Posts Tagged YoYoSkills
faKe-0ut ft. Harrison Lee (YoYoSkills.com Player Choice Rookie of the year)
Posted by Dr. Yo-Yo in Featured Videos on January 15th, 2013
4th Annual YoYoSkills Best Of Awards 2012 – Results
It has been a great year for yoyoing, and after nearly a full month of nominating and polling, the results of the 4th Annual YoYoSkills Best Of Awards. Earlier this month, I asked for nominees and after racking and stacking over 300 emails I put up the top 5 in each category and opened the voting. We had 6745 unique votes based on computer and IP information from all over the world, and here are the results. In the comment section, feel free to voice your opinion but please keep it respectful.
Yo-Yo Country of the Year – United States
The map above shows where this years votes came from. Approximately 40% of this years votes came from the United States, followed by 35% from Canada. The remaining 25% is spread out across 65 different countries from China to Chile. I feel that the majority of these votes for the United States as Yo-Yo Country of they year likely come from the fact that YoYoSkills is mostly read by North Americans. With that in mind, 56% of all votes total came in for the United States which means that there were plenty of votes for the US coming from other countries.
Yo-Yo Player Team of the Year - CLYW
Source – CLYW store
Zach Gormley, Andrew Maider, Petr Kavka, Charles Haycock, Abe Ziaimehr, John W. Robot, Palli, Pekka, Ernest Kahn, Alec Campbell, Mark Mangarin, Elliot Jackson, Boyd Seth, Adam Brewster, Alex Berenguel, Harrison Lee, David Kreibich, Ewelina Wejner…. Need I say more?
Yo-Yo Company of the Year - CLYW
Late last year, CLYW designed a new yoyo feature with the Chief that has been adopted in 2012 by more companies than I can count. The double rim added stability and a new way to place weight without sacrificing flexibility. Chris also ramped up production by hiring OneDrop’s skilled machinists to keep supply up with demand and brought back Jensen Kimmit to run his packaging and distribution services. Combine these actions with a strong 2012 line, artwork by Jason Week, and a Player Team that is very well respected and you have CLYW as the Company of the Year! I should also mention, that CLYW had such a good year that collectively they took 7 of the 10 categories this year.
New Yo-Yo Manufacturer of the Year – G-Squared
When Brett Grimes and Jacob Gross came into the design world, I do not think that they anticipated the demand and success of their launch model the Albatros. Followed up quickly by the Nessie, G Squared has fan loyalty and a yoyo community awaiting future designs and releases.
Yo-Yo of the Year – CLYW Arctic Circle
Picture care of yoyoz.co.uk
A third honor for CLYW. The Arctic Circle combined the design know how of Chris and the skilled hands of OneDrop Machinists. Interesting fact by the way, One Drop machined the top three vote earner this year. Not only were their incredible colorway options as seen above, there was also a limited run featuring the artwork of the very talented Jason Week. The Arctic Circle was a yo-yo not to miss this year.
Yo-Yo Video of the Year – Aero-Yo Ghost in the City
The Aero-Yo team is very impressive. They remind me of the talent assembled in Team High Performance. One of the things coming consistently out of the team are amazing videos and Ghost in the City is a prime example of just that. Congratulations to Ilya Shaposhnikov, Konstantin Moskvin, Evgeniy Kim, and Mikhail Kotsilov .
Yo-Yo Contest Freestyle of the Year – Zach Gormley US Nationals
Yo-Yo Contest Moment of the Year - Zach Gormley US Nationals
Yo-Yo Player of the Year - Zach Gormley
I am going to consolidate this write up for Zach Gormley because I feel that the first two awards lead directly into the third. Zach has grown as a player in the most incredible ways. The most recent culmination was his freestyle and subsequent win at the U.S. National contest. Zach’s freestyle seen above set a benchmark in yo-yo contest history. It is a shining example that style and substance can beat trick combo speed runs. In 2009 Zach was named YoYoSkills Rookie of the year, and today I am happy to name him Player of the year and holder of Freestyle and Moment of the year.
Yo-Yo Rookie Player of the Year – Harrison Lee
Allow me to pull the info on Harrison directly from his profile on the CLYW Team page.
- Harrison Nathan Lee
- Age: 12
- Home Town :Vancouver, BC
- Handed: right
- Added to the team: March 2012
- Favorite return top: Chief, Avalanche and Peak
- Discipline: 1A
- Occupation: Student
- Favorite food: BACON BURGER’S
- Favorite Animal: Hippos
- Interesting fact: I am the smallest in my class
- Favorite Colours: Pink, Blue and Orange
I don’t really know much about Harrison, except what I have seen from contests. I have a feeling that we are looking at a top ranking player in the next few years.
Most Inspirational Player of the Year – Michael Lucas Cummings
This category was created this year and the winner was chosen by the YoYoSkills.com Team.
As I said in an earlier post: The above video is Mike yoyoing after a frighteningly long medical ordeal that nearly took his life on more than one occasion. For the last two months, Michael has been in and out of extremely invasive medical procedures and for a while was unable to move any of his fingers or toes. Micheal’s mother kept the yoyo community in the look on Michael’s Facebook page and uploaded videos of Mike Smiling for the first time, moving his toes, and reacting to things like footage of the National Yo-Yo contest. This is a video from a few days ago. Michael Lucas Cummings yoyoing for the first time since almost losing his life to a collapsed lung and a series of blood clots. Michael Lucas Cummings is an inspiration to the yoyo community and therefore, 2012′s Most Inspirational Player in the eyes of YoYoSkills.com.
A Special thanks goes to Mrs. Cummings and the legion of yoyoers that visited, called, send gifts and prayed. Most of all, thank you to Michael, who reminds us how amazing the yoyo world is to have a community that rallies around each other in times of need and to not take for granted the hobby we all love.
THROW! – Coming to YoYoExpert at 2012 NATS
The goal is simple. Get to 100 points before your opponent does. Before you start collecting trick points, you need to play a Throw card. You collect points by finalizing your trick. You can finalize after one point card, or many. It all depends on what you are willing to risk!
Game Details –
- 70 Cards – Two players for each deck
- Game designed by Chris “Dr. Yo-Yo” Allen
- Illustration by Jason Week
- $25
- Available at YoYoExpert after the 2012 National Yo-Yo Contest
- First Release at the National Yo-Yo Contest on October 6th at the YoYoExpert table!
Music -
Penny Arcade
by Mr. Bear
Dear YoYoSkills.com – Happy 4th Birthday!
My how the years have passed. Today marks the 4th complete publication year of YoYoSkills.com. It seems like only yesterday I was interviewing Hans and John Higby, and getting ready to do my first review. Since inception, YoYoSkills.com has had 6.8 Million visits and over 18.8 Million page views. YoYoskills has been read in almost every country on the planet. YoYoSkills.com now has an average of 600k page views a month. This last year I experimented with a few ideas like My(dot) and Made(dot). I was trying to fill more needs and provide more support to the yo-yo world. While not all of the idea’s stuck I learned from them and am pushing forward with bigger, more grandiose ideas
This next year, YoYoSkills is going to take slight a direction change. We have a few actual product ideas that should excite the yo-yo world. We will make the first of these exciting announcements in the next few months. With new reviewers on staff, different writers will have a focus area in which should excite collectors. With some luck, YoYoSkills will turn 5 bigger and better this time next year. We are also for the first time ever sponsoring yoyo players. The goal of the YoYoSkills Players Team is to promote new talent and help them get picked up by the big named companies. We had our first graduate, Dylan Benharris, get picked up my Timeless YoYo’s earlier this month. I am very excited to see where the Azevedo Brothers Nick and Andrew and the talented Carter Bliss end up. Expect more players in the future and more videos promoting these talented players.
None of this would be possible without the YoYoSkills.com Staff, my Family, the yoyo companies who send review units and news, and most importantly the support of YOU the readers. YoYoSkills.com exists because of you. Thank you for allowing me to serve you.
To celebrate, we are once again going to give away stickers.
The YoYoSkills.com Sticker – Designed by Colin Leland
You will get the YoYoSkills.com sticker and while supplies last, a random sticker from my giant box of yo-yo sticker. All you need to do is send me a self addressed, Postage Paid (stamped) envelope to the address below. One request per person. Please allow a few weeks for delivery as I stuff the envelopes. Supplies are limited and this is a one time offer.
Happy YoYoSkills.com Birthday to all the YoYoSkills.com readers.
It would make my day if you “Liked” the YoYoSkills.com Facebook page and left a Happy Birthday message there or maybe a tweet
For a YoYoSkills.com Sticker:
Send a Self Addressed and Postage Paid envelope to:
YoYoSkills.com Birthday
P.O. Box 81
Sheridan CA 95681
Yo-Yo Adventure Teaser ft. 8-bit Humphrey
Yo-Yo Adventure Teaser ft. 8-bit Humphrey
This may not seem like a huge deal but I felt a real sense of accomplishment with how far it has come. I have been messing around with game creation for a while now and not really getting anywhere. I have always wanted to get into game design. I have dabbled a bit here and there but never really got serious. The last few days I dove deep again and started teaching myself the basics and this is the result. It is very very basic and just a teaser at this point, but someday I hope to make it an actual yo-yo themed adventure game.
Who better to be the Hero in our YoYoSkills adventure than 8-bit Humphrey the 2011 Cal States mascot!
Music by Doc Pop
- Amazon link for Doc Pop’s Album
YoYoSkills x Crucial – 3(A)pril WINNERS!
Paul picked the winner, and the fans voted for their favorite. Here are your winners.
Fan Favorite (Most Votes) – George Stoyanov
George will win a pair of Light-up FHZ
Contest Winner (Picked by Paul) – Elliot Ogawa!!!!!
Elliot wins a very expensive pair of Crucial Al A Modes
George and Elliot, send me your address (dryoyo@yoyoskills.com)
Crucial and YoYoSkills.com present – The 3(A)pril Video Contest – Last Day
Want to win a pair of brand new, special edition Crucial A La Mode’s valued at $200? Do you throw 3A? YoYoSkills.com and Crucial have joined forces to promote the 3A playstyle. Shoot a video 1-3 minutes long, edited, set to music (PG rated please) and you could win! Upload to Youtube or Video with the tag #3(A)pril by Midnight April 30th and link to your video in the comment section below. The winner will be chosen and awarded a pair of awesome 3A yoyos.
Rules:
- Play Style – 3A Only
- Yo-Yos Used – Any brand you want
- Video Length – 1-3 minutes
- Music – No Profanity or Explicit Language
- Title – Your Full Name: #3(A)pril
- Logos – Put this in your intro
- Upload – to Youtube or Vimeo
- Post – In the comment section below
- By – Midnight April 30th
YoYoSkills.com “Best Of” 2011 Results!
First things first, THANK YOU all for your participation in this years Best Of Awards. 354 nomination emails and 4,615 votes. You guys crashed the PollJunkie servers, twice. Votes were registered from all over the world. The people have spoken and the WINNERS for each category have been displayed below.
I present, the YoYoSkills.com Best Of 2011
I also want to mention that YoYoNews.jp is also holding a simular poll. I think it will be very interesting to see how different the results are. (Thanks to Spyy Steve for the heads up).
YoYoSkills x Vulto Art Contest Winner(s)
Posted by Dr. Yo-Yo in Contest Reports, News on November 25th, 2011
Time to announce the winner!
From Mario:
We received a lot of submissions by e-mail and a couple of links here or at YoyoSkills. Thanks to all of you who submitted your illustrations!
We actually have a tie. 2 illustrations caught our attention and they are both outstanding.
The first one is from Jason Week, a very talented illustrator. Here is his submission:
We also love the illustration sent by Paul Sargent:
Awesome job guys
New Addition to the YoYoSkills.com Family
One of my goals for 2010 was to start working on a way for manufacturers, pros, and readers could submit articles/news on YoYoSkills.com. I tried a few different things that never came to fruition. My big goal for 2011 was to move YoYoSkills.com to the next step. That is hard to do when there is not really a next step for a news aggregated blog like YoYoSkills. YoYoSkills is not affiliated with any store or manufacturer and since one of the main sections of my site is reviews I was not comfortable selling yoyos. What is the next step for a site like YoYoSkills? I think the answer might be community created content that rewards hard work with recognition. The model system that sites like Digg.com and Reddit.com use are a shining example. Users can submit anything from a link to another site to an original story to a “Ask me Anything” session and readers can vote up or vote down the content and leave comments on the thread itself. Votes are collected as Karma, and that Karma makes your content more powerful. This system rewards good content and since you can downvote spam and trolls, buries bad content. It puts responsibility and control in the hands of the member who hold the role of both the reader and the writer.
Community created content.
Follow friends, get feedback on anything, and vote for what you think deserves front page status. Have a video you want people to see? Post it up. Are you a yo-yo maker that wants to get community feedback without needing actual comments? Post it up. Find some breaking news that you think needs attention? Post it up.
See a post you like? Vote it up. Like a comment that someone said? Vote it up. Enough upvotes and the content will hit the front page.
See something you don’t like? Vote it down. See a comment you don’t like? Vote it down. Enough down votes and the post or comment will vanish into shame filled exile… forever alone…
This could work, or be a horrible failure, but I will never know until I try it out and see what happens.
Here, have your very own YoYoSkills.com. Your content might end up over here on the main page.
New YYS Plans and Changes
If I could purchase 5 more hours a day, I could accomplish so much….
YoYoSkills is run by 1 person (me) and I have the assistance of a number of friends that help me with news, tips, and edits (Dyslexia and exhaustion don’t mix). I lean on these guys more than I should and appreciate them more than they know. I get great help from freinds like Jayyo, Josh S, Xela, Fasano, and Zammy for tuts and x-product reviews. Gunter is Insturmental and handles most of my edits and gets credit for them, and it is not uncommon for a handful of close friends to email me with a word change or a misplaced letter.
Where is this going….
I never want YoYoSkills to rest in one place. The goal is to grow, grow, grow. Starting in 2011, I am adding new features that I hope you guys will like.
- A Weekly video blog 3–5 minutes that highlights YoYo news reported on YoYoSkills that week
- A tutorial series done by me and occasional special guests aimed at beginners
- More YoYoSkills produced talent videos (Spencer’s was the first)
- More Interviews
- More Articles
- More YoYo Experiments
- More Exclusive :Captured: Photoshoots by me and occasional special guests
Since I am increasing features, I am hoping to turn some features over to you, the readers.
- New YoYo Drops: SO many yoyos dropping from SO many stores. New YoYo Drops will now be reported in a Twitter Feed on the right hand side of the page. If you see a new yo-yo drop somewhere, post it on Twitter using the #yoyodrop hashtag.
- Contest Reports: I will be accepting submissions from readers like you who want to report on a YoYo Contest. Since I have a full time job and family, I am limited to two contests a year and can’t make it to all the cool events happening all over the world.
Also I am changing the name of “Video Round-Up” to “Videos After the Jump”
So that’s what I have planned. YoYoSkills has become the most heavily trafficked yoyo news website in the world. I want it to stay that way and not become stale. News, reviews, and YOU are still my focus.
Comments and Feedback are very very much welcome.
Chris “Dr. Yo-Yo” Allen
Worlds Largest Handheld Yo-Yo (v2.0)
Posted by Dr. Yo-Yo in Featured Videos, News, Yo-Yo Experiments on October 18th, 2010
Dramatically reduced the Gap
Increased the weight
Added weight rings
Thanks to the Lincoln Fire Department for letting me use the Training Tower.
There is no way throw a yo-yo this size and weight hard enough to get it to return all the way back to the hand, so My goal was to get it to return at least 70%. I think I accomplished that (and a little bit more).
I think if I was on a Crane and didn’t have to try to keep the yo-yo from hitting the side of the structure, it might have come up farther.
This is the final version.
Worlds Largest Handheld Yo-Yo (v2.0)
Music:
Artist: Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP
Song: We No Speak Americano
Go-Go Glow Nasty
The ONLY light source in the room for this shot was the Yo-Yo
What to do when you have to stay up all night anyway? How about play with the Glow in the Dark DieNasty by YoYoFactory.
This puppy is bright!
These retail for $25 and are currently ONLY available through Steve Brown.
Music is Glow Worm by Bleepie
UPDATE: Clearing up any confusion and a few questions. For the video, I used a Black Light to make the string show up better. On the still photos in the video, the only light source was the yo-yo itself. Yeah, its that bright.
More S.W.A.G
This is a much simpler design with a vintage kind of look. 20.95 at Spreadshirt (Check sidebar for a discount code)
S.W.A.G. – Get your Blockies on.
YoYoSkills.com Swag
You can stop sending me emails asking me for YoYoSkills shirts. Here they are.
They are all $19.95 or under (except the Metalic Paint one. That one is $24.95)
Just in time for the next big Yo-Yo Contest. Get your Blockies on.
>> Spreadshirt Store
SPECIAL - GET %15 OFF BY USING THIS CODE DURING CHECK OUT - BDCPTHS
Promo Video – YoYoSkills.com Photographic Review
Here are about a dozen sample pages from the finished product. I will probably be done this week. After I approve the sample, it should be ready by Nationals.
Feel free to share
YoYoSkills.com Birthday Contest – 3 DAYS LEFT – Fire up your Twitter!
CONTEST ENDS ON AUGUST 20th ! GET YOU TWEETS IN!
High Fiber
Prize Pool:
- One Drop – Y-Factor
- YoYoNation - Dark Magic
- YoYoExpert - $50 Gift Certificate
- ILOVEYOYO – A FURY and a VOID
- 3yo3 - Capella
- Duncan - 1 Set of Duncan Trading Cards, 2 Clear FHZ, 2 FH2, and a Hyabusa
- YoYoJam - Trinity
- YoYoLoco - $50 Gift Certificate
You see all that? That is OVER $500 dollars of goodies!
Prize Packages:
SEVEN WINNERS!!!!!
- Hyabusa + FHZ + Y-Factor
- Dark Magic + FHZ + Capella
- FH2 + Set of Duncan Cards + Void
- Set of Duncan Cards + Fury
- FH2 + Set of Duncan Cards + Trinity
- $50 Gift Certificate to YoYoExpert.com
- $50 Gift Certificate to YoYoLoco.com
All you have to do is 
at twitter.com/YoYoSkills and retweet this message AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT:
RT: YoYoSkills.com is turning TWO YEARS OLD! FOLLOW and RETWEET to enter the CELEBRATION Contest! #contest #yoyoskills #YYSturns2
I have made it easy for you. Just click this link right HERE.
Because it is fun. Thats why
For Extra Fun (and absolutly no reason whatsoever, use your smart phone and scan this qrcode for the same link above.
Allow me to Re-Introduce you, for the first time…
I would like you to meet Paul Wallace. Paul is a skill toy performer out of Canada who has deep roots in the yo-yo community. He is a co-designer of the Caribou Lodge Peak, the guy behind gString yoyo strings, and one heck of a stage performer.
Juggling Demo at Canadian Return Top National contest – July 2010 – Cardel Theatre – Calgary Alberta Filmed by Dennis Chui staring Paul Wallace
That video was from the Canadian Nationals just last week, shot by Dennis Chui. The man has incredible timing and breathes comedy gold.
Many of you already know this though. You already know Paul, his awesome yoyo string (www.yoyoGstring.com) and how funny he is. Well let me tell you something you DON’T know.
Here the big news
I am pleased to announce that Paul will start writing reviews here on YoYoSkills.com for Juggling Products. It won’t be every week like my yoyo reviews are, but from time to time Paul will drop in and deliver a review of juggling products.
HOORAY!
Please drop a comment and help me welcome Paul Wallace to the YoYoSkills Journalism Team.
The SPYY x YoYoSkills.com Contest Entries
Posted by Dr. Yo-Yo in Contest Reports, News on July 1st, 2010
Over the course of the next week (or so) myself Chris “Dr. Yo-Yo” Allen, My editor Dustin “Dictionary Fingers” Gunter, Ed “I hop when I do Eli Hops” Haponik, and Steve “Merchant of Precision” Buffel will be viewing these videos and picking out favorites. There is no strict voting process, but we will be looking at trick difficulty, video composition, presentation, and overall impression. Each judge will pick their three favorites in order of most favorite: Most favorite worth 3, runner up worth 2, and the last favorite worth 1. The video with the most points will win a brand new SPYY Pro.
The video’s are on display after the jump. The Winner will be announced on July 9th.
So, I want to know, not that it will affect the judging in any way shape or form, who do YOU think should win?
The iPhone 4 and you (the yoyoer)
Alright, I am in a bit of a hurry so the trick segment is not that great, but you get the idea. As an “On the Fly” camera, the new iPhone records very well at 720p HD and takes great pictures at 5mp. The close up focus is pretty darn good.
Here is parts of the video edited in the new iMovie App.
Being able to edit HD video on my phone is pretty amazing, but there are some issues that stand in my way of using this application more than just for sporadic novelty.
#1: Trimming a clip is brutal. You fingers are not the most precise instrument and you cant zoom in on the film strip to get more accurate.
#2: You have to use a theme. I used the only one that did not force me into frames
#3: You can’t put text anywhere. Only in Pre Approved theme boxes. Oh, and no text on still photos
#4: No Ken Burns effects on video. No zoom on video. No speed adjustment.
#5: Each theme has three transition options: None, Fade, or Theme.
#6: No ability to trim the audio. I hope you really like the beginning of that song your using.
I don’t really care about the Transitions or Themes, just let me edit with more control…
It is not going to replace your full size HD video camera or your SLR, but in a pinch, it is not a bad choice.
If you don’t mind the AT&T contract shenanigans, than its a good phone that has some pretty good functions that yoyoers would care about: a good Camera, and a good video camera.
The iMovie App leaves a bit to be desired. Hopefully Apple punches it up a bit.
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