Welc☆me t☆ Y☆Y☆ heaven: 05/30/10

Spirited competition at yo-yo championships

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/30/BA9A1DMJDT.DTL#ixzz0pRWm8mQY

As Joseph Harris, one of the country's top-ranked yo-yo competitors, waited his turn to compete in the Bay Area Classic in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, a kid watched Harris warm up and asked a familiar question: Are you Yuuki?

Yuuki Spencer - known only as Yuuki - is the reigning U.S. Yo-Yo Champion and he carries a mysterious, Bobby Fischer-like status among fans.

Harris was good.

But he was not Yuuki good. And it was unclear if the champ would even show.

Harris, an Ingleside district resident, works in an investment management firm and performs in what was described as an old-school style: He casts a yo-yo from each hand in a variety of long, looping movements, which he considers more visually appealing than some of today's more technical tricks.

Onstage, one of the modern-era performers maneuvered his yo-yo quickly, in small boxy actions, swinging it over his hands and between his forearms.

"It looks like he's going to tangle it in a knot," Harris joked.

The state of modern yo-yoing is in transition, said several of the enthusiasts who gathered in Golden Gate Park for a regional competition, the third-largest yo-yo gathering in the country. The winner was to be selected Saturday night.

Leo Qin, an 18-year-old from Portland, was representative of the new yo-yo chic. He wore black and flannel, and carried a 64-gram aluminum yo-yo. His two-minute performance - set to Common's hip-hop hit "The Game" - was judged on creativity, technical difficulty, and stage presence.

Afterward, Qin felt like he'd done well, yet when the question turned to Yuuki, he paused before he gave praise. "Yeah, he's a personality ... Yuuki single-handedly redefined modern yo-yoing."

Off near the trees, a skinny kid with curly hair, glasses and a Vans baseball cap effortlessly whipped a blue yo-yo around, then snapped it back into his palm.

It was Yuuki.

He was standing off to the side, out of the main hum - but the fans soon found him and clustered.

The craft master said he'd gone three months without picking up a yo-yo, and he wasn't thrilled about performing, but the $750 first-prize money was attractive.

"I could use some cash for the summer," he said, as he continued to whip the yo-yo around.

Yuuki was a little shy, very gracious, but not unaware of his talent.

"Competitions are weird because you don't have to be the best yo-yoer to win," he said. "You just have to know how to play within the system of judging."

He was asked if he'd ever won a World Yo-Yo Championship.

One of his friends with black baseball cap and a nose ring spoke for Yuuki. "Won that ... twice."

But then Yuuki took a year off from competitions altogether. "I just wasn't feelin' it for a year or so," Yuuki said.

Yuuki obliged a few autograph hounds, then went back to his practicing. A woman in the crowd shouted a question: "Who's your big rival?"

"Rival?" Yuuki asked without looking up.

"Well, who's better than you?" she clarified.

"No one's better than Yuuki!" cried a kid's voice from the crowd.

Yuuki kept an eye on his yo-yo and dismissed the notion that his sport carried such grudges among competitors.

"I don't have beef with anyone," he said.

E-mail Justin Berton at jberton@sfchronicle.com.

What a great contest. Here are the results!

2010 Bay Area Classic 2A Finals Results
Place Players Name City State Tech Perf Final Score
1 Patrick Mitchell Phoenix AZ 71.20 13.00 84.20
2 Joseph Harris San Francisco CA 69.87 13.00 82.87
3 Yoshi Mikamoto Lomita CA 36.15 10.00 46.15
4 Joey Vitalari Goleta CA 15.61 7.00 22.61
5 Josh Yee San Francisco CA 13.49 4.33 17.82
6 Jacob Jensen La Grande OR 1.93 - 1.93

Since the last time I updated, I had 2 gigs. The Asian Hertiage Street Celebration held in Little Saigon in San Francisco was absolutely FUN! Thank you to RAMA and Vive SF for allowing me to hype up my performance at their booths before I performed at one of the main stages.

The following week I had the birthday party in Piedmont which was absolutely successful and fun! Paul, the birthday boy, said "this is the best birthday ever."

Yesterday, was the BAC. I placed 2nd and proud of it. It was tough competition espeically in the 1A and 5A division! I'll add the article in the paper in another post. Here's a few pictures from the article in the local paper (SF Chronicle):