Extreme Yo-yo
What is yo-yoing? It’s the crack of the string, the smell of 3-in-1 oil, and the feeling of raw, cold metal in your hand. Yo-yoing is being in the spotlight and hearing the roar of the crowd. It’s being terrified and excited at the same time. Yo-yoing is learning and teaching and being frustrated one minute and thrilled the next. Most important of all, yo-yoing is a sport. It’s the one thing that many have heard of yet know so little about. Yo-yoing is patience, time, practice, and dedication. At the same time yo-yoing can seem aggravating, confusing, and hopeless. Yo-yoing truly is a love/hate relationship. It may take a lot of patience and repetition, but the hard work pays off in the end and the feeling is purely magical. The yo-yos of today have changed greatly since the yo-yos of yesterday. Today, yo-yo’s come in many different brands from all over the world. They range from cheap plastic yo-yo’s all the way up to high end metal yo-yo’s that cost up to $100. Many people are surprised at the outrageous price of some yo-yo’s but they definitely make a difference. They spin longer and make tricks a snap.
Along with all the different yo-yo’s come the tools of trade. There are many different oil’s, strings, and bearings that work behind the scenes. Liquids such as thick oil, thin oil, and 3-in-1 oil all have different benefits to the player. Thick oil makes the yo-yo more responsive and thin oil makes the yo-yo totally unresponsive. Many blends of string have been created to suit the different styles of yo-yoing. String blends consist of 100% polyester, cotton, and 50% cotton 50% polyester. Cotton is generally beginner string and wears out the fastest. When things get serious, polyester string is needed as it lasts the longest. The 50/50 blend which is half cotton half polyester makes for a slick less responsive string. The 50/50 blend is the best for two handed yo-yoing where a mixture of more response and less responsiveness is needed.
Today’s one handed yo-yo’s are made not to come back to one’s hand when called. Unresponsive yo-yos allow players to perform tricks without having the yo-yo jerk up and hit them in the face. New tricks that would otherwise come back up to your hands are now possible with these kinds of yo-yos. In order to make the yo-yo’s unresponsive, players use lighter fluid to clean the bearing and then lubricate it with thin oil. With this set up the yo-yo is almost impossible to get back to the player’s hand. Players have to perform what’s called a “Bind” in which they flip the yo-yo onto the front of the string and drop the string into the gap of the yo-yo. This allows the yo-yo to tightly roll back up the string and into your hand. However, not all of today’s yo-yo’s like this. With the style of two handed yo-yoing you want the yo-yos to be as responsive as you can without sacrificing sleep time. There are actually five styles of yo-yoing that are practiced today. These styles include 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A. 1A is purely one handed yo-yoing where the object is to do as many tricks as possible before the yo-yo stops spinning. The trick is to do this but get it back to your hand at the end. 2A, which is considered the hardest style, is two handed looping and around the world tricks. 3A is where two 1A yo-yo’s used simultaneously to perform string tricks. 4A is offstring yo-yoing where the string isn’t even attached to the axle. 5A, which is the newest style, is where a dice is connected to the end where the string usually attaches to your finger. This style is also known as counterweight. Instead of having the string on your finger you place it between your fingers. This allows you to swing around both the yo-yo and the dice at the same time. Each player usually has two styles that they mainly practice. Some do every style. My main styles are 1A and 2A, or one handed and two handed yo-yoing. Each style has hundreds of tricks and takes time, repetition, and patience to master. I got into yo-yoing back in 1997 when I was in 3rd grade. A yo-yo company came to my school and sold yo-yo’s and put on an assembly. They sold yo-yo’s before school, after school, and at lunch. It was a huge craze and everybody had to buy one. Within a few weeks the hype died down and the yo-yo’s were just another thing in their closet. I stuck with it and practiced it and learned tricks over the years. I entered two school talent shows and placed 2nd both years. After that my passion for yo-yoing diminished and I entered the popular realm of video games. The spark was rekindled in 2006 when I was ironically grounded from my video games. With nothing else to to do I reached for my yo-yo and was sucked in. My focus was always one handed yo-yoing until 2007. During the summer I practiced looping separately with each hand. I never thought in a million years that I could do two handed looping. As soon as I was decent with both hands I was eager to put them together. The feeling was scary at first; trying to control two at a time but with time and practice there was no going back to just one. I bought my first $100 yo-yo in 2008 unsure whether the price was really worth it. Metal yo-yo’s were the best yo-yos I’d ever used and there was no way of going back to plastic yo-yos. Not only was the play phenomenal but the yo-yo’s were beautifully crafted. I soon learned of the different bearings such as the ceramic concave bearing which centers the string. This bearing is the best you can get and keeps the yo-yo from tilting. Yo-yo’s will spin forever as long as they’re kept straight.
One handed yo-yoing is extremely popular, in fact the most popular among the five styles. The reason for this is its easy maintenance and upkeep of the yo-yo. One handed yo-yo’s come ready out of the box with the exception of bearing upgrades. Throw a string on and some thin oil and you’re set to go for some time. Two handed yo-yoing is the rarest among the styles. Some people have even called it a dying style. The main reason for this may be because the requirement of two hands. One of the biggest reasons is people simply didn’t have the knowledge to set up their yo-yo’s. Back in the day, players had to modify their yo-yo’s to get them up to standards. They took out the metal spacers and inserted plastic ones that had been sanded down just below the response system. They then “cranked’ or “over tightened” the yo-yo to crush the gap and make it narrower. This increased the response of the yo-yo but was very difficult to achieve. If they weren’t carful the gap could become too small and decrease sleep time. With two handed yo-yoing a balance of responsiveness and sleep time is a must. The reason we want a balance like this is because two handed yo-yo play is a combination of “looping” and “around the world tricks”. By having a yo-yo that both loops and sleeps well tricks are made easier. Another consequence was breaking the yo-yo when overtighting it. Thankfully, many companies have come out with adjustable yo-yos. The latest and greatest is called the Loop900. This yo-yo is identical to the popular yo-yo’s modded in the past except they have an adjustable gap. A hole has been drilled in the middle of the yo-yo and a key is used. By turning the key clockwise or counter clock wise a player is allowed to adjust the gap and find their preference. I’m thrilled with the introduction of this yo-yo because without it I may never have gotten into 2A play.
The biggest part of yo-yoing is enjoyment, you do it because it’s fun but another big aspect of yo-yoing is contests. There are tons of yo-yo contests all over the country some big and some small. The biggest yo-yo contests include the National Yo-yo Contest, The World Yo-yo contest and the Bay Area classic yo-yo contest. Nationals are held in Chico, California and Worlds is held in Orlando, Florida. The Bay Area Classic is held in San Francisco. In order to qualify for a contest such as the world or national contest players must place in the top five of a regional contest. The regions are broken up across the country much like the circuit courts are divided up. Along with these almost every state has a state contest. The Idaho State Contest is usually held in Emmett, Idaho during the cherry festival. This year however, it will be held at the Boys and Girls club in garden City on September 25th. All in all about 15 players come to compete in the contest. When it comes to yo-yo contests there are divisions for each yo-yo style as well as a sports ladder. During the sports ladder tricks are read off of a 25 trick ladder and the player performs each trick in a row. Each player is allowed to mess up once but the second time you’re out. The 2nd division is called the freestyling division where players set up a routine to music and perform. Usually, players in a division compete against players of the same style although there is an exception. Contests sometimes hold an X division where any yo-yo style can go head to head with one another. Prizes at contests often include cash, yo-yo products, and bragging rights. Yo-yoing is fun, relaxing, and fun awesome watch. Yo-yoing teaches dedication and improves patience as well as reinforces hard work.
Very interesting post, but please stick to class materials in future open posts.
ReplyDeleteI do like yo-yos, though.