California State Yo-Yo Championship 2012

Yo-Yo Contests, Clubs, and Events
21

Wow, what an event!

With 87 registrants for 1A, it took a long time to get through prelims. 2A-5A went directly to finals, and 1A had 14 finalists. Having never been to a yoyo contest, watching Worlds 2011 via the webcast was a good starting point as to what to expect. Well, that’s what I thought. But, watching from an audience point of view vs. a participant vs. an event worker point of view, well, let me tell you, it’s a bit much.

First, without getting technical, it was a sound only event for me. That went smooth. With help from theroybit, we had sound up and running by deadlines. Only one of my regular crew could make it. Coming at the event from a “failure is not an option” position, I was determined to make sure this event ran smooht at all times. My homeis behind the desk, and with theroybit and Gage from my crew running the actually cuing discs whenever possible, things ran pretty good. It wasn’t flawless, but to be honest, ever time the music didn’t run properly, it was due to improperly following stated procedures.

Second, some thanks:
Elephark: Thanks for the looping lesson. The relaxed throw I think was the tip I needed to get looping to start to come together. Plus, nice to finally meet the man!
What can I say, I’m a YYJ man. I met Joseph Harris, Bryan Figuroa, Ben Conde and John Narum. It’s nice to be able to let a few of them know what I think of their skills and ability. Seriously, not to single out YYJ, but they just happen to have players i find inspiring.
Met Tyler Severance. I’ve seen some amazing stuff in his videos. I was helping another player, turned out to be Guy Wright.
Others: Sorry, I don’t recall names. But, everyone who I met, I am glad I met you. Please, re-introduce yourself to me on the forum via PM, OK?
To ALL the contestants: Wow. Thanks! Inspiring.
Lastly, I didn’t get to meet Jayyo. I just failed to take advantage of an opportunity while getting a lesson from looping from Elephark. You better stop by my console next time! But, Jayyo, it was nice to see you do what you do in person.

One might thing I would be “yoyo’d out” by now. Far from it. The environment was amazing. I’m just inspired to try to improve my skills. I’m glad I can offer my services to help bring these events to a new level and done for the benefit of the community. I like being able to do this, and I hope to continue to be able to do this going foward, and it appears I will.

To Stephosh: Your help during strike was invaluable and I really appreciate it. I’m glad you could make it, we could meet and hang around a bit.

So, sore or not(and I am sore but I’ve been worse), I’m still having the yoyo meeting.

1 Like
22

This was my second yoyo contest, and it was a blast. I wish there were more seats, and that they moved that darn Bungie Jump attraction.

One other complaint was some the music. Yoyo’ing should be a family event, and two players chose the same song about a girl riding a guy’s d***. And yes, the d*** word was said. I thought that was really inappropriate. There is a time and a place for that language, and it shouldn’t be at a yoyo contest.

Another suggestion for contestants (not a complaint) is to not pick a song with lots of swear words that are bleeped out. It really takes away from enjoying the yoyo’ing. There was one player who had a song that must have had 20 bleeps (moments of silence).

My 10 year old son, who has been yoyo’ing for 8 months, got the honor of being called out on stage to yoyo for 30 seconds. It was his first performance, and he did great. He nailed 3 Eli hops, and got a tshirt and some strings. After he was done, he said “Dad, did you see my knees shake?” :smiley:

The yoyo’ing was amazing. My two favorites were Joseph Harris’s 2A (and he’s a heck of a nice guy) and Ben Conde’s 4A. Ben Conde was amazing, and I was sure he would get 1st.

Since we go to the Chico Yoyo Club, I was routing for Gentry, and he was great, but Yuuki was on fire. I missed Augie, but Anthony Rojas was amazing.

Kudos to the producers, the sound company, and the vendors. It was really a great time.

23

Came back w/ a new Chaser & a ReXtreme. Awesome yoyos! I just started 4A and I know

  1. Regens
  2. Over and Under Whip
  3. Whip Bind
  4. Leg Orbits
  5. Boingy-Boing
    6.Under-the-Leg Whip

Ben Conde and Bryan Figeroa helped me a lot w/ Whip Bind. Hope to learn more!
Also my first time competing. I was in Sports Ladder. I sucked because my yoyo started binding when
I did Brain-Twister and hit my wrist. Shoot. I’ll do better next time. . . Maybe try Prelims in the BAC for fun. . .

24

I had a great time at the contest. Got to meet a bunch of people and see everyone’s freestyles. Our YoYoStringLab table was right in front of the stage, so I had a perfect view.

My younger son was really impressed by the 4A. Yesterday, we pulled out a regular-sized plastic that he didn’t mind if it took a beating and tried it with that. He actually started getting it :o, so I imagine it will be easier when he gets one designed for 4A. He was also so pumped by the comp that he was trying new 1A tricks in front of his grandmother and landed his first suicide shortly followed by hitting it twice in a row. If only I could have picked it up that quick.

Anyway, we had a great time. Here’s a shot of my older son and me.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6806859070_5831b21507_z.jpg
Cal States 2012 - YYSL table by MBsShots, on Flickr

25

This was a great contest! My second Cal States contest, first was 2007.
I competed in 5a and got 5th! Not bad considering Tyler S. and Miggy were competing.
It was great to see all my friends. Rick from madhouse, Tyler S
Augie Fash, JD, Alex Hattori, and my favorite MR. DYLAN BENHARRIS. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR
SUPPORT. To all my other friends, I might have not mentioned love u all it was great to see you all.
Until next time. Take care!
SHANNON JACKSON