Not sure if this is the right spot for this question but was curious. I was reading up on the sports ladder and it said that you get one retry and then you are out. At what point is your try over, when the yoyo becomes dead or just your first attempt? If I try to do a trapeze and for some reason miss the string and whip it back up on it is that still considered my first attempt or does now count as the second attempt. Thanks for the help.
You need to make the trick on the first try. Thereās no do-overs. 
You can miss one trick and keep going. You donāt do the trick again. The second miss and you are out.
You can only āfailā a trick once.
So if you mess up on a trapeze, you cannot mess up on any other trick in the ladder.
ok I gotcha. So do you start and everyone goes through the first trick or you as a person go through every trick. Does Every trick start with a throw and end with a bind? I guess I want to know what constitutes a fail. Like if I throw a trapeze and miss my string and while the yoyo is still spinning whip it back up on the string is that a fail? Do you have to be absolutely flawless or if you some how miss the string, long as you donāt have to bind and rethrow or do a variation of a rethrow you are good? Thanks for your help. I want to start practicing for a future contest and want to know a little more on how it all should be done before I start practicing them.
I believe that you can only miss one or two binds.
This number is independent of your missed trick number.
every trick starts with a throw and ends with a bind (or a tug if youāre playing responsive). in between, if you arenāt flawless, it should be a miss.
a āfailā is ANY deviation from the trick as prescribed. if you miss the string in trapeze, but you do a pinwheel and hit it as you come around, itās still a miss. you have to hit it the first time, in the way prescribed/shown. the point is for the most consistent player to win, not just the one with the longest sleeper. youāre allowed 1 of these fails, move on to the next trick on the list, and then on the next fail, youāre done.
the only gray area is binds, which will vary from contest to contest. some contests (like the ones i run) count a missed bind as a missed trick. other organizers/judges are more forgiving, and you should definitely get clarity on that before you start.
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so do you have to pass the sports ladder to get to freestyle
??? ??? ???
It depends on the contest. In some instances Iāve seen the sports ladder used as a qualifying round, but I think thatās rare. They usually run a freestyle qualifying round open to all for the finals.
wow that is pretty tough. I was thinking it might be slightly easier. But also when I noticed at the Florida State Contest that they only required 25 tricks I figured it would be something like that you need to be flawless.
So some contests require a specific bind? Hmmm I also just let the yoyo drop to the ground and do a bind. I see Andreā boulay videos do this flipping spinning type bind but I have yet to figure out how to do that haha. I just do a trapeze double or nothing or whatever trick and when Iām done drop the yoyo to the ground I guess as a sleeper you could say and bind it back up. So in some contests that wouldnāt be acceptable?
they donāt require a specific bind at all. They require you to return it to your hand without messing that up as well as the trick. so from the time you throw your yoyo to the time you catch it you canāt mess up.
Cool thanks!
Iāve been reading quite a few competition sites. Those that do the sports ladder seem to have a page dedicated to their rules of how to handle this contest. Regardless, it sounds to me like āperfectionā is the objective, which is what we should all aim for anyways whether we compete or just for ourselves.
Iām never going to compete, thatās not what itās about for me. But, I can use those sports ladder listings for a challenge for myself later on when I get better.
Practice and have fun!
Iām 30 and not sure I would really fit in going up against kids and teens but thought it might be fun to try. I noticed Studio that you do FOH. I own an entertainment production company in Florida. A really close friend of mine is currently on tour with Janet Jackson mixing her monitors.
But back to YoYo. Iām thinking of putting together a two minute routine just for fun and trying my hand at the Florida State or World Contest next year just to say I did. Not sure yet, figured Iād figure out how everything works first.
Iām 40. Iāve done monitors for years, but I was always preferred FOH. Iām done with touring unless the money is stupid good.
For yoyo, for me, itās for personal enjoyment only. I want to get good, but I donāt care about competing. Itās not just because I wonāt be able to compete with kids 25%-50% of my age(which is true), itās just that not everything needs to be competitive for me. This is that area.
Closest Iāll get to competition is if they hire me to do sound at such events. It would be interesting to see how these competitions work from a logistics point of view.
As for my āperformanceā ideas, I work with a small theater troupe. I may come from behind the desk to do a little 20-30 second thing as part of a diversion while the set changes. Since thereās no curtain, we rely on misdirection or re-direction at times to help facilitate the set changes.
For me, seeing a Trick ladder list would just be something to try to use as a tool to refine my skills.
Depending on the size of the contest they will usually break the ladder routine into age groups. The couple of times Iāve done MWR they had 3 groups, under 18, 18-30, and over 30. At MN states on the other hand, there were only 5 people, myself and 4 kids under 12. I lost the 3rd place tie breaker looping to one of them.