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My journey to yo-yo mastery

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    When I was 14 years old,
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    I had low self-esteem.
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    I felt I was not talented at anything.
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    One day, I bought a yo-yo.
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    When I tried my first trick,
    it looked like this:
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    (Laughter)
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    I couldn't even do the simplest trick,
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    but it was very natural for me,
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    because I was not dextrous,
    and hated all sports.
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    But after one week of practicing,
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    my throws became more like this:
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    A bit better.
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    I thought, the yo-yo
    is something for me to be good at.
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    For the first time in my life,
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    I found my passion.
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    I was spending all my time practicing.
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    It took me hours and hours a day
    to build my skills up to the next level.
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    And then, four years later,
    when I was 18 years old,
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    I was standing onstage
    at the World YoYo Contest.
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    And I won.
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    I was so excited.
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    "Yes, I did it! I became a hero.
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    I may get many sponsors, a lot of money,
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    tons of interviews,
    and be on TV!" I thought.
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    (Laughter)
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    But after coming back to Japan,
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    totally nothing changed in my life.
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    (Laughter)
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    I realized society
    didn't value my passion.
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    So I went back to my college
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    and became a typical Japanese worker
    as a systems engineer.
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    I felt my passion,
    heart and soul, had left my body.
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    I felt I was not alive anymore.
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    So I started to consider what I should do,
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    and I thought, I wanted to make
    my performance better,
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    and to show onstage
    how spectacular the yo-yo could be
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    to change the public's image of the yo-yo.
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    So I quit my company
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    and started a career
    as a professional performer.
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    I started to learn classic ballet,
    jazz dance, acrobatics and other things
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    to make my performance better.
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    As a result of these efforts,
    and the help of many others,
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    it happened.
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    I won the World YoYo Contest again
    in the artistic performance division.
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    I passed an audition for Cirque Du Soleil.
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    Today, I am standing on the TED stage
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    with the yo-yo in front of you.
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    (Applause)
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    What I learned from the yo-yo is,
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    if I make enough effort with huge passion,
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    there is no impossible.
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    Could you let me share my passion with you
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    through my performance?
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    (Applause)
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    (Water sound)
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    (Music)
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    (Music ends)
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    (Applause)
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    (Music)
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    (Music ends)
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    (Applause)
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    (Applause ends)
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    (Music)
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    (Applause)
Title:
My journey to yo-yo mastery
Speaker:
BLACK
Description:

Remember the days you struggled just to make a yo-yo spin, and if you were really fancy, to “walk the dog”? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Japanese yo-yo world champion BLACK tells the inspiring story of finding his life's passion, and gives an awesome performance that will make you want to pull your yo-yo back out of the closet.

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
10:28
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for My journey to yo-yo mastery
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