Would you ever be embarrassed by your yoyoing life?

General Yo-Yo
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Story time!

As some have known, I have uploaded many old yoyo freestyles to YouTube from back in the day thanks to old files I had saved on numerous hard drives and such, so a lot of classic freestyles from the pre-05 era.

I had a couple freestyles in my archive of a particular competitive player who I won’t name
Who was a top player in the US for a good run.

Anyways, I one day received a message from this very player who asked me to take down all freestyles I had uploaded, as well as showing me proof he was infact that player. He also asked that if I ever see or find any other footage of him to please let him know so he could have it removed.
I agreed and took them down as per request but asked him as to why he wanted to do this.
His response was that he is now an adult and is embarrassed of his past yoyo life and wants nobody to find out about it and wants others to respect his wishes.

It was very odd to me and I was definitely thrown off

I’ve been yoyoing since 98 and as a full grown adult today I definitely can’t imagine I’d ever be ashamed of my past of yoyo contest freestyles and involvement in this amazing world of throwers, but I suppose that doesn’t go for everyone, even top champion players who were once sponsored and traveling the world for yoyo

How do you think youll feel about it as you enter into adulthood? Or if you are an adult, could you ever see something bad happening if your past yoyo life as a kid/teen got loose?

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I’ll give what is likely to be one of the shorter replies.
I throw everywhere with no shame. I’m proud of my throwing history, i wish i had more video.

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i don’t yoyo in public because i feel kinda self-conscious but it’s mostly because i’m very shy around people i don’t know (and sometimes people i do know) and i’m sure if i did it more often i could get over it. but i’m not embarrassed by yoyoing, might be a tad embarrassed about having 6 pink yoyos… lol.
Edit: one of my male friends saw i had a pink yoyo and was making fun of me for it…

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Nope. I’m not embarrassed in any way about yoyoing. But there will be the occasional person who will say something like, Why do you yoyo? In a skeptical way but who cares.

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There are lots o colors in de wainbow.

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that’s me though, people will say “what’s that? and how does it spin and come back up?” and i’m like “oh ■■■■” lol.

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How about no :black_medium_square:S please.:wink:

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you don’t know what i said though! :joy:

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“oh TACO”

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I’m embarrassed…but not because I’m ashamed of the hobby…rather because I’m WAY too hard on myself and feel really self-conscious about my skills.

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I’ve been doing this for over 35 years - I’ve got significantly more embarrassing traits than throwing yoyo’s to call my own…

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I’m well into adulthood, I’m well past the stage where I put much value into how other people perceive me. That said, I have an established career. Maybe, if I were just starting in a field, I might not want to be known as the (cop, lawyer, doctor, construction worker pick any job) who plays yoyo.

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That’s a shame as I would absolutely would. Any point of differentiation, individualism is a great thing. I am professional, my real name is published many times and I am very different to my industry peers.

Don’t be afraid to be different.

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Im really curious who this player is now :thinking:

I can definitely see people wanting to keep their yoyoing on the DL. Having every trace of it gone seems a little extreme but I can at least see where they’re coming from. Just people growing up and moving on

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I am nothing celebrity or exciting. I’m a child of the 70’s as such my view on being young now is exceedingly eschewed.

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who told you?! :wink:

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I believe I didn’t state my opinion clearly. I can 100% understand someone just starting out in a career not wanting to risk being perceived by new colleagues as having a silly hobby…that person may be concerned with the “older crowd” already having a perception of young adults being overgrown children. That person may have already experienced some grief for yoyoing. I don’t know. For me, I started a new job earlier this year. On my first team call, my manager asked me to share a fun fact with the team…I told them I play yoyo. Why did I share that? Because it is fun, and a fact. At our first in person meeting, I was asked to do a yoyo trick. Knowing that Magic Trick and Mel-hops tens to amaze people, I opened with rock the baby then went right into magic trick and Mel-hops. I thought people’s heads were going to explode.

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I think yoyoing is pretty normal compared to some other hobbies.

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This is indeed leaving me perplexed. I guess I’m not exaggerating when I’m say that most of us view yoyo as a wonderful thing, so why be ashamed of it?

I’m a “young” adult, and I can for sure understand how the force of other’s perception can be strong enough to shape the way you behave, but that’s a miserable way to live tbh.

All my friends know I yoyo. I post my yoyoing everywhere for everyone to see. Most people don’t mind it, the best case scenario is people thinking it is actually pretty cool. I’m sure none of that will change in a couple of decades.

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Shoot I didn’t even really get into it until I was already an adult.
One of my favorite quotes of all time:
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret, and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness, and the desire to be very grown up.” -C.S. Lewis

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