Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ta0]

Some very nice photos of the freestyles lifted from Yang Yuan-Ching Facebook page (click for full size):

[the Earl of Whirl]

Those were magical days in Cleveland.  The world championships may never happen there again.  Most certainly worlds will not be in North America for another three years (from what I know).  So I am sad about all of that.

I am thrilled to enjoy another magical moment as I sit in the U. of Cincy Physics lab.  The one and only johnm has had to run an errand for a professor and I get to look around and post this little report.  I am here with a certain big red and white top that has a crack in it.  The big Autograph top is also here for a possible tune up.  Someone else may want to share their take on the story of the national championship top but my goal was to get it to Cincy and see what johnm has to say.  He looked at it.  Nodded his head.  Said a couple of "umms" and rubbed his chin with his finger.  Long story short, he is willing to let it live here for two weeks until the Miamisburg fest.  We will see what happens next.

[Mark Leithead]

A group photo with the corkscrew challenge participants and the public

Front: Kelvin, Mike Hickerson, Eli, Felix, Jim Neff, Carmela, Jose, Quentin, Mark Hayward, Chris Neff, ta0, Rob, Taka, Scott
Back: James, Marco (Cuper), Austen, Dave, Tom, Renee, Mark L., ?, Kevin, Mike Hout

It is Wayne Ngan, fellow top thrower, standing beside me there on the right side of the photo. His YoYoToronto tshirt was being blocked in the image 

It was great to have the opportunity to go to Worlds and meet everyone and learn new tricks. It was an absolute blast, I am glad people came from all over (Japan, Mexico, Colombia, western USA, southern USA, Uruguay originally) to show different ways how a top can be played, some I had never seen before. Earl it was great to meet you, thanks for letting me know what was going on in the crowd too, I can explain it more when the videos are up and I cannot wait to see everyone's freestyles, as I think everyone had a few things hidden up their sleeves

Was great to throw some of World Champ jmadrigal's (congrats!! along with World Champ Beau) homemade tops and some johnm tops that were multi-coloured melted-down plastic with a fixed metal tip, made in Ohio where the World Spintop Contest is being held - and they played brilliantly too.

Also great to meet you ta0 and thanks for linking those photos, each one is excellent.

[Austen]

Any word on the videos of the freestyles?

[ta0]

Any word on the videos of the freestyles?

Yoyo Video Archive is taking its time to upload videos. It uploaded the first few placings in the main yo-yo divisions 2 days ago, took one day rest, and this morning uploaded all the finalist in every division, before taking a rest. No Women's, Over-40 and spintop finals yet. Hopefully, they will upload them before the semi-finals, but I wouldn't bet on it. 

Here is a group photo after the Sport Division contest:



Dale, who was the judge, inadvertently changed the rules a little bit at the start, so you had 3 tries at each trick, instead of 3 tries overall. When he realized it, it was too late, as one or two players had already been scored, so he continued that way. As we had our own room and we were not in a hurry, I think this worked well for the players, who could try every trick they knew. There was some debate beforehand between the traditionalist who wanted a ladder and those of us who wanted a menu of tricks, but I think the latter proved to be the best for the players and not a big burden on the judge. Beau, who has the skills to have freestyled, had of course a ton of points. But Kevin who appeared when we were about to close the contest and had to be encouraged to participate, did great. Wilson used a small Colombian solid wooden top and learned some tricks on the spot.

[ta0]

The Renaissance hotel worked well for tops, like the Rosen did in Orlando. One curious thing is that they don't have a 13th floor but have a 666 room It even has some spintop looking decor in the lobby:



 

The painted top on the right, that blends so well with the lobby, is one of 3 large decorated tops that Wilson brought .



He stayed in my room, together with Farid, and I got to keep that top in exchange. Fortunately, Southwest lets you check 2 pieces of baggage for free, but I still had to buy a suitcase at the airport for it (I already had my carry-on and "personal item" covered with Figaro and the backpack with my other tops).

Having a room just for top playing was fantastic. When I first saw it, I thought it wouldn't work as it had lots of tables and, worse, glass decorations hanging from low ceiling. In the end, by cramming the tables in the center (under the crystals) it was big enough and we left without breaking anything.



Quiz: From the video, how many top players were in the room at that time? (I haven't counted yet)

[ta0]

Quiz: From the video, how many top players were in the room at that time? (I haven't counted yet)

I count 24, including Kyo (at least he makes tops) and myself behind the camera.

The first night Dylan Kowalski, the blogger with a mohawk, spun with us:



Unfortunately, I couldn't take Dylan's photo with Figaro (neither Dennis Shatter's) because The Earl took the NST away with one of Figaro's bearings, but that is another story. 

We also met two of the newer members of ITSA and this forum, Mark K. (Mark Kolleckert) and Bethany (Kivela). Mark started with komas and then got his friend Beth into it. They can boomerang and trapeze a koma and handled Figaro with no problem. Beth's husband was also with them and was learning to throw.





Both are very nice. Beth enthusiasm and excitement is contagious.

[paxl13]

I waaaaant a picture with the figaro!!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

If Figaro had stayed in the car he would not have a crack.

[ta0]

If Figaro had stayed in the car he would not have a crack.

You mean the NST. My recollection of the turn of events is the following.
Jose brought the Nationals Spintop Trophy top to Worlds so Mike could take it to Miamisburg as Jose won't be able to come to nats.
Friday I got to the spintop room and saw Mike preparing to swing the NST. The carpet in that room is not thick and the NST, which has thin walls, was already split in two once by poptop. So I asked The Earl to be careful. I must have jinxed him, because he dropped NST on the side with a loud bang. He inspected it and said it was fine. Later, when I held NST, I commented that it was set for fixed tip. Jose, surprised, said that he had always had it as fixed tip and didn't know it could play as bearing. Even more surprised myself, I took off the tip, so I could show him how it could be converted by just inverting the big nut on the back. Double surprise: the nut was already set for bearing play!  What was going on? Then I realized it was missing the lower bearing!  I'm positive that after refurbishing the top when I got it from poptop, I sent it to nats with two new bearings. Dave or somebody at nats must have disassembled the tip, the bearing fell, and they didn't notice it! 
I wanted Jose, who had the top for 2 years, to experience the very long and smooth spins NST was capable of. So I took one bearing from Figaro and put it on NST. Jose was busy watching yo-yo frreestyles from the balcony, but I insisted that he ran over the spintop room to try it. That was my mistake. Jose was probably also jinxed as he dropped NST on the first try. That's when we noticed the crack. He still gave it another try and experienced it for the first time as a bearing top.
Later I went down to the ballroom and met Dennis. I asked him to wait while I brought down Figaro, but when I got back to the room, the NST with the bearing I needed to reassemble Figaro was gone.
By the way, the large delrin reversible nut on the NST is the one Figaro originally had. I was once playing the NST in high grass and the tip came out. I could never find the custom nut so I made another one. It is functional but doesn't look as good as the original from Alan, so I gave the later to the NST.

[dazzlingdave]

Dave or somebody at nats must have disassembled the tip, the bearing fell, and they didn't notice it! 

Don't throw me under the bus. I was so careful with that thing.....no one played/touched it until it was awarded!

[ta0]

Don't throw me under the bus. I was so careful with that thing.....no one played/touched it until it was awarded!

I believe you. This is a complete mystery. 
I went to a skateboard-only shop here in town, and got high-end fast bearings. When the guy asked me what style of skating I did, I first answered "topping" .
I tested the NST of course, and it was spinning beautifully.

[ta0]

Taka is only second to Jim Neff in the amount of unusual stuff he carries around. I was shaking my head sitting at the judges table, while I pondered how I was going to score all what Taka was bringing on stage, including an ironing table 
This is Taka's version of a traditional Japanese trick, walking a koma on a katana. The sword was miniaturized to be airline friendly 



PS: Does anybody have a picture of the spintop awards or knows a place where it was posted? The only one I have with all 10 players, I took too much from the side.

[jmadrigal]

Interesting fact: John Wolfe said he designed the spintop patches.

[ta0]

My only photo of the all the competitors during the awards is this one, somebody must have a better one