On Tuesday, Feb. 3, SA chartered the TU Throwers Club, a club focused on yo-yoing.
Sophomore Thomas Littlejohn started the club with several of his friends, under the advisement of Computer Science Professor Mauricio Papa.
The idea for TU Throwers began when Littlejohn didn’t see any throwing-related clubs on the list of current clubs.
Littlejohn yo-yoed in middle school but gave up the hobby in high school to focus on academics. Because he had more free time in college, he became interested in yo-yoing again, so he asked around to see if there was any interest in his group of friends.
He found many who were interested, because according to Littlejohn “a lot of people used to yo-yo.” Luckily for Littlejohn and his friends, “It is pretty easy to start (a club) on campus.”
The club is not strictly yo-yo themed. A lot of people used to also juggle, Littlejohn said, or even do kendama, so he’s open to expanding the club’s focus.
Seeing people yo-yoing, Littlejohn hopes, will attract students to the club. According to him, “a lot of time there’s not anything happening, so people need hobbies,” which he hopes will include yo-yoing.
“Most of the people who yo-yo are pretty chill,” Littlejohn said, so even if people aren’t particularly interested in yo-yoing, they still might be interested in hanging out with people in the club. “It’s a cool environment, not exclusive at all,” he said.
Since yo-yoing is an international hobby, Littlejohn hopes the club will break barriers and allow yo-yoers to “see different (yo-yoing) styles from different countries.” There are already international students from China in the TU Throwers Club.
On Thursday, Feb. 12, Littlejohn hopes to meet with students interested in the TU Throwers Club in order to discuss future dates and events, such as a welcome party and competitions in the future.
“It’s going to take several events to grow (TU Throwers),” he said.
Joining the club doesn’t require any prior experience, or even a yo-yo. “The point is not to take advanced people and take them to competitions,” Littlejohn said. “The point is to introduce throwing (yo-yoing) to the campus as a whole.”
