in my opinion, whether this movement succeeds or fails it still succeeds in a way.
success!!! WYYC (or whatever you would call it since im sure the current organizer holds all legal rights to the name) is moved around the globe as a WYYO group sees fit and the entire world of yoyos benefits.
failure…the movement disbands, but raises sooo much of a “fuss” in the community that the current organizer finally steps up his game, vastly improves the WYYC, and the world of yoyos benefits.
i agree that it is time for a change. whether in Prague or Orlando, the WYYC needs a revamp.
Thank you. I’m also honored that you would read what I have to say.
I think some of my points were not quite captured.
First i want to say no disrespect for Greg.
OK so he’s been running it for over a decade. That means that the community has had and failed to organize on an international level for that period of time then. I can’t forget that he’s been doing this for over a decade. I’ve only been in this “world” a year and a half(May of 2011 to be exact).
Since he’s the organizer of the event, he gets to choose the venue. Mind you, do you know the rates he’s paying per day for that event? I don’t. Hotels ain’t cheap and finding one that has a good balance of features and affordability is even harder. I do know he’s done a lot of research and can’t find a better deal. He’s looked. All you’ll get is him spending MORE money without any better results, really. Come on, I’ve done thousands of events, and I don’t care of it’s a Holiday Inn or a Ritz Carlton or a Waldorf Estoria, all hotel convention halls are the same. He didn’t pay for production, I know this for a fact. See, if I had to do that same job, I’d have charged at least $10K for the same work. Would it have been done better? No, it just would have been different with my gear. That $10K adds to the bottom line costs of the event.
So, since nobody has bothered to organize a truly international organization. it’s harder to point a finger now. I guess that makes Greg a convenient target. I don’t see Greg being at fault here. I see people whining instead of organizing, except I do see the whining organizing into a bigger collective cry, yet no real organization taking place. Rally around the thing you all dislike and use that as the drive to organize a world yoyo body.
So, that’s what I’m saying. The system ain’t perfect. The system appears broken. Crying doesn’t fix it. Undermining what exists doesn’t help either. But, why not use Greg to your advantage? He’s booked it through 2015. Do you think it’s possible that a true “World YoYo Association” can be formed and be agreed upon, accepted and respected? Yes, it can, if people would do it.
3 years is a lot of time, but at the same time not a lot of time. Organize. Everyone needs to get their proverbial “act together”.
This isn’t a Greg problem. It hasn’t been for a long time. The time to organize has existed for a long time. The need to organize wasn’t taken advantage of. It was never Greg’s responsibility to actually form a WORLDS yoyo association, but it’s assumed he would I think he just capitalized on a contest. It is up to the various leadership in the world of yoyo to organize such a committee.
I’m a nobody in the world of YoYo. I simply don’t have the same kind of resources that someone of your respect and stature has earned through years of excellence and contribution. I also don’t have the time to dedicate to this. I also don’t have the tolerance for politics, bullcrap and in-fighting. Apparently a lot of people respect me, but it certainly can’t be for my yoyo’ing skills, because I’ll be the first to say how bad I am. I want to help, I want to be involved, but I think people will agree I’m probably not right for the job either, mostly because I ain’t gonna do this for free. I know this sounds contradictory to a lot of things, but I’m not in the business of giving away all my time.
Without true organization, it’s just a matter of “OK, we’ll move it here” and then after 5 years, the whining will start again, and we repeat the process.
So, let’s organize. Use until 2015 to get things unified. Then, with the true support of the international yoyo committee, this whole Worlds thing will be a complete success with total support. If it’s a name thing, call it the “International YoYo Contest”. Greg has already booked it, so look at this time as 36 months to get things taken care of. I mean, the whining has been going on for a while, what’s 3 more years?
I’ll be more than happy to be a consultant or contractor. I’ll be available to bounce ideas off of. I just can’t dedicate mountains of time into this. I have other gigs I work on, other jobs and need to be flexible in my schedule as my income depends upon dealing with “unknowns” and the randomness of IT and pro audio. Everyone here has my phone number, it’s on all my postings. I can be reached via text or phone or even email and private messages.
I do want to say I am absolutely in favor of an international organization. I am in favor of moving worlds on an annual basis. I am in favor of what’s good for the community. But I am also in favor of doing it right the first time, because it will save tens of thousands of dollars to do so.
I dont think anyone is pointing a finger as much as they are making a concerted effort to actually do something about making a better event, with or without the assistance of the current event.
From the best that I can tell, quite a few people have stepped up to form the beginnings of a World YoYo Organization of some kind, to begin work towards making a World YoYo Contest that actually represents the wants and needs of the world yoyoing community. From the best I can tell, the current organizer of Worlds has no interest in this, and thus everyone else is moving right along without him.
Then it sounds like what is happening is what needs to be happening.
Again, no disrespect intended towards Greg.
The next 3 years should be used to get this world/international organization established and sanctioned by some other international organization. I merely mention the IOC because it’s topical, but they have a good set of guidelines that can be utilized towards making this work. Having the IOC stamp of approval would be serious credibility, but has little or nothing to do with yoyo being an Olympic sport, it merely shows a well respected(mostly) organization can put a stamp of approval on it. At the same time, IOC approval isn’t needed.
Once established and the community as a whole accepts and approves of this, things should go smooth. I can’t see why people wouldn’t accept the creation of such an organization. I’ll admit, I will be sad when a Worlds contest finally leaves Orlando, but who knows, it could end up in California after a a few years, and then onto somewhere else the next year.
Is thje YYF team going to attend the WYYC in Orlando? Or, will they be attending the event in Prague? MOST importantly, will the decision on which contest(s) to attend be made by the “players themselves” or YoyoFactory? With Andre’s name being bandied about with regard to the European event - the same question comes to mind about the YYJ Team. Additionally, I have read elsewhere that you (YYF-JP) will be paying the airfare for Japanese competetors to go to Prague. This implies more than just tacit support.
Will the appearence of teams and non-appearences of teams now become an issue in contest organizing and support? If so, the concept of objectivity and neutrality begin to rear their ugly heads.
Oh well, I suppose Duncan will be in Orlando next year with their 5A team…
YoYoFactory ‘PRO’ players get a budget to travel to events they choose. For example Paul Han and Pat Mitchell didn’t attend Orlando this year by their choice but both attended EYYC. We will not need to ‘direct’ sponsored players anywhere, they can do as they wish.
JYYF pay for the winners of Japan Nationals to the ‘World Contest’ right now, it looks like they will be going to Prague in 2013. No YoYoFactory involvement there.
Your search for a divide has cause you to neglect the fact the organizers of the contest in Prague are Duncan Crew.
Appearance / non-appearance of teams has always been an issue in contest organizing. If your contest isn’t good enough, or is too close to a larger contest, or is too expensive to get to, you won’t get the top players. Contest organizers of the past would tailor their events specifically for maximum attendance by the player community…now a days contest organizers have to tread a line between player participation and general public attendance (if they care about such things, many don’t seem to care about public attendance at all, including Orlando Worlds).
Since one of the primary contest organizers in Prague is a Duncan Crew member (and distributor, I think?) I hardly see how this could possibly be some kind of shadowy YoYoFactory initiative, as you seem to keep insisting and alluding to.
I am not looking for a divide. I am only reacting to two “World Championships” being organized for the same weekend in 2013. If there is no divide or conflict then:
Why is the Prague contest being billed a the “World Championships”? Why not call it “Intergalactic Yoyo Championships”?
Why have it the SAME weekend that Worlds in Orlando has always been?
Clearly there is a divide that I have hardly conjured up. That I do not have all the information is a given; but the fact is that an alternative “Worlds” is being promoted that directly competes with Worlds in Orlando. This is confusing to all. Claiming that I am inventing this conflict is not justified by these facts.
Worlds, to me, is not where they award the little strong guy trophy and have the incredibly gaudy carpet… It’s defined by where the best PLAYERS in the world choose to go to share their skill and vie for the titles. The players to whom I’ve spoken have grown increasingly disenchanted, alienated, and frustrated by the static and stagnant nature of the World YoYo Contest in recent years. Obviously, much depends upon the specifics (and of course, the sponsors), but at this point I have no doubt that an undeniable majority of the best players it he world will be in Prague next August. I want that to happen, not because Worlds is “bad” (I always enjoy it), but because it represents the PLAYERS taking control of THEIR contest and working to bring it in line with the sort of locations, venues, marketing, and structure they’ve wanted for years.
Having it on the same date forces the choice; no doubt. Call it what you want, if it is the preeminent yoyo championship event, drawing the best talent in the world… The fact that it represents a “world title” will be understood. I hope it doesn’t come to a line in the sand, but I’m pretty sure it will. And if the best of the best elect to cross it into Europe, all the Mr. Clean trophies in the world won’t be able to keep Worlds “Worlds”.
this is interesting but means nothing unless we actually find out where key players are going … for example… all of the winner of worlds in orlando this year :
1A Hiroyuki Suzuki Japan
2A Shu Takada Japan
3A Hank Freeman USA
4A Rei Iwakura Japan
5A Takeshi MAtsuura Japan
plus second and third place finishers … where are they going? … that is the question to ask … because that is where the competition will be. Doesn’t matter if its on the North Pole, if the best throwers in the world go there to compete… everyone will follow just to watch etc…
So now its just a waiting game to figure out who is going where, and just as an example … lets say Hiroyuki goes to florida and Marcus goes to Prague and they both win 1st place in 1A … who is the real winner? lol Lets hope somehow they all go to one place… i guess each side (florida’s and prague’s organizers will be competing for players) this is great for players!!!
putting my .2 in … and waiting for more info as things get heated…
also the trademarks are for US and does not apply to any other countries … like in Prague, Czech republic. Unless they patent it in that country also. (i think)
I think part of the problem here is that the World YoYo Contest was started up without there being any kind of sanctioning body or authority. It’s been a free-for-all with yo-yo contests since 1928, and at no point has a group of people ever stepped up to do the hard thing and reign them all in.
This void of authority means also that if someone is running the “World YoYo Contest” under no authority but the one given them by the players agreeing “Yes, this is the world championships” then the players can just as easily say “We don’t care if you have a trademark, we do not regard your contest as the world championship anymore”…which is ultimately what is starting to happen.
A lot of people who are key decision-makers in the yo-yo industry (far more so than Greg, who has been pretty uninvolved for a while now) have decided that this contest no longer serves the function that a world championship should serve. So they’re turning their attention elsewhere, it’s freaking people out, but since there is no king in the castle to say otherwise…it’s a completely and totally valid response.
The ONLY thing that the current World YoYo Contest has to assert it’s authority is a trademark on the name “World YoYo Competition” and the consensus of the players. It’s losing the consensus of the players, which simply means that another contest, called something else, is going to become “the grand decider” of who our champions are.
As much as it grosses me out to say this…we need some authority in here. Because this is a friggin’ mess.
So, I hear every year that ‘worlds sucks’ from somebody… a company rep, a player, a contestant, somebody. I hear a lot about how contestants are so abused and ignored and whatever, how the contest doesn’t take care of them.
So, a simple question…
What is it -specifically- that’s so wrong? Aside from the movement of the contest, which is an obvious problem to, well, everybody that understands there are yoyo players outside of the US, what is so awful that needs to be fixed?
