SPIRIT YOYO CONTEST - 10/17/2026 - Long Beach, CA

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

Contest season is HERE and some my absolute favorite people in yoyo are putting on the second annual Spirit YoYo Contest, the largest yoyo event in SoCal! Last year was AWESOME and this year will be even bigger & better! Ashley, Ty & Anthony asked if I could spread the word here on the forums, so this will be the thread for the contest. I’ll use it to post any major updates, and this is the place to talk about the contest and ask questions, etc.

Pretty much all the info you need to know is at the contest website: (tickets/competitor registration, travel/location, schedule info, etc):

https://spirityoyocontest.com/

And be sure to follow the contest Instagram for major updates as well:

Spirit Yo-yo Contest (@spirityoyocontest) • Instagram photos and videos

This will be an extraordinarily fun event, whether it’s your first time ever picking up a yoyo or you’re a WORLD CLASS player… besides the competition (which will have amateur and pro divisions AND a new, updated scoring system) there will be learning sessions, raffles, other games, and a vendor area with exclusive yoyo/product releases. ALL are welcome in watching, learning, shopping, and having fun!

If you’re going, be sure to comment down below… see you there!

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

Update - a few awesome pre & post events have been announced!

Who’s gonna be there?

[Tshou (Elijah)]

so excited for this! i will be there for sure

who else goin ? need some local yoyo homies lol

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

See you there king! Definitely say hi, I know we’ve traded before so it’ll be sick to put a face to a name. Excited to see everyone

[yoyodoc]

Thanks for the Heads up Spence.

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

Vendors announced! If time with friends & a great contest itself wasn’t enough of a reason for ya to come on out, there’s gonna be some amazing vendors there with some exclusive releases!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXSyCESs4f/

[yoyodoc]

Bump for Event activities starting on Friday…October 16th

[yoyodoc]

Contest Day…. October 17th.

Now that I’ve been made aware of the actual contest date, it gives everybody in the area the better part of a month to talk themselves out of some reason for not going, lol

[Tshou (Elijah)]

i thought this was happening in october!?

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

Correct, October 17.

Maybe @yoyodoc is just excited and is doing an immersive self practice run of sorts

[cviavi]

Virginia State Contest right now

[yoyodoc]

Obviously, Spence, I guess I’m not even paying attention to what month it is lol

On August 28Th, I retired. after decades. of heavy collision repair

For the most part, I actually do pay attention to what day it is. whatever month it is, during whatever current year it is.

Interestingly… At least interesting to me, is that within a week or so of my final day, I’ve been so busy trying to accomplish things a day at a time that I honestly and obviously made an error on the contest/festivities dates.

When a person has three houses, but a full-time job, in an unintentional way, it’s actually kind of easy to hide at work about 50 hours a week and not accomplish as many things at home. as you could or would, lol

But now that every day is a Saturday, so to speak, I just do stuff from morning to night and try to figure out what’s next?

My wife warned me. that once I retired, one day would blend right into the next.

I guess that’s one reason that when you ever see a prison movie, the guys always have a calendar on the wall. Because it’s easy to lose track of the date.

I think the funniest thing is that I told my wife I am working harder, retired than I worked at work, lol​

Now that I’m actually aware of what month it is, LOL, I will make my contest/events/bumps in a more accurate manner.

Although I’m an original DXL member, obviously I am not an active member or at least haven’t been for the last several years. But that has nothing to do with me being enthusiastic for anything Yoyo related.

So, my enthusiasm should be easy to understand. Just not exactly timed correctly.

[Isaac]

What time is the Sunday park meet?

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

I’ll ask them so we know for sure, but if I had to guess, it’ll just begin @ regular DXL start time which is 1PM.

edit: Looks like 1pm @ the park is a go!

[Isaac]

Live band?!

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

Things kick off tonight! I’ll be at Nilly’s burgers this evening, and I highly encourage anyone in the SoCal area reading this to make it out to tomorrow’s contest, it’s gonna be awesome!

[AndreBoulay (André Boulay)]

Wish I could be there! Will be there in Spirit!

I worked with Anthony and Ty to reconfigure the judging app to work with their special scoring criteria - I’m excited to see how the event goes! I like that they are trying something different with Spirit. Always liked the idea of bonus scores.

[SR1 (SPENCE)]

TODAY IS THE DAY!

Hope to see lots of new and old faces around… so if we haven’t met, come say hi, and if we have met, you better come say hi

Also, last night @ Nilly’s was absolutely awesome! Great turnout and KILLIN food - seriously, if you’re ever in the area, the pastrami burger and pastrami fries are out of this world, and it’s Filipino owned which is sick! I live about 45 minutes away but will for sure be coming back regularly, it really is that good.

Some pics from last night, I’ll def post some more after the contest today…

Me, my wife, Ashley & Ty

The wildly good pastrami burger

Posing with the Astra outside, which was funny because I walked in and Harrison (who made the yoyo) was throwing the exact same thing in the exact same colorway

@AndreBoulay

I worked with Anthony and Ty to reconfigure the judging app to work with their special scoring criteria

So awesome! You definitely are there in Spirit then hahaha… will miss ya but looking forward to seeing you @ whatever’s next!

[GnarlyCharlie (Charlie)]

I can’t wait till next year! Met so many people in person I had only interacted with online.

[yoyodoc]

Wow… That is a pretty amazing turnout for a local Yoyo Contest!

That Venue sure looked like a good fit for the crowd.

Great Job to all involved.