alright remember that girl in my English class that got a yoyo for christmas? well i started to teach her yoyo and i have found a challenge… it isn’t bad but, it gives me a little bit of a problem when she’s learning some basic techniques.
here’s the problem
she has a weak hand… sadly this is her TH and she doesn’t have a lot of muscle to give it that wrist motion, which gives yoyoers a nice strong throw. so she hasn’t really gone past a sleeper and this has also given her problems of doing a tug return as well because she has trouble jerking the yoyo back up. so she hasn’t really gone past doing a sleeper due to this. So i am going to you guys to see if you can help me out cause i am having problems trying to figure out how to get a strong throw for her when her hand weakness makes it kinda hard to do so.
give here a responsive yoyo like a butterfly and get her to throw gravity pulls this is a good way to help build muscle up and it helps with the catching motion
How about a shorter string? When I’ve been teaching the kids in my school’s yoyo club, their biggest issue is that the string is long and that makes it unwieldy. I shortened the strings to about 24" and this made a big difference for them. They could establish a nice rhythm when throwing and improved their tug returns substantially. I didn’t work for everyone, I’ll admit, but for those who put in the time, I believe it was helpful. With practice and time, your friend should develop a stronger wrist for throwing.
Oh, and this was on responsive throws like alecto mentioned.
thanks! for the tip on shorter string i think i might have use that BTW i am using a responsive for her to learn on but, this is truly a problem with her hand she has control with her hand she has some kind of muscle problem with her hand. i think i need to rework how a person throws the yoyo down. i will film her throw tomorrow at school to give you an idea of whats going on.
Oh, you mean this is an injury or (for lack of a better term) a deformity? That DOES add an additional challenge for your friend. I think the shorter string will require less strength to throw and tug return, though, so that might be a good starting point anyway. You could also look for a Raider Ex out there (or mod a Raider yourself). Since the Raider Ex comes with different sized spacers, you can use the ones that make the gap incredibly slim (I think it’s the purple ones). A thinner gap along with the starburst return that they have should make it much easier for the string to catch and the yoyo to return. Just an idea. I don’t want you feeling that you need to buy your friend a new yoyo. However, I have a Raider Ex that I’d be happy to donate to the cause. I lost all the spacers other than the purple ones, though, but those are the ones you need anyway. If you’re interested, pm me your address or a PO box where I can send it.
A muscle injury of some sort will add another challenge to learning how to yoyo.
I think what MikeEff said is really helpful with the very small gap width and the starburst to make things a tad more responsive. I do think that building muscle from doing gravity pulls consistently is a good place to start.
Maybe you should try something like a Yomega Brain or a Duncan Reflex, with the auto return feature. If your friend has a physical disability, it might make things a bit easier for her. I’ll see if I have something like that lying around.
^Yea one of those sounds like it would work because if she can build up a bit of extra throwhand muscle that would be good. Other wise you could try to teach her using her other hand (I’m assuming she’s right handed) so you could try to teach her on her left hand it might feel weird at first but with some work that could be done.
Perhaps as a helper only since you do not want her to depend on it, a light wrap with an ACE bandage to give her more support will help with her muscle issue.
I know from personal experience that it helps kids when writing after injury.
I’m surprised no one has recommended this yet, but why not just try teaching her to throw with her left hand? If it’s her stronger hand and she has never thrown before then learning a new skill with her non-dominant hand shouldn’t really be a problem. You can even practice throwing lefty and learn with her, that would be a fun experience for the both of you.
Often times when I have students with disabilities or physical challenges, I take some time and practice the skill myself, pretending that I have the same challenge. Of course I do this in private, I don’t want anyone to think I’m making fun of their situation. Imitating, imagining that I have the same challenge, allows me to experience learning the skill in a way, that is more in line with their experience. Although I will never know exactly what the challenge feels like to them, it helps me communicate and discover options.
Your friend must be an exceptional person to reach outside the comfort zone and try something so challenging. Kudos!
alright sorry for the delay… had problems with me getting the file here’s the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9uw6jttfLE&feature=youtu.be
its a little hard to see but, its there you can see it more with her breakaways but, she doesn;t like doing them cause she’s worried about the yoyo hitting her face.
Thanks for the video, Abby. I think Total Artist’s suggestion of a clutch return yoyo is probably best here. You can hear the yoyo hit the floor, so a short string would be helpful, but with the addition of the clutch return, the yoyo will come back on its own with very little tugging effort. I think your friend will find it very exciting the first time she catches it.
I feel compelled to help you with this, so if you can’t afford to buy a clutch return yoyo like a Power Brain XP, then I’d like to buy it for you. The Power Brain XP has a switch so when she reaches a point where she wants to turn off the auto-return, she can.
Talk about it with her and PM me if you want to go ahead with this. ;D