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Yo-Yos: Spinning under the Space Needle

As a kid, the best I could do with my Yo-Yo was walk the dog or go around the world - but not for long.

Just flicking my wrist and getting the gyrating piece of plastic to return to my palm made me happy.

So, when I saw that Seattle was going to host the 2010 Pacific Northwest Yo-Yo Championships, I knew where my family and I had to be on Saturday – at the competition site, the Center House under the Space Needle.

We weren’t disappointed.

My young son gazed at the older spin masters. My wife and I marveled at their skills.

I just stood there – again realizing that times can change but happy that they do – staring at all the spinning, largely done by young people.

I didn’t even recognize what tricks the Yo-Yo competitors were doing. But they impressed.

There was a Yo-Yo model that actually flew off the string, similar to Yo-Yo tricks you see in China. The amazing thing about the Yo-Yo competitors is the ease at which they accomplished their feats.

The competition’s practice area was actually more fascinating to observe - as compared to the competition stage, which was more static with only one person up there.

As I surveyed the tables, I didn’t recognize the old styles I used.

I spotted a model made by Aerobie, the same company that makes those flying rings that can fly for what seems like forever.

Finally, someone pointed out the Duncan Yo-Yos on a merchant’s table.

As a kid, I believe I spun the Imperial model. Later, I moved up to the Butterfly.

As I recall, my dad always had enough patience and skill to pull off some cool Yo-Yo tricks.

One fact that I learned about Duncan Yo-Yos is that a Filipino immigrant, Pedro Flores, had a hand in the company.

From the Duncan Web site:

Started in 1929 when entrepreneur Donald F. Duncan Sr. purchased the Flores Yo-Yo Company from Filipino immigrant Pedro Flores, Duncan Yo-Yos are an indelible part of American history. Promoted across the entire United States continuously from the late ’20s to the mid ’60s, owning a Duncan yo-yo and seeing the official Duncan Yo-Yo Man perform was an inimitable part of childhood.

In keeping up with the times and technology, Duncan is offering – get this – a Yo-Yo iPhone app, which makes sense since many young people are spinning the company’s products.

Oh, by the way: Duncan says that Yo-Yos have been traced back to around 500 BC:

The oldest surviving yo-yos have been tracked to this date. The yo-yos were terra cotta disks, decorated with paintings of mythological figures. Archeologists theorize that Ancient Greek kids gave these yo-yos as offerings at the appropriate temple, as part of a coming-of-age ceremony. A Greek vase from this period is painted with the image of a boy playing yo-yo.

At the Center House, I learned that some Yo-Yos have small bulbs in them and light up when spun. Others, a merchant told me, actually have a mechanism in them so that they automatically return to your hand.

One Duncan Yo-Yo sells for about $100 – a price my wife told me about as we watched people flick their wrists and turn and twist to catch their Yo-Yos.

We finally bought a basic, old-fashioned one for my son – who had a blast tossing it out and trying to make it return.

On one of his tries with his new toy, he tossed the Yo-Yo out, only to watch the string – which was loose on his finger – slip away.

The Yo-Yo flew a few feet from him. We quickly retrieved it.

An older guy stood next to us to watch my son experiment with the Yo-Yo.

Seconds after the Yo-Yo flew off my son’s finger, the man chuckled, patted me on the back and said he enjoyed watching the moment.

About an hour after watching the Yo-Yo experts work their magic – and many were doing it listening to music through their headphones – we decided it was time to leave.

We had a great time, though.

I hadn’t been around so many Yo-Yo spinners in, um, decades.

As an adult, I can take issues seriously. When I was a professional journalist, I often took issues very seriously.

After all, journalists are often under pressure to check stock quotes, arrange interviews with high-profile people, read dense government reports, think quickly, question, analyze and write.

It’s not like we can take a few seconds to stop an interview with a company president or to stand during deadline pressure to flick our wrists out and watch our Yo-Yos spin in the air and sling back into our hands.

Well, I guess journalists can do that – but someone might say something.

One thing is certain: My son, wife and I have our work cut out for us in the Improving-Our-Yo-Yo-Skills Department.

We’ll do well, though. I know it.

In fact, I think this Yo-Yo Web site is a great place to start.

* My thanks to Seattle’s Child. If I didn’t check its great calendar of events, I would not have heard about the Yo-Yo competition.