Happy Monday everyone!
Today I’m glad to present @NavarrYo with GWAY throws. Nathan has some of the coolest elements in his trick sets, and is one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of talking with. Hope you enjoy today’s player profile!
What got you into throwing, how long have you been in the hobby?
I remember some demonstrators coming to my elementary school and showing us tricks, that was my first time seeing yo-yoing.
I don’t remember who they were or what tricks they did haha just that they were there. so if you demo’d in Washington in the late 90’s lemme know ha ha
I started learning my basics in middle school, stuff like Double or nothings, kwijibo, and maybe a hook. along with real basic 4A and 5A stuff. anything from those small CD’s that came with old Duncan hardcore series yo-yos I tried to learn. That was like 2005 or 06. then I just stopped yo-yoing when I started skateboarding a lot. I picked it back up 3 years ago and had to relearned my basics haha so I’m not sure if I should say 3 years or 19 years?
What trick are you working on currently and what is your all time favorite trick?
I usually have multiple combos in the works at the same time. I start trying to learn someone’s trick and I get stuck doing one element and I’m like “I can add that to this other element” and I fall down the rabbit hole of making multiple combos with one themed element placed somewhere in there. Its infuriating at times because I never end up learning the initial trick I wanted to learn haha
Back in the day I learned “Mexican Duck Pond” and I thought it was the raddest trick ever. was stoked on that one for a while but, now I would have to say its Junyi Lin’s “Double or nothing” Combo. I’ve torn that trick apart and put it in so many other combos haha
What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time ?
All time is hard. I’ve seen and interacted with so few yoyos haha I missed the whole yoyojam era. those ones looked so rad. Duncan and now Gway have taken up the majority of the yoyos that have been in my hand ha ha
Favorite presently would between the REFRACTORY and this GWAY Proto ive been throwing around lately.
Back in the day it was the “FreeHand 2” and the “Throw Monkey” I had so many in different colors!
I have to give an honorable mention to the Duncan “WindRunner” Its the yo-yo that sparked it all back up when my old roommate just randomly had it and let me have get it off of em since I help build his computer.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
So many things! I have my hands in so many hobbies haha I love skateboarding. going to shows. Doing art both physical and digital now. I really dig filming and editing. Been making a skate edit from clips I’ve gathered over the last 10 years so I’ll leave a link to that if anyone wants to check it out! learning animation, I would love to try my hand at some kind of comedy, pc gaming. I dig FPS games, I’m always stoked on one thing or another.
Favorite foods?
Pizza! I have very simple taste and you can find pizza everywhere haha
Favorite movie?
oh man that’s tough. I’ve been watching too many movies the last few years it’s hard to remember them all, plus the list is always changing
“Where Evil Lurks” was a rad Argentinian horror!
“Pulse” 2001 Japanese version felt very Silent Hill-ish to me and I loved it, I really enjoyed “THE HOLDOVERS”
My good homie Cody Lightning made a film called “Hey, Viktor!” about being the child star in “Smoke Signals” it looks fun as hell and i really wanna see it. Please go check it out!
But it all depends on my mood. that being said “Inglorious bastards” and “SLC PUNK” can always get a play hands down.
What’s a song that you feel perfectly encapsulates your personality?
That’s so hard to narrow down. Haha
A Playlist would be needed I’m sure in a lot of people’s cases.
My lady had gotten me into “Destroy Boys” pretty gnarly.
One song I keep going back too is “Shadow”
I come from a pretty rough home life and area so I had to build defenses. Having a face that looks less then approuchable along with not ever showing that you are sad or bothered by stuff going on around you was the norm. But I was really just the biggest cry baby and full emotion on the inside.
I love how the song is heavy and hard on the outside but emotion filled and vulnerable the more you listen. But you could say that with so many of their songs. So good. Check em out. “DESTROY BOYS”
What does yo-yo mean for you?
Yo-yo means a sense of community for me. being able to give and take with others and get a glimpse of your own interest from another perspective is so beneficial towards the end of my Competitive skate “Career” I ended up breaking my left leg and then severely rolling my ankle on my right leg.
I ended up falling into a really gnarly depression. I felt really isolated. In my own head I had lost my sense of community because I wasn’t comfortable relearning and skating in front of my friends. At this time I was living in Seattle and If you’re familiar with Northwest skateboarding then you’ll know that there are a lot of heavy hitting transition skaters, my friends included. I was just too insecure and intimated so I widthdrew. pretty much stopped skating cold turkey. I spent so much time alone, bummed out and not talking to people. yo-yoing sparked that motivation to try and relearn my basics which lead to looking more tricks up online, seeing the community, making an Instagram to post my progress and interacting with people who also liked yo-yo. That does wonders for your mental. it felt like a community again. and that felt like skateboarding again. yo-yoing helped pull me out of a hole i dug for myself. I read Steve Brown’s interview (and I was and still am a huge fan. seeing this punk rock yo-yoer throwing down really peaked my interest as a young Hispanic punk kid) and he said “Let it be as much or as little as you need, and don’t be afraid to let it wax and wane in your life.” and that’s what I was able to do with it. I was at a point of my life where I wasn’t skating and I had to work hard to not just find a job but keep a job. so I fit yo-yoing into any free time i had. I was excited to come home to a hobby again. to learn something new everyday, and everything was new to me so i had a lot to look through. Yo-yoing gave me ambition again and ambition is a powerful motivator.
Best yoyo memory?
I don’t have many memories with yo-yoing yet haha been making them lately! When I was young I taught my friends how to catch an off string yoyo and we would just launch them at each other from across the school fields
I remember looking yo-yo stuff up when I picked it back up and seeing all this things I missed over the last like 10+ years and I was blown away, all the yo-yos and so many companies! Duncan and Yomega were all I knew. I was familiar with friction stickers not silicone pads. I was so over stimulated with excitement. I got obsessed right away. The memory of seeing how much there was to take in just gave me so much joy.
I remember when I was first posting stuff on Instagram I made friends with my buddy John
or “bindtime”. he was my first “yo-yo friend” he asked me to help him with a trick and I had to film a pov to get my point across but I had no GoPro at the time so my GF, being the most supportive person ever agrees to get on a milkcrate and hold my phone in front of my face from behind and aim it at my hands so i can film a tip video for my buddy haha I don’t remember how long it took but I wasn’t as nearly as consistent as i am now haha.
He doesn’t throw much anymore but he pops up from time to time and it always make me smile. and it was early on in my gf and ours’s relationship and it showed me how sweet and supportive she is. its a rad memory.
Getting asked to join GWAY is a new rad memory! Much love to E-man, Sean and Ume for having my back! All my Teammates are rad!
If you couldn’t yo-yo what would you be doing?
I feel like I would have focused my attention to one of my many other hobbies (maybe my art) but I don’t think I would feel as satisfied. Idk. yo-yoing hits all right buttons for me. each aspect of yoyoing does something different for me.
I would probably stream again. I liked making gaming content before I found yo-yoing.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
Well as I’m finishing this up we ended up having to say goodbye to our cat “Rini” which is taking a toll on us emotionally. but we have each other thru it. So I would like to tell anyone who is going through any rough part in life that its not permanent. you will grow bigger and stronger in time. the yoyo community has rad people
who are willing to lend an ear (myself included) you are not alone. and i wish you all happiness.
What you want to tell the world?
I want to say thanks to my YouTube community! as I’m writing this I just Passed 600 subs which is wild to me! we just did a giveaway for my 500 and I was able to give away a Gway Refractory so it was super fun! Check out my Channel or Insta for tricks and tutorials both at Nathan Navarro (@navarryo) • Instagram photos and videos.
And my art page at Nathan Navarro (@cheerupnate) • Instagram photos and videos
I got more community based stuff I wanna incorporate in the future.
I wanna say thanks for all the support!