Ahhh… BAC.
Where do I begin?
We start at the beginning, even before the contest.
Thursday night, I went to the airport with my Dad to pick up my friend Sean (Yoyokos).
He was going to stay with us for a few days so he could come to BAC.
We practiced our freestyles once we got home for 1A.
Sean is easily a better 1A player and 5A player than me, much harder tricks with much more tech.
Friday was a cool day, we went to the Academy of Science to hang out for a bit, and as we left to wait for my Dad to pick us up, we decided to go look at the contest site, since it was just across the street.
We walked up closer to the stage and we saw some people standing there.
Sean: Hey are those guys…yoyoers?
Me: Hmmm… actually…I think they are!
Sean: No…they are just random people tossing around small objects on strings…
Haha.
I guess some of the other early comers to SF got restless at the hotel and decided to come to the contest site to yoyo.
Jensen was there showing off his crazy skills.
He has such an awesome style, I think he could win worlds this year.
Chuck, Paul Dang, and Alex Berenguel were there as well among some other players.
So much skill.
We stayed there for a bit, but then we had to leave.
I guess we got excited to yoyo again cause after coming home for a bit, we wanted to go back out to yoyo with the others, My Dad drove us back out, but everyone was gone much to our dismay.
After staying at home for a while, my uncle came over to take us around SF.
We knew that a bunch of the yoyoers were staying at the Holiday Inn, so we drove over there and went to continue our hunt for more yoyoers.
Now, usually at yoyo contest hotels, yoyoers hang out in the lobby of the hotel, but the hotel lobby was under renovation so nobody was there.
Now we still figured that there might be some yoyoers hanging around somewhere at the hotel, so I asked the guy behind the desk.
Guy:Hello, welcome to holiday inn! May I help you?
Me: Yeah…um…this may sound odd but…were there a bunch of people playing with yoyos somewhere in this hotel?
Guy: Man, I couldnt even tell you that, I have no idea
Me: Ok thank you anyway.
You know, as we left, I realized just how ridiculous that question must have sounded to the hotel guy.
Haha.
No more yoyoers to yoyo with that day.
Saturday was the big day!
We got to the contest early so we wouldn’t waste any time to yoyo.
We have a secret parking place to get to the bandshell that pretty much nobody knows about that is a short walk down to get there.
We ran into Vince Dezzuti on our way down to the contest site.
As soon as we got there, wow! Many yoyoers were already there!
We all set our stuff down and registered.
It was quite cold that day so everyone was quite bundled up.
Usually SF isnt that cold, but on rare occasions, it can get freezing.
I went to hang out with a bunch of my yoyo friends who I often only see at contest, as well as meeting some guys for the first time who I have only talked to through the forums.
Me and Sean went to go look at the different yoyo sales tables.
Sean bought a dv888 and a new Peak,
Soon, it was time for the novice division freestyles!
That is a cool division, so much talent from the newer competitors.
Amazing.
I had gotten a new MK3 and was really liking how it played, so I decided to use it in my 1A prelims.
The 1A prelims started and wow!
There were so many 1A players! Maybe even more than Nationals!
We all were amazed as they were naming off all the players.
So many!
My 1A prelim did not go well.
I didn’t realize how much the cold would affect my hands so as soon as I started, I noticed I couldn’t feel anything going through my fingers, and the string seemed to stick to all my fingers.
Tricks were not going well and I did not do so well.
I should have brought yoyo gloves, that would of helped very much.
The cold affected some other players it seemed like, many other yoyoers who were hanging out also noticed this.
Sean, Vince, Vince (haha), Zach, Jensen, and many others had quite good 1A prelims though. Very clean.
After the bad 1A prelim, I decided it was time to get a glove, I decided to see if the Infinite Illusions table had any and sure enough, they did.
I felt sorry for Amy who was working the table, they put the table way off at one side of the contest and it was quite cold.
She was very awesome person though.
the 2A freestyles started and there were only 3 people entered!
Me, Yosshi, and Grant.
Yeah, I don’t stand a chance against those guys.
I went first in 2A and then, it happened.
They called me off the stage due to a problem with my CD.
I got to the sound table and my CD actually ripped!
A post-it note had to be placed on the CD’s so AC would know who was yoyoing and what track number to play.
But the post-it note ripped the CD so my music wouldn’t work.
I ended up using my 3A music instead but it was tough.
One thing about 2A freestyles is that you have to have a balance between the loop tricks and the milk the cow tricks to balance out the string getting looser and tighter.
With the new song, I got mixed up so one yoyo got way too loose and got knotted.
I did very badly, mostly because I was kind of in a panic on stage.
But it was ok, I got to perform and even completed the tangler I was hoping to catch.
The 3a started and this time, 4 people!
Me, Zach the magnet man!, Masanobu Iwata, and Paul Yath.
Such great 3A skill.
Masanobu is my favorite 3A player and it was great to see him compete.
My 3A actually went very well all the way up till the last trick when I got an axle bind.
Still, I felt ok about it.
We all loved Paul Yaths 3A. He has some crazy tricks!
And Zach and his magnet tricks are the best thing ever.
So unique and original!
4A started and again, not too many players.
I didnt compete in 4A, not really doing it much recently.
I really was impressed by a new competitor, Zach Rubino.
He was new, but as he did his freestyle, we all realized: Wough! This guy has some real skills!
He did very well.
My friend Tin went up on stage.
Tin is cool, he is on team 2yo and is also a hip hop dancer.
His 4A is crazy good. but he gets nervous on stage.
He was doing very well untill he missed one trick and started missing many after that, He actually looked at me from on stage and told me: This is so bad!
He was gonna walk off actually but I yelled at him: No stay up there! You are doing really good!
Haha, usually people dont talk to others on stage during a freestyle.
We all loved Tsubasas 4A. All of us were screaming during his freestyle.
Its one thing to see freestyles on youtube, but to actually be there to view an amazing freestyle is like nothing else.
5A was awesome!
Wow! such skill! 5A is really growing as a style, and the skill at this BAC proves it.
We all were going crazy during Miggys 5A.
I was in 5A and went for a smooth relaxed 5A.
I used to try to be fast and quick but I never felt comfortable with doing that, so I changed my style to a slower smoother style and it fits me well.
I decided to go check out the tables again, YYF had lots of awesome yoyos as usual. As well as some new stuff! I got to see the new YYF spin top!
SPYY had some super awesome new yoyos, I got to try a new pure.
Such an awesome yoyo.
SaveDeth had there cool shirts and hoodies as well.
I went back to the Infinite Illusions table to see what yoyos they were still selling.
They had a pair of SHinwoo loops for sale, so I bought them.
I also guided my friend Mateo there for a new legacy :).
Soon, it was time for the 1A fianls!
Crazy!
Jensen had an amazing 1A as usual, Alex Berenguel had a great freestyle, Joseph Harris may not be recognized much for 1A now, but he will! His 1A has gotten very good!
Zach Gormley did very well! It was one of his first freestyles but he looked like a natural competitor up there.
Augie had a great 1A as well.
There were some really cool Diabolo and juggling performances on stage by Chris Garcia and Jared Tisher.
Those guys are amazing.
A few of us went over to the group of people juggling, and using poi.
My friend Nick is a very good devil stick player and juggler, so he thought he would try poi for the first time.
He said he had no idea what he was doing but tried.
As soon as he started swinging them, he went into some combos.
He actually was a natural at poi!
He shocked himself too and screamed: WOW! NO WAY! I’M GOOD AT POI! HAHA!
Haha, very cool.
Soon, it was time for results,
5A was taken by Miggy
4A was taken by Tsubasa
3A was taken by Paul
2A was taken by Grant
and 1A was taken by Jensen.
As you can guess, I got 3rd in 2A.
Haha, You know, I am not proud of the 3rd, but I got a medal,and I got to take the picture with grant and Yosshi.
Coming off the stage though I told them: You know guys, I feel unworthy to stand here with both of you. Haha.
But its true! I am totally unworthy!
The contest soon started winding down.
I got some last minute footage of some of the yoyoers and talked to some people who wanted to know about the 2yo yoyo club.
At yoyo contest, people love to buy and sell things.
Everywhere, people are trying to sell yoyos or buy em.
I bought a used 888 and sold my project/lyn mod.
You can always find the best deals at yoyo contest.
I saw a K-os go for 10 bucks, a Speeder and DM both go for only 10, an 888 for 50, even a BVM for 50!
We decided to gather a bunch of the 2yo members and go to dinner at a pizza buffet we know of at Pier 39.
It was: Me, Sean, Vince Dezzuti, Mateo, Zach Gormley, Connor Swan, Tyler Goldenberg, and Shannon Jackson.
We were going to yoyo outside for a bit but it was windy! VERY windy! And cold!
We stayed inside and ate our pizza.
After eating, we went out to yoyo but quickly realized that it would be impossible.
So we went into a small enclosed hallway off to the side of the pizza place to yoyo.
The guys from Arizona came out and we called to them where we were.
They saw us but left, I guess the cold was a bit too much for them.
Mateo, Me, Sean and Zach yoyoed for quite a while in the hallway but soon it got late and we all went home.
We were all tired!
The next day, we woke up really early to take Sean to the airport.
He had to go home.
Its always strange when a contest is over, there is this feeling of being alone, going back to how you were before.
For a while, you are surrounded by multitudes of people who all share your common interest, so many people, and then, its all over, and you back to just yoyoing at home during your free time and checking the forums.
But the memories are great.
Friend and yoyos, freestyles and buying yoyos.
Awesome.
BAC was a contest that as I told Sean, left me saying: “What a weird contest!”
But in a good way!
Weird, but just meaning different from other contest.
Fun, Entertaining, Uplifting, COLD
Haha.
Thanks to all who made the event possible.
It was great!
Can wait till next years for sure!
BAC 09.
“What a weird (awesome) contest!”
Who where the guys from Arizona? I live in Arizona an i didn’t know there was aney body else that yoyoed here.