Start with the string on your finger, YoYo ready to go. Show your friend the following technique (relax and visualize this technique before you try it):
1. Hold the YoYo in your cupped hand, palm facing down, and with your string finger curled comfortably in the YoYo groove.
2. Elbow at your side, hold the YoYo hand forward at waist height.
3. Ease your grip on the YoYo; as it falls from your hand move your hand and arm upward in a smooth easy motion.
4. When the YoYo reaches the end of the string, move your hand and arm down toward the YoYo in a smooth easy motion to . . .
5. Catch the YoYo in your cupped hand at waist height, the same position where you released it! And it's perfectly OK for any beginner to use the left hand to help catch the YoYo to help things along for awhile.
Moving the hand upward (Step 3) while the YoYo is on the way down imparts spin energy to the YoYo - giving the YoYo a better chance to get back to your hand when it starts back up the string. Moving your hand downward (Step 4) makes it easier for the YoYo to rewind the string all the way back to your hand.
At Step 4, if the YoYo spins and stays at the end of the string, the technique fails:
- With any fixed axle (traditional) YoYo, twist the YoYo string tighter to gain more friction at the axle or double the loop at the axle, then try again.
- With a transaxle (sleeve or ball bearing) YoYo, double (or even triple!) the loop at the axle or (if possible) reduce the string gap, then try again.
Check your friend's YoYo for good return action before teaching the technique!
Given success with this technique, you and your beginner friend can spin the YoYo down and up the string in successive cycles as long as you like with ease and confidence.
And it's a grand feeling of accomplishment for the beginner (and for you as "Coach") to get the YoYo to the end of the string and back on the first try.
It's the State of YO!