SPYY – Technology for Players

1Week1Week1Week…

less than that, actually. dang… some people are probably getting set to leave as we speak!

it is, once again, that most special time of year. no, not arbor day (or boxing day – hi, steve!)… this weekend The Somethingth Annual World Yo-Yo Contest goes down in orlando, fl., and as always, SPYY will be there. i have to work right up through thursday (and in fact had a scheduling conflict that obliterated my air travel plans), so i will be driving through the night to [hopefully] arrive sometime around 3am on friday morning. fortunately, it’s worlds, so i know everyone will be awake anyway.

if you’ve never been to worlds, you really need to try (and i mean try harder than saying ‘awww, mom! pleeeeeeeeease?’ it’s a special thing to see hundreds of yo-yoers all gathered together. everyone brings their a-game (even if it only rates a ‘c’), and whatever you think about the judging set-up, the drama of the finals is fantastic. and yo-yoing remains so wonderfully small and familial that you can literally befriend all of the great players you idolize. though everyone has an opinion on what should be changed about it, it remains an event that has no equal in our community, and attending it totally restructures your understanding of what it is to be a yo-yoer.

some of the best things about worlds happen nowhere near the stage. i think i’m most excited about the reboot of the ’1964 national contest’, which will apparently be judged by superlegends bob rule and dale oliver, and which will require all participants to use period equipment (and dress!). i’ll also be in charge of the fixed-axle breakout, featuring a quasi-invitational head-to-head bracket, best trick contest. last year we crowned drew tetz the [unofficial, but absolutely legitimate] ‘fixed axle champion of all the world’. this year, barring a compelling argument from tetz, we’ll crown a new one (and even give him/her a fly trophy)! oh, and don’t forget to seek out the annual underground ‘pink slip’ contest, which is also head-to-head and in which (if you’re beaten) you’ve got to fork over your yo-yo to whoever took you down. yeah, for keepsies.

SPYY will have some rocking new wares at the contest this year. among these are the Stryker (check out joey’s post below), and a new special worlds’ edition yo-yo, the Speed Freak, which is very much in line with SPYY’s newfound proclivity for next-level performance/competition throws. also…



?!?!?! what?!?!?!?!

perhaps above all, i’m giant-size stoked to get to meet a bunch of new people. i look like the pic below, so if you see me in the hall or at ‘the lite bite’, don’t be shy – say hello. just be warned… ah’m a hugger.