How professional are you to be considered professional ?

Hi readers,

"PROFESSIONAL YOYO PLAYER"

That is something that you hear everyday whenever a person comes up to you and ask how long have you been playing with the yoyo. You will be telling them "oh , I have been a yoyo professional for almost a year" or 3 years or 25 years BUT what does it mean to be a yoyo professional ?

Is it the age factor ?

Is it the years of experience factor ?

OR

Whether a person is sponsored by a yoyo company is considered as a professional ?

The truth my friend, there is no proper guidelines to determine who is a yoyo professional or not. I have been playing with the yoyo at the age of 10 and that would be 17 years of experience in total. I could be calling myself a yoyo master but on contrary, I still have doubts branding myself as a yoyo professional. To me, it is similar to the education system, it is a never ending learning process.

If anyone would to ask me "What are your definition of a yoyo professional ?"

I would say, it is not by the amount of yoyos that you have collected and keeps neatly on your shelf like a shiny victory trophy. Instead, I would rather say, a yoyo professional would actually play with their yoyos. Scar marks on a yoyo shows the amount of mistakes that you make while coming up with a mind-blowing routine, combos or tricks. We always learn from mistakes and mistake gives birth to a new concept or idea. So always make mistakes and learn from it to achieve something better (but please don't la simply make mistakes for fun sake and ain't learning from it).

A yoyo professional is not branded by the amount of winning trophies or medals won from yoyo contests. It does determine that you are the champion of that particular division but there will always be another person to be the next champion. Instead, a yoyo professional are those that is willing to kneel down to a 5 year old kid, teaching how to tie a knot, teaching parents how to cut the strings for their kids because it is hazardous for a 5 year old to handle scissors by their own, teaching how to throw a long sleeper and doesn't mind dusting off stains off their jeans from kneeling down on the ground.

Do you see where I am going with this ? You do not need to have a huge collection of yoyos to impress people. You do not need to be obsess with a brand to get sponsor. You definitely do not need to think that you are not a yoyo professional just because you do not have the required set of skills to take on the world champion. What's important is the amount of dedication that you are willing to spread the love for this skill toy.

My advice is, carry a basic yoyo wherever you go. If anyone request to see "walk-the-dog" , whip out your yoyo and walk that dog. If anyone requested that trick that looks like a rocket, show them the Eifel Tower. They will be impressed and you are already classified as a yoyo professional in their eyes because this could be the tricks that they do not know how to do but they are impressed by you. 

Let me summarise this for you to have a better understanding. Be yourself, stay true to yourself, do what you love and always remember why do you pick up yoyoing. That's how you become a,

Yoyo professional.

Till next time,