age.
That cracked me up!!! I do feel old when I come to this site.
I do think that you can’t just force someone to love yo-yoing. It’s a journey that comes from within. On the other hand I think a lot of adults have no idea what modern yo-yoing is all about and how fun it can be. It’s not for everyone, but you have to be exposed to it somehow, so why not by me? I’m 36 and discovered unresponsive play about 6 years ago watching Sat. morning cartoons (WITH MY KIDS OK!!!) A commercial came on that showed modern yo-yoing and I was amazed. I’ll never be as good as probably most of the people here, but I still enjoy learning new tricks, watching how creative people are and the great people I’ve met. For me it relaxes me and gives me a little high when I learn a new trick.
I just had a yoyo class this evening and one of the kids in my club earned a Rally by learning all the tricks from our club’s trick ladder. His dad stated that he has been practicing for hours the past 3 weeks. He was so excited and pumped to have earned that Rally…Best feeling in the world!!!
Lots of us old guys here. 40 at the end of the month! But I think we have to discover (or rediscover) it on our own. I mean, if they see you yoyoing and think it looks cool, they’ll approach you. Keep the club publicized as much as possible and adults will eventually find it.
I’ve been involved off and on locally, but have felt somewhat awkward given the predominant age groups involved. When I was active in the club at Air Traffic I always felt that the parents were eying me suspiciously, like I was there to prey on their kids. If my son or daughter were in that age group and involved it would probably have beeen different, but a lone adult male raises concerns. Sorry to throw this out there, but I’ve heard similar comments from other adults as to why they don’t get more involved.
I love stories like this. Thanks for sharing. If you need more yoyos as rewards, I have some that I would be willing to give to you so you can keep motivating the kids. I have another Rally and a ShaqlerStar, an Adegle PSG (actually 2 of those) and a few more. I’d be happy to send them to you.
This ^ ^ ^
It’s the primary reason I haven’t participated in the local meets here in my area. One time I made a trade with a member on the board here. We lived 30 minutes apart, so to save on shipping, we agreed to meet at a mall in between our homes. His mom drove him because he was only 13 and when she saw me, she immediately turned to her son and said “THAT’S who you’re trading with?” I can understand her concern, and after talking to her for a bit, I think I rid her of her worries. But, it’s true that there’s a knee jerk reaction seeing an adult throwing a yoyo with a group of kids.
I hadn’t stopped to consider the “Deviant” aspect that could in fact exist, but that’s perhaps because those kind of thoughts don’t enter my head. In general, I don’t go up to other people, other people have to come up to me. That doesn’t change things though.
My meet group encourages(might have to change that to DEMANDS/requires) parental involvement, even if it just means being nearby while their kid is there. I have several adults in the group, many of whom are on the forum here. We also regularly meet at another nearby meet, YoLex. I honestly would prefer it if parents were involved more in their kids’ activities. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to participate in my meet groups as well. I’m not saying I want to be the center of attention, but I would prefer it if the parents at least met me, so now there’s a face tied to the name and also they know where their kid is going and what they are doing and how these meets kinda go down.
As for me, I’m not in this to entertain kids or other adults, just myself. If someone wants help, I will help them if I can, adult or child. I’m throwing at the school because it’s a better use of idle time than texting my wife or other people, or surfing the web from my cell phone. Part of why I got into this in the first place was to get away from that kind of stuff.
Adults can deal with stuff better on their own terms.
Again, I can see that negative angle. Today’s society sure has changed. It’s something I gotta keep in mind.
This is excellent. The distance between parent and child can be far too great when it comes to their daily lives. I’m really glad you’re encouraging both parent and child to share something together. Plus, they can take what they’ve learned home to build upon that and strengthen that relationship. You’ve done a good thing here, Chris, and beyond simply throwing yoyos together and learning tricks. You’ve created a connection between parent and child which is sorely needed in this day and age of texting, email and virtually anonymous communication on the internet. While technology and the internet was designed to improve mass communication around the world, it has also distanced us from each other a great deal.
Isn’t it though? My favorite part is the dad holding up his index finger indicating to “give me a second while I finish reading this before actually addressing someone in real life”. ;D
That will usually not work out too well. It can’t hurt, but it usually ends in being not used. It’s best for an adult player to actually make the effort to make their own purchase. Then they’ll feel more obligated to use it as they shelled out money for it.
I know it’s an old thread. I’m 36 used to have a few yoyos back in the day remember in middle school when the yoyo craze took over? Well recently saw an episode of the Simpsons and Springfield had thier yoyo boom, rekindled the interest to try and learn.
So I bought 3 yoyos a fizz, a sage , and a replay pro. My son 9 got the fizz and I got the sage for my wife to mess with if I can get her involved and if not it’s there for an upgrade if my son gets into it.
