June 29, 2010
Yoyoskills.com put on a responsive video contest sponsored by SPYY and this was my entry. I didn't win but responsive play is so fun...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The Pulse
February 23, 2010
So in a push towards 2A greatness I discovered the Duncan Pulse. Yes the inexpensive light up loopers that you can get at Toys R Us for like 8 or 9 dollars. I had other looping yo-yoes that other players competed with but I like those Pulses.
So in a push towards 2A greatness I discovered the Duncan Pulse. Yes the inexpensive light up loopers that you can get at Toys R Us for like 8 or 9 dollars. I had other looping yo-yoes that other players competed with but I like those Pulses.
DC Meet 2008
November 29, 2008
Washington DC
Northern VA headbutted with the Maryland Yo-yo Schnobs in DC and this was the result. I don't think this was the time we were permanently banned from Union Station but this left a big impression on the train station security personnel.
Washington DC
Northern VA headbutted with the Maryland Yo-yo Schnobs in DC and this was the result. I don't think this was the time we were permanently banned from Union Station but this left a big impression on the train station security personnel.
Fredericksburg Yo-yoers
November 22, 2008
Fredericksburg, VA Spotsylvania Mall Yo-yo Meet
This was a small video to showcase a small meet in Fredericksburg, VA with the area yo-yoers Allen Schmidt and Quinton (I never knew his last name, sorry). I am not in the video because I was shooting the video.
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Fredericksburg, VA Spotsylvania Mall Yo-yo Meet
This was a small video to showcase a small meet in Fredericksburg, VA with the area yo-yoers Allen Schmidt and Quinton (I never knew his last name, sorry). I am not in the video because I was shooting the video.
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2010 Bombsquad X YYF Video Contest
In early 2010 BombSquad and YYF teamed up and had a video contest. This was my entry to that contest. I don't think it was well received because of the editting style I chose for it made the video look like it was lagging rather than pausing for effect.
How 3A shortened my strings...
Earlier this year, probably in mid March, I got an itch to give 3A a try.
For those that don't know what 3A is listen up: Two long spinning yo-yoes, one attached to each hand, are thrown about and woven into complex mounts and moves whereby the string of each yo-yo are crossed and potentially knotted together on almost every trick. Then once the complicated combination is complete the yo-yoes are separated from each other and returned to the hands. This is not a formal definition of the style but if you ever see any tricks you will understand fully.
From what I am told, and from experience now, the strings of 3A yo-yoes should be right around 6 inches shorter than a player would usually play 1A. This will give quite a bit more control over the two yo-yoes at the same time.
Now, I hadn't given it too much of myself until recently. A friend and teammate of mine, Alex Curfman, taught me how to do a kink mount and I was happy with that little sample of the 3A style of play. I have given a lot more effort into learning the 3A style of play since the beginning of this month and I feel like I will stick with the style for as long as I can. I have a couple of different mounts down as well as some other fun tricks and my desire to learn more is growing.
This is not the story of my 3A experience, I will tell that story at a later time. This is the story of how 3A has possibly shortened my strings forever.
I was practicing my 3A tricks I have been working on and I decided to throw some 1A with the shortened strings. To my surprise I had a lot more fluidity with my movements. The same tricks I would do with a normal string, cut to my belly button, were almost seamless and smooth and I was told that if I took away the yo-yo I looked like I had perfected some Tai Chi routine. Was it coincidence? I have been practicing different moves a lot lately. So, does it really make a difference?
The short answer is I don't know. Sorry, if you thought I had discovered some principle of physics where a shortened string can allow a player to do more than one who uses a full length string. For me though, it seems to work wonders. I will stick with it for now, capture it in action on video and share it with you.
For those that don't know what 3A is listen up: Two long spinning yo-yoes, one attached to each hand, are thrown about and woven into complex mounts and moves whereby the string of each yo-yo are crossed and potentially knotted together on almost every trick. Then once the complicated combination is complete the yo-yoes are separated from each other and returned to the hands. This is not a formal definition of the style but if you ever see any tricks you will understand fully.
From what I am told, and from experience now, the strings of 3A yo-yoes should be right around 6 inches shorter than a player would usually play 1A. This will give quite a bit more control over the two yo-yoes at the same time.
Now, I hadn't given it too much of myself until recently. A friend and teammate of mine, Alex Curfman, taught me how to do a kink mount and I was happy with that little sample of the 3A style of play. I have given a lot more effort into learning the 3A style of play since the beginning of this month and I feel like I will stick with the style for as long as I can. I have a couple of different mounts down as well as some other fun tricks and my desire to learn more is growing.
This is not the story of my 3A experience, I will tell that story at a later time. This is the story of how 3A has possibly shortened my strings forever.
I was practicing my 3A tricks I have been working on and I decided to throw some 1A with the shortened strings. To my surprise I had a lot more fluidity with my movements. The same tricks I would do with a normal string, cut to my belly button, were almost seamless and smooth and I was told that if I took away the yo-yo I looked like I had perfected some Tai Chi routine. Was it coincidence? I have been practicing different moves a lot lately. So, does it really make a difference?
The short answer is I don't know. Sorry, if you thought I had discovered some principle of physics where a shortened string can allow a player to do more than one who uses a full length string. For me though, it seems to work wonders. I will stick with it for now, capture it in action on video and share it with you.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
How it all began...
In 1995 I had just turned 12. It was summer vacation and my best friend and I were doing our usual thing, running around and getting into trouble. He asks me one day if I want to go to his neighbor's house and see some yo-yo tricks, like out of nowhere.
At first I was skeptical because I had never met his neighbor, or even seen him outside for that matter. Even at 12 years old I was scared of being abducted and this seemed like a trap. I told him no at first but that meant we were definitely doing it. So, he ran over to his neighbor's house and I reluctantly followed. He rang to door bell and gave the door a hard knock. After a couple of minutes the door opens and standing in front of us was an older man with a huge beard. I thought oh my gosh this was a terrible idea. My friend asks him if he can show us some yo-yo tricks and he says sure, in a really kind sounding voice, we just needed to meet him in the garage. In the garage?! We were dead for sure, I thought. I walked around to the front of the garage and as the door opens I step back. Then the guy tells us the yo-yoes are in the trunk of his car. What?! You have got to be kidding me. This guys seemed more likely to have a trash bag to put us in in the trunk of his car than yo-yoes. He opens his trunk and sure enough...full of yo-yoes.
I was instantly relieved when I saw the yo-yoes. I felt silly for being so paranoid, but then I have always been that way.
So then came the question "What is this guy gonna do with a yo-yo?". Well before I could really even finish the question in my head he shakes my hand, introduces himself as Tom Gates, and puts a yo-yo in my hand. "What am I gonna do with a yo-yo?"
That day he taught us how to wind the yo-yo, push-pull(gravity pull for you noobs), throw it down, make it sleep, rock the baby, walk the dog, creeper, and forward pass. Not bad for the first day. When it came time for Tom to go back inside I tried to return the yo-yo and he told me to hang on to it, practice, and come back and learn more if we like.
In the next few days I had mastered all of the tricks Tom had taught me and I wanted to learn more. My friend was still working on those and we went back. This time Tom had taught me how to throw a breakaway, man on the flying trapeze, around the world and loop the loop. I had mastered these before we even left. I was hooked, soaking up tricks like a sponge.
Eventually my friend had lost interest and quit yo-yoing, but I couldn't. I wanted to learn as many tricks as I could.
Tom and I became great friends. He was like a second dad to me. He showed me opportunities that would have been otherwise out of reach. But those are other stories...
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Story Begins...
Welcome to my blog.
Here I will share my yo-yo story with you, the world. I have done quite a bit, met tons of great people, and seen even more. I have even created a sort of stage persona in an attempt to stand out even more. Well I am dropping all of that here and this is just me, Kyle Maxwell...Yo-yo Player and Modder.
Unfortunately organization of everything I have done is not necessarily the best so I will be posting things out of order in an attempt to put it all out there.
On the various pages I will put things in chronological order so everything makes more sense.
Everyone has a story...here is mine.
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