Wow, didn’t find anyone here with same situation as mine, makes you wonder, ngl. The topic is - After 10 years of yoyoing I use counterweight and don’t stick with one style. Mostly do 1a, rarely 5a. Getting most satisfaction when coming up with new tricks by integrating 5a to 1a. Benefits are personal:
No more pain from tight loop on finger. Get’s really painful every time I try this days. With counterweight it’s a relief.
Faster setup and dismantling, been able to throw the moment you take yoyo in hand. Pick up, do trick, no loop fiddling, finish trick, toss away.
More freedom for tricks. Yoyo now isn’t literally tied to you, you can let go whenever you want, and do more variety of tricks. This part is especially not for everyone, but I’ve found that all 1a tricks I’ve seen can be made while holding counterweight. You get used to it, and it becomes natural. As result I’ve been able to come up with something new by letting counterweight go in usual 1a tricks.
Easier string tension. Sometimes it’s easier to let counterweight go, and make perfect tension. Sometimes it’s faster, and everytime 100% accurate.
Saddly, my country’s yoyo community have been bullying me for not playing like others, for not choosing 1a or 5a only. Been hoping to find some support here, but now I don’t even know
Almost all my yoyos are setup with CWs, and lately I’ve been getting into Slippery Eel in a huge way.
Mostly I agree, but some 1A tricks I think are harder while holding a CW. Eg wrapping the string around your throwhand for Superman and Branding are a hassle to get the string layered correctly.
When I dangle the CW to correct string torsion, I find that it almost always settles at 1 1/2 twists looser than neutral. I think this is more noticeable with responsive freehand when you’re doing flip tricks and very low RPM whips than it is with unresponsive yo-yos.
Aso, it’s a sad situation being bullied by yoyoers over how you yoyo. If styles like offstring and freehand are more visually impressive to non-yoyoers, then wouldn’t it be the 1A players who look like nerds. What part of the world are you in?
I second this, wrist mount (my favorite mount) is weird with 5a/ counterweight play. Superman and spirit bomb are very different. I also enter wrist mount through mostly different whips and Doc Pop’s “intrusion” or something like that, and it’s not transferable while holding a counterweight.
To the OP, I thought about doing this hybrid “mostly 1A with a counterweight” this too, as teaching and having a yoyo I can grab and let go of quickly sounded like a good idea. Honestly, I was just frustrated by it. But, if what you’re doing is fun, power to you. I can definitely see that it would be easy to come up with new stuff, as it forces you to interact with mounts a little differently.
Russia. I suspect that such strictness in local gigs is because people try their best to be professional to form a league for international contests, but it’s still sad
