Nationals was awesome and a pancake!

[Jayyo]

National Yoyo Contest 2008!


Wow. This contest was epic!
This has been probably my favorite Nationals in all the ones I have gone too.

Friday, we took the drive down in about 3 hours, we noticed much rain after about 2 hours of driving, And the closer we got to Chico, the worse it got.

We stopped at a Togos for dinner and  I got to show the workers some yoyo tricks on the new Element X I had just gotten in the mail.

We arrived at the hotel and it was really pouring down rain.
All the yoyoers were standing outside under the covering of the hotel just hanging out and talking and yoyoing, but it was almost contest time, and i was wondering why nobody was going to Bird In Hand to find out where the contest would take place.
Originally, the prelims of 4A 3A and 2A would be on Friday night so that's why all the players standing around not getting ready to go confused me.

We got unpacked and after putting my yoyo cases down, I headed out to ask anyone if they knew where the contest was going to be.
On my way out, I ran into Stu (Stupendous) and asked him if he knew where.
He told that the contest had been canceled due to rain and the prelims would be pushed into the following day.

So that gave everyone a day just to yoyo and hang out and meet with each other.
That's one fun thing about yoyo contest, its cool to compete but meeting new friends and learning new tricks is awesome.

I finally got to meet two guys on 2yo that I have always wanted to meet but never got a chance.
Zach Gormley and Sean Vanzandt.
Those guys are two of the coolest guys ever. Amazing skill and awesome style.
Look out for those two! They will be dominating the competition soon!

Hanging out in front of the hotel was fun, but after a while, it began getting quite cold to stay outside with the wind and rain, so we all moved into the shelter of the hotel lobby.
We were all yoyoing for a while and one of the workers told us to keep our yoyos in our pockets.
But really, we are a whole bunch of yoyoers who are excited to meet others and compete at one of the biggest contest in the world, what do you expect? After a while most of us forgot about what the worker had said and started yoyoing again. I was talking to some of the yoyoers from the Meridain yoyo club and some of team yoyojam was practicing with there friends and many others when the hotel manager came out with a big box.
He then said very loudly: OK EVERYONE! THIS BOX IS FOR YOUR YOYOS! THEY WILL BE GOING TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS! One of the yoyoers Moms (I think Grant Johnsons mom) Told him: Do you have any idea how much these yoyos cost?
The guy didn't care and said he was going to take all of our yoyos if we didn't go outside (Yes back out into the cold and windy outside).
After a while it got way to cold and windy so we moved way back into the heart of the hotel next to a conference room.
We stayed there but it was hard because people kept coming in and out of the Bar and party room and the workers there kept having to come over and tell us to stop yoyoing so people could walk by. A few times when the conference room was being used, we had to yoyo in the tight little hallways cause we were not allowed anywhere else but outside.
You know, for being the "official hotel" of Nationals, you think they could be a little nicer to the yoyoers.
Even many of the parents thought the same.
Many of the yoyoers hanging out Friday night decided to do Diabolo.
Me and a few others just stood around sharing our diabolo tricks and talking about different diabolo models and sticks and tricks.
Chris Frasier came up to us and asked if any of us wanted to buy a Kyo Senza Nome.
He offered it for 30 dollars and after a while of thinking, I decided to buy it only to sell it to someone for 40 dollars within a few minutes.

There was a bit of drama that night.
While a bunch of us were yoyoing, Zach Gormley decided to say Dillan Benharris' name.
Dillan heard his name and turned around, but instead of seeing Zach, he say someone else.
He started playfully pinning the kid up against the wall and just jokingly slapping him around.
Connor Swan came over and also jokingly told him to stop and jokingly pushed Dillan onto the floor.
Unfortunately, Dillan did not get the joke and took it seriously.
He got up and hit Connor in the eye with Aron Bendets' Eetsit and then slapped him really hard across the face.
He gathered up his stuff and left steaming mad back to his hotel room.
All of us were like: What? What happened? I had only seen Connor get smacked across the face and hadn't seen the rest. Connor and some others told me exactly what happened.

Saturday!
The big day!
It was very fun!

We got there and immediately noticed that it was slightly raining.
We were hoping that they would move the contest indoors due to the rain but they had it out n the plaza and waited for the rain to die down.
It eventually did and the prelims started.

4A showed much skill this year. I was impressed by Ian Cole very much.
I did not to well in 4A prelim.
I did ok for the first 30 seconds, but after that, everything went very wrong.
Same with 3A. My speeder kept snagging on the string every time I tried to bind. It would just randomly grab the string and snag and would not throw out correctly no matter what I did.
It still does that today. Something is wrong with it. I guess i will have to stick to my HGs for now on.

2A prelims were cool cause so many people had the new THP based Teal YYF shirts.
Brought back many memories of the old contest and the days of THP.
My 2A was the best I have ever done. Everything worked like it should have and I had fun.
2A is my fave style right now, so maybe that's why I did so well.

5A prelims were awesome.
I did not do so great but wow! so much 5A skill! Sean Vanzandt did some amazing 5A and Ryan Gee is just about the most entertaining player I have ever seen!

1A Prelims were cool.
I just get tired of seeing the same old kind of 1A. I mixed it up a bit and did the smoothest most flowy tricks I could ever do, flow doesn't really score as much points, but I just wanted to be different.
Ryan Gee had a really entertaining 1A. His style is so smooth and stylish, it is mind blowing.

After doing all the prelims, I was very tired.
Luckily my parents went and bought me a burger! (Nothing refreshes like a good burger!)
I rested for a while and went to talk and hang out with other yoyoers.
Got to meet Andrew Bergen. Awesome kid! And many others.
I bought a legacy at the yyj table and wow, its such a good yoyo for such a good price.
Amazing play and is just so smooth. Yoyojam did a good job with this yoyo.
Finals! Wowowowowowow!!!
The level of competition was high!
So many mind blowing tricks!
So much skill!
I very much enjoyed Chris Frasiers' 1A. He has a pretty cool style.
And Joseph Harris had some insane 2A this year.
It was nice to see Ryan Lai come to nats this year. Last time he came was back in 04. He did a very good 2A and 3A as well!

After all the freestyles were done.

Eric Koloski won 1A
Joseph Harris won 2A
Paul Yath won 3A
Bryan Figeroua won 4A
and Miguel Correa won 5A.

Awesome results!

I went back to the hotel and yoyoed with some friends and Fosano decided to try to do 4A with a CU.
For quite a while, we all tried landing a whip catch on a CU and it proved to be very hard. Fosano ended up catching it!

We all moved outside later on and just yoyoed and played yoyos and threw yoyos and whatnot.
Some guys went and practiced skateboarding and a few did spin top.
A few of us tried tossing an aqua across the parking lot from person to person. NOT EASY.
Sean hit a car and then almost hit some people coming out of the hotel from an Indian wedding.
He did a really high toss with his journey and it was the highest toss I have ever seen!
It went so high and a few described it as looking like it would go into space.
it came down with a crash missing Sean's string but did not crack or break! Amazing!

I tried to sell 3 counterweights for a dollar but no one wanted them. Sigh.

The next day was fun but sad.
I met with the last few remaining guys down near the conference room to yoyo.
Sean was gone, Aron was gone, Connor was gone, Tie was gone, Zach was gone.
Only a few remained getting ready to leave.
I don't like it when contest end.
Its sad to see all your friends leave and you wont get to see them for a while. No more hanging outside the hotel trying crazy yoyo stunts, no more buying and selling yoyos, no more getting to talk to some of the best yoyoers in the world in person.

Back to the forums ha.

But it was fun, and I am glad I came.
I ended up bringing home: A CA state orange dyed Elex, A blue Bigyo, A Legacy and string.
Not bad.

Thanks to all the people who helped make the contest possible.

Cant wait for Nats 09! Yeah!

J.

[cameronjp]

i didn't read the whole thing, but did you buy anything? jamboo or legacy?

[frogg609]

i didn't read the whole thing, but did you buy anything? jamboo or legacy?

If you read it you would know.

Heck, you could have read the last 4 lines and see what he bought.

[DrYoYo]

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

[Chilly Penguin]

you forgot mentioning me too!

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

i think you mean the trick called bouncers. 

[Raidernation67]

Yep.
fun contest alright.

[REEDX]

you forgot mentioning me too!

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

i think you mean the trick called bouncers. 

Ping pong is the real name.

inb4 who cares.

[Boxthor]

Dylan Benharris is awesome.

[Zach 6106]

While a bunch of us were yoyoing, Zach Gormley decided to say Dillan Benharris' name.
Dillan heard his name and turned around, but instead of seeing Zach, he say someone else.
He started playfully pinning the kid up against the wall and just jokingly slapping him around.
Connor Swan came over and also jokingly told him to stop and jokingly pushed Dillan onto the floor.
Unfortunately, Dillan did not get the joke and took it seriously.
He got up and hit Connor in the eye with Aron Bendets' Eetsit and then slapped him really hard across the face.
He gathered up his stuff and left steaming mad back to his hotel room.
All of us were like: What? What happened? I had only seen Connor get smacked across the face and hadn't seen the rest. Connor and some others told me exactly what happened.

Ah man.... I feel so bad for saying his name. But besides that it was awesome. I cant wait for 09. I brought home a new case, Pistolero (did i spell that right lol), a legacy, and some synergy caps. Andre gave me some stickers 

[Chilly Penguin]

you forgot mentioning me too!

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

i think you mean the trick called bouncers. 

actually, if you ask josh, it is called bouncers~ he made a tutorial for that trick on youtube!


j

Ping pong is the real name.

inb4 who cares.

[J-Spinn]

Dylan Benharris is awesome.

Yeah he is.

[Samad]

AWESOME POST!!!!!!!!!

[yblocyo]

you forgot mentioning me too!

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

i think you mean the trick called bouncers. 

actually, if you ask josh, it is called bouncers~ he made a tutorial for that trick on youtube!


j

Ping pong is the real name.

inb4 who cares.

actually, it is in fact ping pong. Watch some old Jason lee stuff.

Colby

[REEDX]

you forgot mentioning me too!

You forget, You taught me how to Ping Pong.  good to see you there Josh!

i think you mean the trick called bouncers. 

Ping pong is the real name.

inb4 who cares.

actually, if you ask josh, it is called bouncers~ he made a tutorial for that trick on youtube!


j

actually, it is in fact ping pong. Watch some old Jason lee stuff.

Colby

Indeed. Learn up.

P.S. Quote fixed.

[Jayyo]

I actually tough dr yoyo bouncers.

Its different from ping pong, they both involve a fake knot, but bouncers has a motion that is totally different and is actually harder.

Dryoyo! Did you get it down yet? Many people have trouble on the bouncing part so dont worry!

[DrYoYo]

Got it, about half the time that is.

[Chilly Penguin]

I actually tough dr yoyo bouncers.

Its different from ping pong, they both involve a fake knot, but bouncers has a motion that is totally different and is actually harder.

Dryoyo! Did you get it down yet? Many people have trouble on the bouncing part so dont worry!

told ya x convict, yblocyo!