question about where to start for a 12 yr old boy??

General Yo-Yo
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Hello there! I just have a general question regarding where to I start my 12 yr old son w yo yoing so that he will fell good about learning something new, and to help him gain confidence.... you know he is at that age....

[/i][/Thank you very much for any ideas!!!color]

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start him off with a yomega brand yoyo just to get him into yoyoing then get him the yyf velocity once he gets better. its a good hobby to get into. :slight_smile:

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A great yoyo is the yyj classic, responsive and you can learn all the basics, and you can do a simple mod to make it one of the best unresponsive plastic yoyos

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I forgot about one of the bests!

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I would go with this. The velocity is Meh.

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Yyf ONE, lots of people love yyj classic too

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I highly recomend the yoyojam classic. because it’s great responsive, and with a bearing switch, it’s as good as anything under 40 bucks in my opinion.

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Don’t get a velocity, it’s so unstable and picky about where you turn it’s dials.

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The Duncan Pulse has some cool LEDs that light up when it spins.

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My first was the yyj kickside. I loved it. Its took me all the way to advanced.

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My 3 suggestions:

1: Yoyojam classic. It is stock responsive. It will come up to your hand with a slight tug, but still spins enough for learning trapeze and double or nothing. Your kid (who is barely younger then me lol) will also dig the fact that there is pretty much all color combinations possible. Last bit of information, putting a full c- sized bearing in it to replace the stock one will make it fully unresponsive.

Also, the classic is pretty big, so if your 12 year old has really small hands id advise against it.p

2: Yoyofactory gaeck one. (the reason i saythe gaeck one instead of the normal one is that they are the same price, but the gaeck one looks cooler to me, and comes with a center trak bearing [ a specialty bearing that is acually $12 on its own] instead of a budget spec. You could geta different color though, they are functionally the same)
$10

This is stock responsive, but all Ones come with a full size bearing, which when placed into the yoyo to replace the original bearing, will turn it into a fully unresponsive yoyo.
$10

3: Yoyojam New breed. I am most likely the first to ever recmommend this yoyo. It is so underrated it isnt funny. Its pretty much a Dark magic 2, but is wider and is made of celcon. I find it is a bit more suitable to beginner than the dm2, because its wider whih makes it slightly easier to land string tricks. It, like all other yoyojam metal rimmed yoyos, comes with a full sized and half sized bearing, which can be switched out to make the yoyo responsive or unresponsive.

It is much more expensive then the other yoyos though, at $40-$50.

Note: this yoyo is smaller and lighter then the classic, and has a differnt shape.

12

If he already has a certain level of respect for material posessions, you could go straight to certain YoyoJam plastic/metal hybrids such as the Dark Magic 2. At under $45, it’s still not the most expensive yoyo he will own, yet it will provide everything he needs to go from beginner to advanced.

The confidence of throwing with a quality tool really helps reinforce the learning process, in my opinion. And if he decides quickly that he wants to go to “unresponsive” play (most of the stuff that will really impress a 12-year old is found in the unresponsive string trick world!) a yoyo like the Dark Magic 2 will be ready for him with no extra fuss.

I’m not at all an advocate of buying gear labelled as “beginner” gear because that’s usually code for “kinda crappy”, and kinda crappy does not help a beginner.

For less money, the YoyoJam Classic or YoyoJam Legacy are great ways to have “responsive” and “unresponsive” options as well. Though inexpensive, they will be just fine for learning beginner to advanced tricks.

If you decide on the Classic and want it to be future-proof, you might want to invest in:

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Two suggestions here:

  1. It is none of my business, nor am I a parent, so this opinion holds no weight, unless you want it to, I think you should let your child figure out who he wants to be, most of the time if you force something on a kid, he will grow up resenting it. For example, when I was younger my dad used to force me to go to the Gym with him, I’m not against working out, I just hate the place with a passion. Back to the point, if you feel this will help your son (it’s awesome, but mind you, very costly if he wants to start collecting) than I say go for it %110. But if you want something that will be effective getting him to start I’d recommend showing him two videos that got me to REALLY want to start playing with yoyos.
    Exhibit A

http://www.youtube.com/v/5Tllh5-UiKo?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

(Note: This is a different style of play than the one most people start with)

Exhibit B

http://www.youtube.com/v/oayOIThxdmw?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

Suggestion 2: If your son does start yoyoing, I would recommend you use it as an incentive, most people on here would give a leg away for a new throw (I KNOW I WOULD)