Yo-yo: More Than Just a Cool Word to Say

I had heard that astonishing things were possible with yo-yos, but to see those tricks in real life was a thrill. I caught the finals of the Open Freestyle division at the Virginia State Yo-yo Contest, held last Saturday at the Children's Museum of Richmond, and it was spectacular.

On our main webpage, you can watch some video clips of Sebastian and Ann competing. Sebastian is a student at the College of William and Mary. He was the 2006 and the 2007 Virginia State Champion in the 1A Division. (In yo-yo speak, 1A means you're using one yo-yo to do string tricks with the yo-yo spinning at the end of the string.) Each competitor in this round had three minutes to do their stuff to the song of their choosing.

If you're interested in learning more about yo-yo tricks, Tony Basch (Richmond's yo-yo spinmeister) recommends a couple websites such as Begin2Spin and tricks.skilltoys.org.