Aquabats rule, ska and yoyos go together like bread and butter.
I love that whenever I see a Jerrod clip, it usually feels like I’m seeing something I’ve never seen before. Pretty cool to see responsive yoyoing getting pushed like that.
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an inspiration as ever 
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Hi everyone, I’m excited to present Abby Brodsky with Knotcreators
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
I got into yoyo in the beginning of 2012, when I was really bored one day after school as a middle schooler, and I find this old yoyo in a drawer in my house and it was a Duncan Proyo. Then I made the yoyo go up and down, and I thought it was super fun to do, and then the rest is history!
What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!
My goal is to attend the International Jugglers Association (IJA) Festival in July, to teach at least 3 yoyo workshops, to be able to do 10 full push ups, and to get my Blue Belt in Karate!
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
Easy KnotCreators X OPYOYOs Typo, it’s my signature yoyo I had made 2 years ago (I think it’s really sold out now so don’t try and buy it because there’s literally none left), but, with it being a signature it’s everything I like in a yoyo in terms of size weight distribution, and weight.
What trick are you working on currently?
I’ve been developing some yoyo Ciclico (yoyo and juggling ring tricks) for some gigs I have coming up for we’ll see if they turn out!
What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?
Leg tricks look so cool and I’m trying to make some SO BAD, but also in the same vein I am consistently learning that my balance is also very bad when I have to hunch over my leg to see what I’m doing with a yoyo.
What’s your favorite trick?
I’m going to get so much flak for this answer but whatever you want to call it but, it’s the DNA. This is purely because when I do yoyo gigs and perform for a general audience, it’s an easy and iconic trick that immediately displays mastery and shows to an audience that I’m a yoyo master.
Other tricks like some dense tech tricks that impress yoyoers just don’t impress a general audience because they aren’t easy to follow and understand and just look like a giant knot. Plus I get to hear my audience just gasp in awe every time I do the trick.
What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time?
Knotcreators X OPYOYOS typo.
What’s the most meaningful throw you have?
I have a YYJ Inspire that AJ Kirk gave me at my first every yoyo contest, VA states 2013, and I had him sign it as a dorky kid. When AJ gave it to me he told me to keep practicing and that “I promise that you’re not the only girl in yoyo there are others out there” (I was the only girl yoyoing at that contest and competing so needless to say on so many different levels there was a lot of culture shock that day)
What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?
I’m really lazy about changing strings on my yoyos, they’re not grimey or like disgusting looking, but like they definitely get a case of the twisties.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
Lots of things! I juggle, I fidget a lot because of my ADHD so I definitely have a bit of a begleri and Knuckleroller obsession, I practice Tang Soo Do karate, I go to the gym and just generally do strength training, I like being outside so anything hiking, or outdoors related is welcome, I like to crochet, I like folding origami (square sticky notes are the bane of my existence), and I really really like rocks in general (I work as a geologist as my day job).
What song best fits your personality?
Stella the Begonia- Rubble Bucket
Favorite restaurant and order?
No really any favorite restaurants tbh, I honestly don’t eat out all that often and I’m much more prone to cook at home but, but any place with Shawarma with Laffa has my heart.
Favorite movie and or Book?
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?
Yoyos meaning for me has really changed a lot over the years for me because it absolutely has served different purposed over different stages of life but, the general consistent theme for me is that yoyo is always a convenient option for me to blow off steam and extra energy.
What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby?
2018 Chicago Nationals, when I used to be on Smashing yoyos, Jordan Bloefeld, and Roland Thomas-Biason came over from the UK, and they rented an AirBNB for the whole team, and every yoyoer on Smashing that lived in the USA was there, and we all hung out yoyoing til like 2am every night yoyoing, eating snacks and essentially just having a basement party every night with whoever else we wanted to invite. It was such a fun time. I hope I can do something like that again at another yoyo contest.
What’s your best advice for people to get better at yo-yoing?
Learn to be a performer! And when I mean performer I don’t mean how yoyoers perform in a contest, the performance aspects you see in contests, flat out sucks, it’s not traditional performance at all, and it’s blasphemous seeing some of the stuff positively scored as performance in yoyo competition.
Learn traditional performance techniques and really study the craft. Watch juggling, magician, or circus acts and watch how they have stage presence by giving eye contact to the audience, by smiling onstage and enjoying themselves, and how they selectively use applause points when they do something cool or hard, and notice how with their applause point they hold their applause point until the audience stops clapping, and not when the performer decides to.(Traditionally this is at least 3 seconds long, which in a yoyo freestyle is considered too much downtime and even though it isn’t outright scored negatively on the sheets, it’s still a negative in modern competition to have downtime in a freestyle.
In recent years I have never seen a yoyoer properly execute applause points). Any circus artist, or magician, utilizes traditional performance techniques all the time. Try to emulate those performance techniques things with yoyo. The rule of 10 that is constantly toted in yoyo also applies to traditional performance (The rule of 10 is that if you can’t land your trick 9 out of 10 times you execute it then it’s not ready to be put on stage).
Yes technical yoyoing is important and evals are a thing but, the big difference typically in a lot of contests comes down to performance evals and learning to be a general performer, and not a performer just for yoyo will make you a significantly better competitor and make your routines more enjoyable and memorable routine to your audience. Also with these new performance skills, you can also fund your way to go to contests if you don’t happen to have a trust fund like myself! I have done so many strolling gigs with yoyo where in about 3ish hours worth of work I can make an easy $500, and that means I only need to do 4ish gigs a year like that in order to be able to afford to go some bigger yoyo contests or juggling festivals!
How has the community changed since you started? Where do you want it to go?
I’ve been yoyoing for over 12 years now and like I have definitely seen a lot of change in the yoyo community supposedly. Like, I’ve seen the yoyoers that I used to idolized when I was learning how to yoyo fall out of style, like John Ando, and Yuuki Spencer are all ancient in terms of now, and like the Expert Village tutorials I learned from are now no longer the go to tutorials for learning how to yoyo.
I really don’t know if the community culture has changed though, or if I just no longer have Rose-colored glasses and have became far more of a critic when it comes to yoyo culture in particular. Also if you care about your community it’s not a bad thing to be a critic of said community if it’s with the mindset of improving your chosen community. Anywho, I’ve now gotten older and can recognize how some yoyo culture aspects are problematic for long term sustainability. Like a prime example of this is especially in regards to how members in the community tend to interact with each other, like in my personal experience yoyo is extremely cliquey, especially at yoyo contests (and I say this as a girl who went through middle school and had all kinds of lunch table drama, and like yoyo at times is absolutely worse than a middle school girl’s lunch table), and like when I was younger I didn’t recognize this as problematic and it didn’t bother me, but I also didn’t tecognize the social aspects at play when I was 13.
But like yoyoers love to be in their cliques with their 3 friends and when they do this they don’t typically interact or talk with people not in their circle. And if you’re someone brand new to yoyo and you go to your first yoyo contest and don’t know anybody, and see this cliquey culture like that’s really intimidating. At a yoyo contest, the onus is on you to make a friend because it isn’t a guarantee that someone is going to introduce themselves to you and initiate a conversation with you with the current yoyo culture, like you have to initiate that. This is a lot of extra social pressure on a new yoyoer for what’s supposed to be a fun event. So I look at this stuff and think has yoyo culture changed? or have I just changed as a human and have gotten more astute and critical of the yoyo culture?
Ideally I would love to see community to start putting in efforts into making yoyo a more welcoming environment for all, and a lot of the stuff to do so is cheap and easy to do, like having a chosen yoyo instructor at a club so newbies feel welcomed and can learn a trick, providing name tags and pronoun pins, and running workshops which provide a more niche and smaller environment for people to get to know each other.
If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?
My friend circle would be pretty different I have definitely made a lot of cherished friends through yoyo that I actually hang out with in non yoyo settings. I also think with me being in yoyo for so long that it really taught me tenacity and persistence that I don’t think I would have developed in other settings in my life at the time the hobby took off for me. It really takes a particular person to want to obsessively practice the same trick 20 million times over again just to get it right 1 time.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
Really don’t take yoyo super seriously, at the end of the day your playing with a toy, and like it’s not the end of the world if you don’t land the trick perfectly, or if you get a knot in the string, like it happens. Also change your string! I know I definitely didn’t change my string often enough when learning to yoyo.
Whats you want to tell the world?
If your wondering why the yoyo community doesn’t do X, Y, or Z regarding the yoyo community then do it! Go be the change you want to see in your community! People always think that it takes someone higher up to grow the community to implement the change you want to see, but in reality, its on the community individuals to do so, it’s not top down, it’s moves from the bottom up.
If like you want the yoyo community to be welcoming, then you can introduce yourself to people you don’t know, or you can invite someone you don’t know to lunch at a yoyo contest or after yoyo club! You already have something in common with this person, like you both yoyo I’m sure there are plenty of conversation starters you can think to talk about.
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Abby is a treasure.
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I’m being very picky but I presume this should have two more asterisks to be bolded? My OCD just couldn’t handle it.
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Fixed it!! Thanks for pointing that out - that would have driven me crazy too lol
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∆bby is a †rue gem and someøne that we have always admired for years!
Always love seeing her Ȋ̷͎n̵͚̓s̴̱̐i̷̽͜g̶͕͘ḥ̸͂t̴͉̀ṣ̸̎ into the ¥oyo community and her willingness †o tell it like it is!
Thanks for giving her the øpportunity!
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Happy Friday everyone!!
Great profile of Daniel Garrett - hope you enjoy!!
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
When I was in middle school, a couple of my neighbors brought yoyos to a church youth camp, and I thought it was super cool! So, after we got home, my friend told me he got a yoyo from Walmart, and I went and got one too. We’d spend hours after school learning new tricks and just having a blast. After a little while, I stumbled on YYE when my neighbors got YYF Protostars, and I saw the video of Jensen Kimmit winning the world yoyo contest with a Northstar. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen, and I was hooked! Picked up a Northstar, found a local yoyo club, and here we are 16 years later!
What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!
I have a lot of goals, but I think the most important one right now is to learn to give myself grace and be there for myself even if I don’t meet my own expectations or falter.
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
Dude that’s so hard! I really enjoy all the styles so it would be so hard to narrow it to one. If it were for unresponsive it would have to be either the Duncan Grasshopper GTX 2 or the Etcetera Capriccio. For 4a, the W1LD Boundless. 2a would be the YYJ Unleashed. I know that’s not one, but I guess if it had to be only 1 then it would probably be the Grasshopper because I love the flowy vibe of throwing it. It matches my pacing and preferences really well and it’s super solid.
What trick are you working on currently?
I’m working on a bunch, but mostly on 4a slack tricks and soloham.
What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?
For 1a that would be any hook over 1.5. For 2a that would be left hand loops. 3a would be literally any trick lol. 4a would be antispin or feed the sun. 5a would be just overall control.
What’s your favorite trick?
Seasick or follow combos
What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time?
SPYY Dynamo. No contest
What’s the most meaningful throw you have?
There’s so many that mean a lot to me, but I’d have to say the SPYY Dynamo because it reminds me of fond memories going to Colorado with my family on my Dad’s work trips. It was my favorite yoyo throughout high school, and was the yoyo I used in my first yoyo contest back in 2013. Plus it has a sick design in the cup of a fox and a hare.
What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?
Not changing out the strings. I’ll let those strings go for weeks when I really should have changed them a long time ago. I really only change them when I absolutely have to like for contests or if they’re borderline unusable.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
I do way too many things but I love music and I sing in a few professional level chamber choirs. I’ve been singing for way longer than I’ve been throwing and it’s a huge part of my life. Also love playing piano and viola. I enjoy running and yoga but I don’t consistently do either. I dabble in a bunch of skill toys like diabolo, spinning poi, Kendama, and juggling and I enjoy playing video games with friends. I love the Korean language and food, and enjoy cooking and baking.
What song best fits your personality?
I don’t know if it necessarily fits my personality best, but some of my all-time favorite songs are Miserere Mei, Deus and O vos omnes sung by Tenebrae.
They are a legendary group and I could listen to them for the rest of my life.
Favorite restaurant and order?
I love Korean food so I’d say a restaurant in my area called 무봉리 or Seoul Garden and I love the 제육볶음 and 김치전!
Favorite movie and or Book?
I haven’t really read books for fun in a long time and I’m not a huge movie person either, but I do really enjoy How to Train Your Dragon, Soul, and the Super Mario Bros Movie.
What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?
It means a lot man. It’s a form of creativity, flow, dance, performance. It helps me connect with other people. It helps me process my emotions better. It’s a huge part of my life and I would be in a pretty dark place without it.
What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby ?
Probably going to worlds for the first time last year and seeing how supportive everyone was of each other and feeling the energy and excitement we all have for the hobby. Meeting and hanging out with so many cool people, it was awesome man!
What’s your best advice for people to get better at yo-yoing?
I’d say rather than focusing on getting better at yoyoing, focus on enjoying the hobby. Sure there are ways to get better at it, but you will likely feel a lot more motivated to improve and learn if you approach the hobby from the mindset of it being fun and learning things you actually want to learn. If you focus on what other people expect you to learn or what you perceive you “should” do, it can become more of a chore than a joy. I’m all for effective practice, getting feedback, etc., just do so in a way that allows you to enjoy the hobby rather than using it as an outlet to beat up on yourself for not meeting unrealistic expectations.
How has the community changed since you started? Where do you want it to go?
A lot of it feels very similar to when I started a long time ago, but it feels like there’s a much stronger focus now on social media and tricks only being relevant if they are high scoring.
While there are pros to this for sure, I hope that we can go in a direction that balances originality and personality in yoyoing with difficulty/scoring.
What are you most proud of from your time in the hobby?
Probably learning soloham and competing in the world yoyo contest.
If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?
I would probably be even more involved in music than I am now. That said, having taken a break from yoyoing for several years I can say with confidence that my mental health is far worse when I’m not yoyoing, so I likely would be in a much darker place than I already am without it.
I’m sure I would have found something else to fill that hole, but I honestly don’t know where I’d be.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
Kinda like what I mentioned in the section on getting better, focus on what you enjoy about the hobby! Explore new styles, new mounts, whacky ideas, and just have fun. Competition is exciting and worth doing, but it isn’t the end all be all. Don’t let this hobby become a prison by putting unrealistic expectations on yourself. You don’t need to seek others’ approval for your yoyo tricks, and your tricks are your own and matter whether they score or not, and whether people like it on social media or not.
What do you want to tell the world?
There are many things outside our control in this life and that is okay. Be there for yourself whether you measure up to your own expectations or those of others or not. At the end of the line, you are your main support system and will spend every minute of your life with yourself, so there’s no reason to be your own worst enemy. You may have aspects you don’t like about yourself, but that does not make you unlovable or worthless. You have infinite worth whether you see it or not. Be kind. Share your light. Your life is worth living no matter how messy it has been or will be.
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Thank you for interviewing me @Bobparty ! I love the initiative and it’s been a lot of fun getting to know more of the yoyo scene through this!
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Happy to have you!!!
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Good read. Always enjoy your positive vibes Daniel. I also always appreciate the consummate performer in you. 
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Happy Monday!
Proud to present someone I’ve been wanting to profile for a long time, Remy Baskin!!!
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
Some of my friends and classmates showed me the very basics - and introduced me to yoyo club at the local toy store A2z which further hooked me into yoyo!
What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!
Competitive yoyo - perform a few freestyles with new tricks, songs I like and generally trick content I’m proud of and enjoy doing. I also would really like to make WYYC finals again.
Non Competitive yoyo - I really want to film a trick centered video that I’m happy with. I also want to keep making new and perhaps name some tricks I’ve made.
Not Yoyo - getting more stability in my life and improving my wellbeing on the day to day. I would also like to travel to some cool places and spend lots of time with friends!
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
My old answer would have been YYR inevitable, but now I think I’d go either JT Kagerou (old version) or YYR Liminal Autoscopy. Both of those yos are very capable and versatile without being boring.
What trick are you working on currently?
Working on rounding out my competitive trickset at the moment.
What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?
Mir Kim’s upside down triangle fast hands lasso thing into regular triangle. I have spent so much time trying that trick and I am still so bad at it. Another answer would be neck-stoles or super high hooks (4.0+) but I have put minimal time into practicing those.
What’s your favorite trick?
At the moment Colin Beckford’s Yuuki slack variation from 2024. Incredibly fun and satisfying type of trick that is really natural to bounce off of and create variations from.
What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time?
Anima :’)
What is your favorite contest to attend?
Czech Nationals - it’s always such a good vibe with the most engaged crowd and generally super high energy. Slusny is top tier at organizing contests and usually has extra things that add to the experience like walkouts or live scoring etc. It also has great afterparties & pre/post contest hanging with lots of great people!
Which yoyoer/s who have inspired your yoyoing the most?
Early on A2z yoyoers such as Tylor McCallumore, Eric Koloski, and Doug Kapinos. Also a big influence were yoyoers I saw compete IRL such as Andrew Maider, Tsev, Kurti, and Bergy. When I started competing more seriously around 2016/17 I was most inspired by the Scales crew and watching contemporary contests globally (a lot of jp and us regionals & worlds).
These days I think my inspirations are spread out to a much larger pool of yoyoing from old videos/freestyles, sooo many people on insta, and most consistently from my favorite players Keiran, Colin, Tony, Dkim, Hajime, and Ryuichi (to name a few).
What trick do you think every yoyoer should learn?
Shockwave
What are a few of your favorite yoyo videos of all time?
Revenger - Nate Sutter
Save Deth - Danny Severance
Kaibun - Sid Seed
Team Chubby Lovin - The men you’ll grow to love
What’s the most meaningful throw you have?
Special edition Yoyojam Kickside with my name on it that I got from joining the A2z yoyo team in my first year of yoyoing.
What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?
Constantly making new tricks but never practicing finished combos (or freestyles).
Finding a new element and making it a repeater instead of making a full combo slash not developing longer combos.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
I enjoy chess, skiing, watching movies, listening to music/live music, reading, looking at old books and art, going to thrift/salvage/antique shops, drawing, playing games with friends, eating food, traveling/exploring new places
A favorite movie and/or book?
Movies; Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tennenbaums, Chungking Express, Wallace and Gromit A Grand Day Out
Books; A tale for the time being, Kavka on the shore, Danny the champion of the world
What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?
Yoyo means a ton to me because it has been there for such a big part of my life. I’ve made so many friends through yoyo and those friendships have shaped me as a person and shaped how I see the world. I’ve also been exposed to different places, music, experiences, culture, food, etc through yoyo and all of those experiences are very meaningful to me too
What’s your best advice for people to get better?
Do whatever is fun and makes you want to spend time yoyoing and you will improve!
If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?
I cannot really imagine this, I think I’d have a totally different life in so many ways. Also what would I do when bored ?
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