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TRICK
OF THE WEEK!
A new instructional segment
featuring in-depth articles on how to learn and perfect dazzling
Chinese Yoyo tricks. May or may not be updated every week
or so; old trick-of-the-week articles can be found in the
"online tutorials"
section. This week's featured trick is the:
One of the most basic yet exciting tricks one can perform
with a Chinese Yoyo is the throw and catch. Let's break down
the mechanics of the trick step-by-step:
Part One
Throwing the Yoyo
When throwing the yoyo, you want to "open"
the sticks, by pulling them apart in opposite directions.
You can do this either by spreading your arms apart, or,
with your sticks pointing towards each other, by rotating
your wrists outwards in opposite directions. This causes
the string to become tight, and the yoyo to pop up. Depending
on the distance, height and direction you would like to
throw the yoyo, you may end up using some combination
of these two throwing styles. In general, throws have
more precision using wrist-rotation method; the arm-spread
technique is better for for longer distance throws requiring
more power.
Beginners often get in the habit of lifting upwards with
their arms to get the yoyo into the air. Your arms should
only move horizontally when you throw the yoyo - lifting
with your arms when you throw will prevent you from controlling
the direction and height of your toss, and will also make
catching more difficult (see part 2).
Part Two
Catching the Yoyo
The key to catching the yoyo on the string is to
have your string taut, much like when you throw. The
easiest way to accomplish this is to reach high up
to the yoyo with one stick, while keeping the other
stick low. A taut string makes catching the yoyo much
easier than a loose string, because one can control
the location of the string much better.
Once the yoyo is on the string, your arms should
immediately collapse down, loosening the string, so
that you can begin spinning the yoyo once again.
General points to remember:
1) As you're learning throw and catch, practice in
a wide-open space and with soft flooring if possible.
Outdoors on a grassy lawn is ideal.
2) Stability is one of the keys to a successful throw
and catch. In general, it is easier to throw the yoyo
if it is spinning at a fairly good speed. But more
importantly, you always want to make sure the yoyo
is level (parallel to the ground) before you throw
it, otherwise you'll have a hard time catching the
yoyo if it's tilting out of control in the air.
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