I remember it being stated somewhere that looping is the first trick you learn, and the last trick you'll master. Having climbed that torturous mountain, I can honestly say: Amen to that. After finally getting looping down after 4+ months of frustrating results. I'd like to go into my development history in some detail here because I think hearing some ones thoughts as they progress can be a real help with those starting out -- at least I think and hope so. I should mention one other thing: I stareted out saying the it was stated that looping is the first trick... Well, looping wasn't my first trick, it wasn't even my second, but this will all become clear as you read on.

I kept wondering to myself why it took so long to master looping -- when I finally decided to master it. After all, I thought I'd have no problem learning looping having mastered tricks like Shoot The Moon (STM). Mastering STM gave me such a real sense of timing, yo/string position feel and general confidence, that I thought to myself looping will be a cinch... NOT! It wasn't until I finally mastered looping that I figured out why I didn't master looping sooner. In retrospect, I think I should have mastered looping first. But to be honest here, looping never really interested me, at least not as much as string tricks. You'll see as we walk through my yo history. In fact, I think it may very well have been because I mastered STM first that it took so long to master looping. I'll explain why I think this.

Before I do that, I feel I should give a complete history of my introduction to the intense sport of yo because it will tie in nicely with my looping frustration. As I stated on my main intro page, I started yoing late in the summer of 98. It all started at a yo store called Air Circus in our local mall that gave lessons to kids -- and some adults as well -- though mostly kids would be there. One of the kids that used to go there regularly happened to be my son Eric. He'd usually go with his friend Chris. Either my wife or Chris's mother would take the kids to the mall for the yo lessons. One week the neither my wife or Chris's mom could pick them up and they were always extremely excited about going every week. I reluctantly said I'd pick them up. Reluctantly, because the last thing I care to do is go to a mall during rush hour traffic -- not mention having to sit and watch a bunch of kids practice silly yo-yo tricks.

Well I get there and I see this kid Jesse doing things with his yo that I'd never seen before. Things like Split the Atom, STM, Trapeze and a bunch of other tricks that just blew me away. Up to this point, I was used to watching my son and his friend do Walk The Dog, Confederate Flag, and silly little tricks like that. Needless to say the following weeks after that I was a whole lot less reluctant to volunteer to get the kids. In fact I all but insisted on taking and picking them up. I'd even go to work early so I could leave in time to take them there and get to watch this kid Jesse. I could watch him for hours.

Unfortunately they couldn't afford to keep the store, so they got a small cart in the mall instead. They always talked about getting another store, but it never happened. In fact, recently I found out they no longer have the cart either. :-( I got to know the guys there pretty well, especially Jesse who won our state yo-yo championship a year or so ago. Ever since loosing the store, they never 'officially' had lessons so I didn't get a chance to learn much there, other than what I briefly watched. But that didn't matter to me, I had the yo bug big time.

So I finally get my first real yo as a birthday present: a red Yomega Saberwing. The same yo that Jesse was throwing at the time -- I had to have what he had. I used that yo so much that I wore off all the lettering and the starburst is quite rounded off as well. It was seeing Jesse doing the string tricks that really inspired me. And that's what it's all about -- inspiration.

So the first trick I learned was trapeze. I'd spent hours a day, literally sweating while working on that trick. After a month or two I was finally landing it 80%. I was pumped! My first real trick!

In learning and mastering that trick, I got a good feel for string position. If I can offer any tips on this trick, and all string tricks in general, it would be to concentrate on keeping your throw arm/hand from moving unnecessarily. Especially perpendicular to the string plane.

The string plane is an important concept. Imagine a thin wall created from the path of the string as soon as it leaves your hand. The string should stay on this imaginary wall though out the whole trick. When you move from the string plane, especially perpendicularly, the string begins to rub the sides of the yo, which in turn starts to slow it down prematurely. Thus limiting the amount of time you have to complete the trick -- let alone transition into other tricks on the same spin -- which is the hallmark of expert yoing.

This is not easy, it's a matter of practice and conditioning. But it's needed to move onto more difficult tricks. Being aware of the concept, and visualizing it while your doing the tricks may help you to master the trick sooner than not. Sometimes you can hear the yo getting stalled, then you need to immediately make adjustments in your technique.

Having mastered that trick I was hungry to learn new tricks. So the next thing I got was a trick video. It's the Arne Dixon Duncan tape. We, ahem, got for my son as a birthday present. He watched it a few times and lost interest in it, but I'd run it again and again, stopping, pausing, working on every string trick Dixon showed. Yeah, I suffered through the cornball humor. Fortunately, the advanced tricks area of the tape has the goofball humor was toned down.

Anyhow, I got good at the Double Or Nothing, and Arne's version of Roller Coaster. At that point I was feeling confident enough to go to the yo-yo stand at the mall so I could ask Jesse how to questions and not look like a total idiot/hack. I remember showing up there and I started doing my side mount stuff, not realizing Jesse was watching. Although several people would stop and watch me do my side mount stuff -- that was cool. From out of the blue he said, "You're pretty good." I actually looked behind me to see if he was talking to someone else. Realizing that the compliment was actually directed at me, I replied with a humble thanks. I gave no outward indication at the time, but that made my day -- big time! Having people watching me was neat, but getting a compliment from someone you respect, and who is a respected expert at what you're doing is, well, damn cool.

Now that I feel comfortable to hang out with Jesse and ask him to show me new tricks, I really hit the steep slope of my leering curve. He gets me started on the front mount tricks: STA, Barrel Rolls, Brain twister, etc...

After getting those tricks down, I felt like I needed to expand to what I call throwing tricks: STM and Looping. At this point looping still doesn't really interest me. So it's STM. Besides, STM looks so much cooler than looping to me.

This all takes place around Christmas, 'cause I remember getting my Cherry Bomb for Christmas. The ol' Saber Wing had been worn to the bone -- as it were. This is my second real yo. I wanted something different than the Yomega stuff that I had easy access to. I liked the idea that the gap was adjustable, as well as options with weight rings. The CB is a great yo dispite the fact that the strburst in the oringinal formula wears very quickly. It's a great yo for STM, 'cause it's lite -- even with the weight rings. Although mine isn't lite any more, check out the mods page.

It's hard to say how long it took me to master STM, but I'd say it was somewhere between 1 to two months. Realize that when I make references to the amount of time it took to learn these tricks, assume that it includes 1-2 hours per day, 4-5 days a week. You won't learn these tricks by picking up a yo once a week for an hour. Again it comes down to that word: inspiration.

The first couple of weeks were dismal. maybe one or two, and that was it. My timing was poor, I'd try to pull the yo upwards, instead of letting it bounce under my hand. I'll get into bounce a little later. So much about that trick is counterintuitive.

A few more weeks go by and now I'm consistently getting I'm getting 10-15. That's when it start to come together. I felt the timing, and I feel the position of the yo -- better than I ever had up to this point. It even helped with my string tricks. Before I'd tend to hit one side or the other of the yo, which will instantly steer the yo into an uincontrolable side spin. Now I'm getting the string dead center in the gap for all my tricks -- except for looping that is. Again, at this point I still have no real interest in looping.

A couple more weeks go by and now I'm in the low 100's. At this point I'm really feeling good about my yoing ability. The confidence that that generated finally takes me to the next level of performance.

Now I can do 100 without a sweat. So I start seeing how far I can go. One night I sit in front of my couch on the floor ( Where I do most of my looping and STM -- even to this day. ) And I'm counting a few runs in the mid 200's. Tired of counting, I happen to start a run that was going pretty good. I'd say I was 5 minutes into the run when my wife says that she is going to the store. Ok, I said, as she walked out the door. In the mean time the yo is just ticking away with the clock. Once you get to 300+ in this trick, you start to get mesmerized -- in a good way. The whole world ceases to exist -- except for you, the yo and the hypnotic rhythm of the trick. You're in the zone -- the yozone. It's neat.

I'm guessing some twenty minutes later the wife comes in the door, back from the store. I'm still on the same run! Somewhat excited, I say to her: "I'm still on the same run that I was on when you left to go to the store." In a sarcastic jesting tone she replies: "Oh boy, aren't we special." So she comes over to me and starts trying to distract me by talking more and even tickling me -- she wonders why I'm so involved in a stupid yo-yo trick. I told her that there are maybe a handful of yoers in the world that can do what I just did. Her response: "So what." I don't even try to explain it. All I can say is: if you gotta ask, you'll never know. Anyhow, I said to myself: "Wow! I need to start counting these."

So I start counting.

100, no problem.

200, still going good.

300, staring to get back into the zone.

400, deep in the zone feeling comfortable.

500, I'm wondering how long I've been doing the trick, so I can get an idea of how many I did when I didn't count. It's only been around 10 minutes.

600, going good, my yo finger is getting slightly numb.

700, starting to feel some adrenaline.

800, still going good, getting more excited.

900, I'm sure I'm going to get to 1000. I start wonder how far beyond 1000 I can go. My finger is almost completely numb, but It's not really uncomfortable.

1000, Yeah, I say to myself quietly. Now I'm starting to feel it in my arm.

1100, excited and getting more sore, but still well in control.

1200, now it's a question of stamina. Remember I did a 20+ minute run just before. So I'm guessing the whole night I've done close to 3000 STM.

1300, Really starting to tire, I know I'm going to loose it before I get to 1500. But in my mind I make 1500 the goal.

1374, I start to loose control, so I catch it.

Yeah! 1374.

No point in telling the wife, so I tell my son, and we call his friend Chris.

Onto STM/RFTM trick mechanics:

Despite having watched this trick being performed close up, it's almost impossible to pick up on the technique. This is because that the motions involved are extremely subtle. So subtle in fact, that I can do STM with such little motion that others can't figure out at all how the trick works.

Learning it is simply a matter of feel. Which means that it is something that really can't be taught from one person to another -- it needs to be experienced. Once you feel what the yo wants to naturally do, it is then you can make it do what you want. It's important that you understand this last point. Because what the yo naturally wants to do isn't, in most cases, what you would intuitively think it should do.

So what ever trick your learning, try to experiment with what the yo does with every throw you make as you change the direction of the throws. Let it shoot out in front, but don't move your hand after it leaves, keep it still as it returns. Where does it naturally want to go? Up? Down? Throw it again and move your hand slightly one direction or the other. What did it want to do now? Do the same when you throw it straight up. Let it do it's thing, watch it, learn from it; it is only then you will master it.

If this is starting to sound guruish, if you're stating to picture a old wise man sitting on the top of a mountain delivering enigmatic pearls of wisdom, then you have realized the real nature of the art.

It's much more than a toy.

With all that being said, let my try to impart a few observations that I made after I mastered the trick, that may help you master it sooner. The first thing that comes to my mind is: bounce. It's not the same bounce that you would imagine as you bounce a basket ball on the floor. When you bounce a ball on the floor, you push the ball down, when the ball hits the floor, it bounces upward due to the spring nature of the air and rubber of the ball. In the yo world the concept of push doesn't apply, and hitting the floor with your yo isn't good for the floor or the yo.

The similarities are this: the bouncing occurs when the yo has a high linear velocity and it hits the end of the string and if you hold you hand stiff, so as to not absorb the bounce transient, the yo will naturally want to bounce on the opposite direction. The same thing happens when you throw the yo up vertically with enough force.

Now there is one more instance of bounce that should help explain how to make the yo repeat the vertical and regenerative motion in the STM. When the yo is returning to your hand, provided that you have enough spin, it is picking up linear velocity. Instead of aligning your hand for a catch, move it slightly fore or aft. What happens then is the yo will tend to want to bounce or deflect around your hand at the point where it runs out of string.

The bounce is controlled in the trick by attempting to counter the direction that it want's to go at the instant it approaches your hand. As I said before, the best term I can find to describe the action is bounce.

The angle which it will exit the bounce is determined by a couple of factors. The first is a combination of string gap, string thickness and string length. The second involves technique; how much counter rotation, or counter motion, you apply with your hand. I won't go into detail about counter rotation and counter motion, but as you master the trick, you'll start to see what I mean by the terms, especially when you switch between different yo's.

So what exactly effects the angle of the bounce? If the gap is wide, the string is short, and the string diameter is narrow, then the you will naturally tend to make a sharp bounce angle, Sometimes it will tend to over rotate and overlap the throws, until you compensate with your technique. What these three factors equate to, is a smaller string wrap diameter on the axle/transaxle. This means that the fully wound string is closer to the axle, than not. Being closer to the axle means that as the bounce occurs the string is putting more force on the direction of the yo and not the spin.

In the opposite case: narrow gap, long string, wide string diameter, just the opposite effect will be realized. The yo will tend to have a very wide bounce angle. Sometimes to the point where it's horizontal. Till again you account for it by modifying your technique. In this case the wrap diameter is closer to the diameter of the yo. So as it attempts to bounce and change direction, the application of force from the string is acting more on the rotation of the yo, and not the direction.

This may be hard to visualize. Lets try with a couple of little illustrations:

What we have above is a simple lever connected to a fixed pivot point, "A". Points "B" and "C" are two different points connected to the lever by strings going upward. Torque is a measure of how much a force acting on an object causes that object to rotate. So the question is: Assuming the same pull force is alternately exerted on points/strings "B" and "C", which will apply to most torque to the lever? Or, which point will make the ball on the end of the lever pivot around point "A"?

The answer is point "C". Because torque is a product of F*r. Where "F" is the force, say in pounds, and "r" is the position or distance on the lever starting at the point of rotation "A", say in inches. So the further away from point "A" we go, the more torque we will generate on the lever. Another important observation to realize from this is: as the point of force moves towards point "A", the more force is exerted on point "A" in the direction of the string pull, and less torque on the lever.

There is one other factor that will determine the ratio of torque to linear pull: it's called the polar moment of inertia. Which means the greater the rotating mass, the more resistance there is to rotational acceleration with the application of torque. Although from the point above you might think that more polar inertia is bad, but in actuality it has a benifit: the greater polar moment of inertia, the longer the spin. Basically, you work harder to get it, but it stays longer. That's why the metal yo's, the Cold Fusion's inparticular, spin forever -- even though it takes much more effort to get it started.

Ok, lets apply some numbers to the illustration, to prove the formula and theory: lets say that the lever is 6 inches, and the pull point "B" and "C" are 2 and 4 inches from "A" respectively. Lets also assume that we alternately pull one string at a time with only one pound of force -- I like easy numbers.

At point "B" torque (T) = F * r, F=1, r=2; T = 2*1 = 2 inch pounds of torque.

At point "C" torque (T) = F * r, F=1, r=4; T = 4*1 = 4 inch pounds of torque.

Why have now proved the the further away from the pivot point, the greater the torque applied to the lever. And conversly, the closer to the pivot point, the less torque is applied to the lever.

You ask: Ok, what does a lever have to do with a yo? Lets modify the illustration to show my point concerning the wrap diameter. Please excuse the lack of precise detail -- I'm just ad-hoc whipping theses illustrations up on POVRay:

What we are looking at here is half the yo ( in the bronze color ) and two different diameter circles that represent two different wrap diameters. The green wrap would be the result of either: a wide gap, a narrow string, or a short string, or any combination of the three. Conversely, the blue wrap would be a result of either: a narrow gap, a thick string, or a long string, or any combination of the three.

Now notice that the points "A", "B" and "C" are exactly the same position relative to the lever. This is done to make an easy and quick comparison between the lever and the yo in terms of torque transfer as a result of wrap diameter. There should be no need to plug in any numbers at this point, because we already proved the relationship of distance from pivot to the amount of torque applied to the object.

Now to apply this observation to STM. As I said before, if you have small wrap diameter, the yo will tend to bounce in a tight angle, or even and overlapping angle. And when you have a large wrap diameter, the yo will tend to have a wide angle, sometimes to the point of going horizontal.

The mechanism for this should be apparent from the two illustrations above. Having a large wrap diameter, any pull force applied to the string will tend to make the yo rotate, rather than change direction. In the opposite case: with a small wrap diameter, any pull force on the string will tend to force the yo to change direction, rather than tend to make the yo rotate. Observe the last illustration below, show the net effect of the different wrap diameters.

If you could imagine taking it to the absolute extremes. Having a string with zero wrap diameter. ( picture a dead yo ) Pulling on the string will apply zero torque -- it ain't gonna rotate no matter how hard you pull. This is because "r" in the formula T = F*r now equals zero -- anything multiplied by zero equals... you get the point. No torque = no spin. However, the whole yo will move in the exact direction of the pull. In the opposite condition: having a string with a wrap diameter the same as the yo diameter, and pulling on the string will cause the yo to rotate more than change position.

At first you my think that there couldn't be that big a difference between the two wrap diameters to matter. Not true. The better you get at the trick, the more sensitive you'll become to these types of conditions, and the better able you'll be to compensate for them. This same condition can be noticed in looping as well. But we'll save that for later.

Ok, It's time to get back to looping. As I said at the beginning, it took me months to master looping. And here's the big reason: with the STM and other string tricks, one is trying to keep the string centered in the gap of the yo-yo. The more you do theses types of tricks the more bias you have towards keeping the string centered in the gap. Still not getting why this effects looping? Well in looping you are trying to get the yo to flip as it exits the pass around your hand. In order for the yo to flip, you need to have the string put slight pressure on the rim of the yo. This causes the flip. So all the work you've invested in the other tricks where you center the string in the gap, have to be ignored to learn the loop. OK, now do you see why it was such a PITA for me to learn looping?

The flip is important. It allows for more stable and controlable looping. I'e heard that there are some who loop without the side flip, But I'm definitely not one of them. With the side flip the string wrap orientation will always be the same, as opposed to the non-flip technique, where the string wrap orientation will alternate -- thus creating a stability problem, because the one orientation is intrinsically less stable than the other.

Looping science.

Please excuse the jump at the moment -- later has temporarily arrived. I'm trying to asses the format I want for some of the looping illustrations.

There was an observation posted in the alt.sport.yo-yo news group about the fact that one for one inside to outside loops doesn't result in a neutral string twist condidtion.

The question: How come when alternating inside and outside loops one for one, the string still tightens for lefty's and loosens for righty's, albeit at a lesser rate?

The theory: Inside loops give +/- 1.5 ( Lefty/righty respectively) string twists per loop, while outside loops net a -/+ .5 twist per loop ( Again, lefty/righty respectively). Therefore it takes three outside loops to neutralize the twist for one inside loop.

Huh!? You say?

Let's look a little closer at the situation.

The proof: First, if you loop without a side flip, then there is a one full twist added to the string for lefty's, and one full string twist subtracted for righty's. If you can loop without a side flip, god bless you, you're better than me, if not most. So the question is: in which direction does the flip happen between inside and outside loops. In my experience and experiments, it is this: righty's get a -1.5 total twist for one inside loop, and +.5 for one outside loop. Lefty's get a +1.5 string twist for one inside loop, -.5 string twist for one outside loop. This is the key to the answer.

So, for a righty: one inside loop nets a -1.5 string twist. Minus One full twist for the orbit around the hand, and minus one half twist for the side flip. And a righty's outside loop nets a +.5 string twist. Plus one string twist for the outside orbit around the hand, and minus one half twist for the side flip.

Lefty's are the opposite.

Look at the two illustrations below. The one on the left is the resultant string twist for an inside, right handed, loop. There is one complete string twist. Note: Never mind the actual subraction, because the illustration starts from zero string twist. In reality this would be one twist subtraction from the string.

The picture on the right shows the resultant twist from one orbit plus the side flip. The net result is 1.5 string twists.