Morning all! I am proud to present today our very own @SR1 Spence!
One of the best contributors to the forum, with an amazing profile below. Hope you enjoy!!
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
Someone should almost do a survey amongst yoyoers and see how many of us started because of a “school yoyo boom.” I’d actually love to see the numbers on that, because it was the catalyst for SO many throwers I know, including myself. I’m excited to keep reading these interviews just to see everyone’s answer to this question. Anyway, in 6th grade, one of my friends brought a YoYoFactory Velocity to school, and everyone thought it was absolutely NUTS how long a yoyo could spin. It totally shattered everyone’s idea of what they thought a yoyo was. Before you know it, multiple people had yoyos, and because none of us were very good/really knew any tricks, we had competitions amongst ourselves to see who could throw the longest sleeper. I started with a red Butterfly and Imperial (so yeah, I wasn’t doing so hot in the sleeper competitions 
), and eventually begged my parents to get me a Dark Magic, which was my first “real” yoyo. Around that time, I found YoYoExpert and the forums, joined in May 2009 and became pretty instantly hooked on pretty much every aspect of the hobby. It’s absolutely wild to think that (as of this interview) I’ve been on the forums for 15 years of the 27 I’ve been alive lol - that’s over half of my life! I was super off and on with throwing during high school and college and got back into it during COVID, like so many others did too. I’ve been back into it pretty deep since 2020, with no plans of stopping anytime soon!
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
Well, Bobparty said I couldn’t say Klondike 
But it’s definitely the Klondike, sorry 
It’s been my favorite yoyo by quite a bit for well over a year now, and no other yoyo I’ve used or owned has had anything even remotely close to that kind of staying power.
What trick are you working on currently and what is your all time favorite trick?
Recently I’ve been going back to learn & really refine some tricks that I feel like I’ve neglected/for one reason or another just straight up never learned. Reverse Brent stole and Beefhook were two of these types of tricks - and they’re definitely not hard or anything, but I just wasn’t wasn’t able to hit them consistently for whatever reason. But now I’m happy to report that I’m hitting both of them super consistently after taking the time to really grind them out (and some help from friends). All time favorite trick is wayyy too hard of a question, cause it seems like Hunter and Justin are always posting the craziest trick you’ve ever seen a few times a week on Instagram. I will say though that the one yoyo video that I always go back to is “I Punched Boxthor in the Catch 22” by Guy Wright - that video has my favorite tricks ever and I grew up watching it over and over. One of my biggest goals in yoyoing is one day learning that entire video so I can do a side by side remake of it. I’ll definitely never podium or win a contest, but I feel like learning that entire video that is a realistically achievable goal for me even though it will DEFINITELY take some work.
What’s the most meaningful yoyo you have in your collection?
Unfortunately when you have well over 200 yoyos in your collection it’s a nearly impossible task to pick just one! I do have a few… (1) My first “nice/boutique” yoyo, a General Yo Hatrick I purchased directly from Ernie at the 2009 National YoYo Contest. My best friend and I both purchased one at the same time, and I have such awesome memories at that contest. I had just started yoyoing that year and it was incredible heading up Chico with my family and friends and being at the contest - every time I see that yoyo I think about those memories and get super nostalgic. (2) The YYF Butter my now fiancée got me as a gift on our second anniversary. I had JUST gotten back into yoyoing during COVID after not really yoyoing a bunch in the latter part of high school and throughout college, and that’s definitely the yoyo that ignited the love for it all over again. I was so impressed how good yoyos had gotten after not trying any new ones for a few years, and I’m pretty sure it was also the first bimetal I’ve ever tried. (3) A completely mint and flawless 28 Stories CLYW Peak I am beyond lucky to own. I’ve dreamed of owning this exact yoyo since I was a kid, it was and still is an absolute grail for me. And this particular one has a great story! This exact one was hand picked by Chris Mikulin (owner of CLYW) and gifted to Ben Baker (RIP), well known Peak curator and author of the incredible and important “Complete History of the CLYW Peak” thread on YoYoNation, as a prime example of a 28s Peak. And I absolutely believe it - this thing is absolutely stunning and is probably the best example of 28 Stories I’ve ever seen.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
Despite my deep obsession with yoyoing, it actually isn’t even my main hobby! I’ve been playing drums since I was 3 years old, teaching drums professionally since I was 15, went to school to study jazz drums and graduated with a degree in music from UCI in 2020 - so you could definitely say music and playing the drums is my “main thing.” I’m in a jazz fusion band with some cats I went to college with, and right now we’re working on recording our debut album which will hopefully be out in early 2025. I’m also super into audio engineering (recording and mixing music) and producing, and have been doing that since I was in high school. I also enjoy film photography, GREAT food, cocktails and spending time with my fiancee and cat. Being an adult can be kind of a bummer sometimes though because I may or may not have a whole lot of time for any of my hobbies depending on how busy I am with work. I’ve been a Realtor for the past few years and sometimes it’s slow but sometimes I’m going hard nonstop and pulling 10+ hour days, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for music or yoyoing.
What’s your favorite restaurants and order?
This is kinda sad because I definitely do like going to nice restaurants and ordering nice things and all… but to me NOTHING compares to or hits like a great double bacon cheeseburger or my favorite pizza (I switch back and forth between Hawaiian and Supreme). I have two favorite burger places (besides In-N-Out obviously) - NexxBurger in Orange, CA and Golden Bull in Bakersfield, CA. I feel like my favorite pizza place changes every few years, but in this moment in time, it’s Sgt. Pepperoni’s. If you’re ever in Orange County, CA and want pizza, just go there and thank me later. I’m also a sucker for Korean BBQ, good street tacos, and anything my fiancée makes, since her main hobby is cooking.
Favorite movie or TV show?
My favorite movies are Synecdoche New York and Interstellar, but they absolutely WRECK me and I think about them for way too long afterwards, so I try not to watch them too often lol… all my favorite movies are on my Letterboxd, let’s definitely follow each other if you’re a yoyoer with good taste in film!
In terms of TV shows, my favorite dramas in no particular order are The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Mad Men, and LOST. My favorite comedies are Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld and literally anything Nathan Fielder is involved in.
What’s a character that you feel best represents who you are “in real life”?
Larry David on Curb is actually my entire personality
If there was one song that you say fits your mood and personality perfectly, what it be?
Oh man… as a musician this is by far the hardest question of the bunch for me. It totally depends on what mood I’m in, but I think overall “All I Need” by Jacob Collier, one of my all time favorite artists, would be a good pick. I think it’s a very feel good, happy, bouncy track that leaves me smiling every time I hear it. It’s the same type of energy I try and bring to every interaction and just the musical equivalent of the mood I try to be in every day. “Beat the Same” by Joey Dosik and “Because I’m Me” by The Avalanches also deserve an honorable mention, but I gotta stop now otherwise this is gonna get so long Bobparty is gonna regret asking this question.
What’s your best yo-yo memory?
There’s definitely a few and they all mostly revolve around contests: my first contest (BLC 2009), 2009 Nats and 2024 Worlds stick out as being the most special to me for different reasons. Since we’re just coming off of 2024 Worlds, I definitely have some recency bias towards that, so it’s hard not to lean towards that being the overall best. But man, it was BEYOND cool finally meeting people I’ve known for years online, watching Stargazing Night in person, seeing both heroes and friends compete on the biggest stage in the hobby, trying an insane amount of yoyos, and in general just be at my first World YoYo Contest (and my fiancee was along too, which was nice!). But also just being apart of DXL (probably the biggest yoyo club in the US) has allowed me to make some fantastic yoyo related memories every single month.
What’s your yoyo bad habit?
Just like National Champion Justin Dauer, I too put the string at the base of my finger - but hearing that he did too made me feel a hell of a lot better about doing it. But the real bad habit used to be EXCESSIVELY buying yoyos - there was a period for a couple years, like 2021-2022, where I was pretty much buying literally ANY new release. Glad I don’t do that anymore lol
If you could wake up tomorrow and have any skill set from another player what would it be?
Guy Wright for sure - IMO to this day there isn’t a yoyoer who comes close to matching the amount of flow he has. He isn’t a tech yoyoer, the tricks aren’t overly complex, but his trick set has been so obviously refined and just LOOKS good. Him and Jensen Kimmitt were HUGE influences for me growing up, and it’s kinda weird because all the younger throwers I talk to consider those tricks “old school” now. But hey man, still miles ahead of what I can do today. And also like… I definitely wouldn’t complain if I woke up and threw like Mir or Hajime 
What’s the most expensive or rare yoyo you have?
Off the top of my head, the previously mentioned 28 Stories CLYW Peak and a One Drop Citizen are probably my only quadruple digit yoyos. Other than that, over the years I’ve been blessed to have acquired some pretty rare early CLYW stuff. And because General Yo was the first boutique brand I got into as a kid, I have some pretty insane stuff from them as well, like a couple OG Torrents and a USA Edition Hatrick. Besides that, a few rare prototypes, including the clear Klondike prototype Steve Brown graciously sold me, which has been my daily driver yoyo since I got it last year.
If you never found yo-yo what would you be doing instead?
I’d naturally just pour more time into my other hobbies (music/drums/recording/music production in case you skimmed and missed the hobby question) and trying to be the best I can possibly be at those. I’d probably try and pick up another instrument like bass or keys, since lugging those around to gigs is a hell of a lot easier than drums.
How has the community changed from what it used to be, and where do you think it will end up?
If you’ve been around for awhile, and go to any meetup or contest nowadays you’ll definitely notice younger throwers are getting REALLY good REALLY fast - it’s actually kind of scary. I think a lot of this probably has to do with there being way, way more resources and content available online/on social media in terms of trick tutorials, compared to what was out there when I was a kid. We used to have to learn our tricks from Andre on YouTube in 240p because there simply wasn’t a whole lot else out there besides that. Now there’s like 10 different YouTube channels you can go to that will explain a trick in multiple different ways, using multiple different camera angles, in slo-mo and it’s all filmed in 4k. And another major change I’ve seen is the rise of social media and the effect it’s had on throwers. It seems like it has made it so where these kids feel like “If I can’t neck stole it’s over for me,” so there’s this kind of peer pressure that just really wasn’t there before. But I gotta say… it is both extremely impressive and incredibly humbling to watch some 8 year old who has been throwing for maybe a year absolutely blow away anything you’ve ever done with a yoyo. And I guess another thing I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned yet is that you used to see a lot more focus on collecting, even at contests. So many people would lug massive cases full of yoyos to contests to show off/let others try/trade and you just don’t see a whole lot of that anymore. When contests started getting more and more competitive, there was a big shift from the yoyos themselves to the tricks, which I think is a really good thing, because the better you get, the more you realize that yoyos are certainly cool, but the tricks are cooler.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
Buy less yoyos, learn more tricks. Trust me.
Also if you’re a younger new player, and you were like me, you might care a lot about what people think of you, or that they’ll judge you for putting time into or having an unconventional hobby. I promise you, caring about what other people think of you is something that fades away the older you become, so you might as well stop caring now. I wish I put less emphasis on what other people thought of me and more emphasis on having fun because that’s what I wanted to do.
What you want to tell the world?
That I’m probably just as surprised that BobParty asked me to do one of these interviews as you (the reader) are. I genuinely feel so honored to be included amongst some of my good friends and long time personal heroes. In comparison to other hobbies, (modern) yoyoing is still relatively young, so these interviews are an incredible way to capture and preserve the history of the hobby from the perspective of those who were around near its relative beginnings. I can’t wait to keep reading all of these myself and soak up as much as I can from them, and maybe someone will get something out of something I’ve said, whether it’s now or 25 years from now. But anyway, I’ve met so many truly amazing people in this hobby and we have such an awesome community that I’m so proud to be apart of and spread the love for. If you ever see me at a meetup or contest, definitely please come say hello because meeting the awesome people of this community is my favorite thing!