State of the Yo-Yo Address

Posted on | March 12, 2010 | 5 Comments

See, this is tricky.

Cat was kind enough to ask me to contribute an article about the current state of yo-yo play, to sort of catch people up on what’s really happening with something that most people have only a 5th grade memory of doing. When we think of yo-yos we think of “Walk The Dog” and “Around The World” and “Rock The Baby” and we think of that Smothers guy and that’s right about where the collective public knowledge ends. Yo-yo sales in the United States are up nearly 1000% from this time last year, and yo-yos are being plastered all over the media; from CBS to FOX, from Hypebeast to the Huffington Post.

With this massive explosion of interest in yo-yos, heads are turning worldwide towards us for explanations about just what it means to be a modern yo-yo player. And I’ve got to admit, as eloquent as I can be in person about what yo-yos mean to me, personally, it’s damn hard to nail it down in writing like this. How do you sum up a 15-year passion/career/obsession in 1,000 words? How can I possibly find room to talk about the nuances of East Coast players versus West Coast players, or how devastating it was to me when I realized that the rise of streaming internet video was homogenizing the way kids across the world threw their tricks?

Looking at it in black-and-white, it even sounds ridiculous to me. And I’ve got the National Yo-Yo Master crest tattooed on the back of my skull. So really, I can only imagine how ludicrous this probably sounds to you.

But it’s real. And it’s real to a lot of people. It’s more than just a toy we never let go of, or a passing fad. It’s become ingrained in our personality and it’s become something that is as much a part of our daily life as music or clothes or work or the sun. It’s something that is simply always there. My kids are two and four years old, and they are eternally confused when we visit someone else’s house and they aren’t playing with a yo-yo. They frequently ask my friends, my girlfriend, and every other adult they know to show them a yo-yo trick. Because as long as they can remember, their Pop always had yo-yos laying around and was always playing with one. It’s simply natural to them, as it is to me.

So I’m not going to bore you with technical details about how most yo-yos have ball-bearing axles or why, or the vagaries of my patent and how it changed the face of modern yo-yo play, or what it’s like to visit 17 countries as a touring yo-yo professional and only ever see mall stages and hotel lobbies. I’m not going to talk about how hard it is to store and display a yo-yo collection once it hits 1,000 pieces, because that sounds overwhelmingly geeky even to me. I’ll save that stuff for my memoir, assuming I ever get around to writing it.

But what I will tell you is this: just look around. Because yo-yo players; real, dedicated, seriously talented yo-yo players, are everywhere. And if you really, really want to make a yo-yo player’s day when you run into them, don’t ask them to do Walk the Dog. Ask them if there is a contest or club nearby that you can check out, and watch their face light up at the prospect of someone else being interested enough to learn. And if they tell you there is, go check it out with an open mind. You might be surprised at how technical this hobby has become, and how many incredible people you can meet through yo-yos.

We’re tight-knit, but we always welcome new faces, new players, and new ideas. And we’ve pretty much always got a spare throw on us that we’ll let you use. And who knows…you could end up getting into it and becoming the next Yuuki Spencer, or John Ando, or Patrick Mitchell. And while those names might not mean anything to you, I can assure you that their mastery of this simple, silly little toy will seriously blow your mind. And hell, I might even inspire you to grab a good yo-yo and give it a shot yourself.

I did it myself once. Fifteen years, 17 countries, and thousands of broken strings later, I can say it was absolutely worth it. I’m a better person for being a yo-yo player, and I can’t wait until my kids are old enough for me to start teaching them too. It’s a funny little thing, this toy, but I can honestly say that I owe everything good in my life to yo-yos.

I hope you’ll pick one up, and I hope it brings you the same joy it’s brought me.

Learn more about Steve Brown
You should also check out his blog.

Comments

5 Responses to “State of the Yo-Yo Address”

Boing
March 12th, 2010 @ 8:44 AM

Wonderful piece. It’s shocking that such an ancient, basic toy could garner such obsession. But when you think that it’s an object that can go in any direction, in an infinite number of ways, it becomes the most complicated toy around.
Sircus
March 12th, 2010 @ 7:20 PM

Poetic…
I love you Steve Brown!
Michael Montgomery
March 13th, 2010 @ 11:24 PM

I love your essay Steve, I’m glad you didn’t try to explain all the essentially unimportant aspects of our hobby. I appreciate you taking the time to write about the experience, the lifestyles that can form through being involved in our community, or if not, at least developing a passion for the hobby. If there were ever to be a spokesperson for our ‘sport’ it’d be you my man. Keep up everything you do!
Michael Stecz
March 15th, 2010 @ 6:32 PM

You quit Duncan and i stayed but I love you! keep up the good work p.s. Duncan , yoyofactory both RULE
Pearson
July 22nd, 2010 @ 6:59 PM

As a person in the yoyoing comunity myself, I find this to be very touching and close to me. Steve, you said everything I ever wanted to tell people that stopped me on the streets or in the hall since there are SOOOOO many common misconceptions about this wonderful hobby. People wnat me to do “Around The World” all the time because they think its the hardest trick in the book. I’d much rather have them ask me if I’ve won any contests or where they could get a quality yoyo because they seem to grasp it more than the average person. Like a person that can yoyo. You explained everything, bro. Big thanks for inventing 5A. First style I learned.

House of Cat

All things artful and curious

State of the Yo-Yo Address

Comments

Categories

Recently Written

House of Cat RSS Feed

Links