How to Hold Yo-Yo Counterweights in Your Hand

Video Transcript

"ANDRE BOULAY: So, when you're ready to do counterweight or freehand yoyoing, you need to learn how to hold it. It's a little bit awkward at first because we were used to holding the yoyo on our hand. It's usually attached. In this case, you actually have to hold on the dice or the counterweight whatever you end up using. To do so, I've found the easiest way for me is I hold the yoyo up here at the top of my hand and I take the dice and it comes down through my fingers and I kind of grip it down near my pinkie finger, just like so, so I've got a good grip on the dice, a good grip on the yoyo, and usually I bring my thumb wrapped up around here like so. So when I go to throw, I can kinda make a normal throwing motion and as the yoyo releases, I can still hold on to the dice at the end. When you go to catch, same thing, you want to hold the dice down toward your pinkie, so when the yoyo comes back up, you can just grab it with your pointer and thumb like so. Some people actually like to wrap the string around their finger, when they're doing this, so that it feels normal. That way, you actually can get a normal throw, then you just have to unwrap it when you're ready to do a trick. It is a little more awkward though to sometimes do that so it's not always recommended. Another way to do it is to actually hold it in between your ring and middle finger, just like that. The thing with this that can happen is as it's coming out sometimes you'll actually release the whole yoyo because it's already coming off the center of your hands so that pulling motion sometimes can release it. With a little practice, it's not a big deal. You'll get used to it. Again, I just kind of recommend down by the pinkie, I found that I can get the most hold onto it that way in the most throw without feeling like I'm actually going to release the yoyo and throw it off. It also seems to be the easiest way to catch the yoyo again. So, that's how to hold a counterweight for freehand play."