I started off a Steve Brown fanboy in the 90’s and almost 20 years later after I picked up the yoyo again and decided to get into it. When I met Steve as a little kid he showed me a bunch of 1A stuff and I always wanted to do his 5A tricks so I tried to mimic his movements and eventually learned that it was a completely different style of yoyo. When I researched yoyo I found out about guys like Jason Lee, Guy Wright and Tyler Severance and tried to mirror their movements and slowly learned more 1A and 5A.
To put it shortly: 1A - I youtubed “yoyo” and Jason Lee and Guy Wright came up and the way they played was like an art form and it blew me away 2A - that spark hasn’t really ignited yet but probably the closest is John Higby 3A - Hank Freeman 4A - again, hasn’t really sparked my interest. 5A - Seeing what Steve Brown, John Higby, Miguel Correa and Tyler Severance could do with 5A
It doesn’t have to be people in particular, I am just curious what got you into your favorite styles. It could have been a contest experience or just traveling and seeing a street performer. 2-4A just haven’t really tickled my fancy and I’m curious if anyone would have a mind-blowing experience that could spark my interest to these other variations and styles.
1A- Carlos Braun: Saw his German Masters win and was in aw. I don’t keep up with much anymore though.
2A-Not There
3A- Not there
4A- Haven’t tried 4A but really want too due to Ben Conde.
5A- Chase Baxter. Saw his 2013 vid and I still watch that video a couple times a week. I really wanted to try 5A when he dropped the vid but didn’t have a CW so I got into it just recently, he’s definitely my favorite 5A player right now.
according to the guys that I have talked to that actually do 4A, they all say that it is a lot easier than it looks. I’m kind of interested to get a 4A and test it out. I saw that Chase Baxter 2013 video and that was amazing. It definitely put my 3 month old skills to shame lol
1A: When I decided to get into yoyo, I wanted to do string tricks.
2A: Why not? I’m doing horrible at this style. I try.
3A: Not yet. Soon. Watching Hank Freeman is just amazing. But, what caught my attention was this collab video in July of 2011(I’ve downloaded it) and I saw Elephark and I think Mack Finley in that doing 3A stuff. That just looked really cool. I want to do 3A, but I’m not really there yet. I bet I could do 3A before I could get proficient with 2A, but I want to get some 2A goals done first.
4A: Saw the “stronger” video highlighting YYJ players doing 4A but it wasn’t very good resolution, but it got my curiosity peaked. Later, I saw Bryan Figueroa’s video on the Fiesta and was amazed. I could see what was going on really good and it was amazing playing.
5A: I wish I could find the video again. Maybe I have downloaded it. I forget. I think it was Steve Brown doing a 5A demonstration at a contest, being the “contest debut” or something like that. I don’t think it was for competition but it was being “put out there”. Then another Steve Brown video, where whatever he was using, it was most likely some sort of hubstacked yoyo and he was pull starting it each time. The freedom, the possibilities… Wow.
1A: When I first started throwin’ I thought Eiffel Tower was an expert trick. I was new to yo-yoing and my first book(The book that I originally found and got me into throwing) was from the 80’s or so. Then my dad found a special on HDnet, 2009 international yo-yo competition. I watched that thing 30 times until my dad deleted the recording, I watched and studied everyone’s performances and eventually started making up my own tricks.
2A: I started this for fun, but I still suck at it REALLY badly.
3A: Again, read what I put for 2A
4A: This I started because my brother got into it and I couldn’t let him beat me in any style of yo-yoing.
2A - Saw this video from the 2003 Japan National Yoyo Contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prCbPStecOs
Was blown away by the 2A in that video, so I did some research, went out and bought a Duncan Speed Beetle from a local hobby store and started practicing my looping.
1A - After getting frustrated with the slow progress and being inspired by Hidemasa Semba in that video, I bought… Either a Throw Monkey or a FH2, forget which, and started learning responsive 1A tricks.
5A - Acquired the counterweights when I got a FH2, decided to see what I could do with them. I think there was a little booklet with 4-5 starter tricks, or something? I also bought the Duncan trick book, maybe I’m thinking of that.
4A - Very little practice, mostly I would have fun at meetups and Worlds tossing an offstring yoyo back and forth, over staircases and such.
That video had the Duncan Viking Tour feel written all over it. It kind of reminded me of that minus all of the random talking and pranks. I’m really glad you posted that because that was definitely a great video to watch
1A is your standard story so we’ll skip that and 3A because I have yet to touch it with a 10 foot poll.
As for the rest of the divisions Josh Yee played a huge roll in getting me into them. It’s always been a mission of his to get people to branch out in the world of skill toys so it’s not much of a surprise that he’d of been the one to motivate me.
He was the one who got me to buy my Loopers and Offsring yoyo. He also gave me my first Counter Weight and helped me grasp the basics of all these styles.