Adam: Welcome back to another Weekly Yoyo Update.
I’m Adam Bottiglia.
Chris: And I’m Christopher Chunn.
Adam: Just over a week ago the World Yoyo Contest was held in Iceland.
We had our on-site correspondent, Brian Duncan, giving you daily updates to the contest on
Instagram, so today we wanted to give you some of the highlights from the contest you
might have missed if you weren’t there.
Chris: By now you should know who the winners are, and have probably watched their routines
on our YoYo Contest Central youtube channel.
Adam: Not surprisingly Shu Takada’s excellent routine has far and away the most views for
any routine in the contest.
It was so striking it has been written about by Gizmodo here in the US, but also by news
outlets around the globe.
Chris: That’s interesting Adam.
I thought that 1a was the most popular style.
Adam: That is a common misconception, Chris.
While more players do compete in the 1a division, when it comes to videos going Viral, it is
definitely more about the performance than the style - of play that is.
Chris: Good point Adam.
Back to the contest.
If you waited until after the contest to view the winners of each division, chances are
you missed some of the best moments from players who didn’t make it into the top three spots.
Adam: That’s right Chris.
Now, some of my favorite tricks from the whole contest were from the Offstring division.
For example, Takuma Inoue, who also won the 5a division, and a cool slap bind that he
performed, and then he finished the trick with a nice flourish.
Chris: He also had a well executed behind the back finger spin that he used towards
the end of his routine.
Adam: Speaking of Finger Spins, Ryan Connolly had an excellent triple catch finger spin
combo that may have been the best offstring finger spin trick of the whole contest.
Chris: As an offstring player myself, I always appreciate when players take simple concepts
and push them to the next level.
Checkout this amazing arm orbit combo by Chun Hin Chan.
He is able to incorporate standard orbit elements with some innovative elements on the outside
of his wrist to keep things interesting.
Adam: I also appreciated this behind the back orbit combo by Futoshi Maruyama where he descends
by first going behind his head, then under his arm, behind the back, and then under his
leg.
Very cool.
Chris: One of my favorite sequences outside the winner’s circle was from Yuki Uchida.
He had this really interesting behind the back recapture sequence that seemed to be
mixed with some elements that are reminiscent of a cross-arm trapeze.
Nice.
Adam: Switching over to 2a, by now Shu’s kip up combos are legendary, but if you were
not at the contest you probably missed Yuki Takami performing a risky butterfly into kip
up that was quite impressive.
Chris: I also really enjoyed Chenghao Yi’s routine.
While he is definitely a skilled player, his entire routine was punctuated by moments of
innovation and enthusiasm that is rarely seen on the competitive stage.
Definitely worth checking out.
Adam: Another impressive feat, Hiraku Fujii almost earned his way into the top spot with
this legendary move, incorporating a dog bit into the middle of a 2a combo.
Chris: Got to love the mix of classic and contemporary elements here, Adam.
Adam: In 5a, US national Champion John Wolfe is continuing to innovate his style throwing
down some excellent combos, as well as a few classic moves.
Chris: That’s classic Wolfe right there.
Adam: Indeed it is Chris.
Chris.
Kai Zhang also had this elegant combo into a great 5a bind.
Adam: That’s nice.
Chris: Now, the 3a division was quite competitive this year, and we saw a lot of variations
on the trick kuru kuru, like this one from Mizuki Takimoto.
Adam: Didn’t he win the Mountain Dew cup as well.
Chris: He sure did, Adam.
Adam: Now we know that you will check out the 1a routines on your own, but if you are
pressed for time be sure to look in at some of our favorites like Evan Nagao, Gentry Stein,
Paul Kerbel, and Tessa Piccillo - who won the women’s division - they all pushed their
skills to the limit this year with impressive tricks structured into engaging freestyles.
Chris: One person who I don’t think should be overlooked is Ethan Cheung.
Adam: A brother of yours?
Chris: No he’s not Adam.
But he did score the highest evaluations out of 1a finals.
His music use and choreography really engaged the crowd, take a look.
Adam: Your cousin is really something special Chris.
Chris: Not my cousin, but an excellent player nonetheless.
Adam: Indeed.
Now it’s time to move on to your favorite yoyo forecaster, Jake Elliott to see what’s
on Horizon this week.
Jake: Your intro could not have been more well chosen, Adam, because - that’s right
- the YoTricks Edition Horizon yoyo is now back in stock in the YoYoTricks.com store.
Adam: Thank you Jake.
Before I hand it over to Chris to announce our front-style speed combo trick contest
winner, I did want to remind you that next week we will be answering your questions again
during the weekly yoyo update.
So, if you have a question you would like us to answer post it in the comments below
and it might make it into the show.
Back to you Chris.
Chris: Thank you Adam.
Thanks Adam, congrats to the winner of last weeks contest @dylankvang, check your Instagram
DM’s to claim your prize.
As always, we will be showing some of our favorite entries at the end of this broadcast.
For our next contest we want to see your best finger spin trick.
If your best trick is just an attempt and a miss, that is good enough for us.
Just post your trick to Instagram using the hashtag #YoTricksFSContest.
For the full list of official rules go to YoYoTricks.com/InstaContest.
This weeks contest winner will receive a $10 gift card to YoYoTricks.com This is Christopher
Chunn signing off for the Weekly YoYo Update, reminding you if your tricks don’t scare
you, they’re not big enough.
We’ll see you next time.