Worlds 2016 Cleveland preparation thread

[the Earl of Whirl]

Thanks for starting this thread. I am sad to read about the costs but I am happy to see two Hickersons already signed up to compete.

I have gone back and forth about competing. I would do so if it would help our numbers but I am excited about the possibility of others participating. I have not thrown much lately due to the heavy work schedule but I have a couple ideas of freestyles with things I can do and can't do (yet). Obviously, I will not do anything with swords if I want to get in the finals.

How many participants will we be allowed to have in the finals?

[Kirk]

Ouch$
It seems like a lot since I doubt that I will even be able to freestyle by then. Even if my skills take a rocket ride, I guess that my chances of making the finals are about zero.

By the way what are the rules? Were are they published? How does scoring work? How does one make the finals?

I think I have been the only one to ask about top sport division. (AKA ladder)

A bit of a difference from 2013 where the judges were begging people to spin.

[MarkHayward]

I have no inside information, but I can tell you that a lot of european events get backing from the government or discounted prices. That simply doesn't happen here. Convention centers charge enormous rates because most of their customers are corporations that don't mind paying a lot. This is part of the reason that we see so few community events at convention centers in this country.

I'll be MCing the contest, and have already told them that I need to be free for the spin top contest. Now I just have to get back into practicing.

[ta0]

It is great that you will be freestyling, Mark!

Ouch$
It seems like a lot since I doubt that I will even be able to freestyle by then. Even if my skills take a rocket ride, I guess that my chances of making the finals are about zero.
By the way what are the rules? Were are they published? How does scoring work? How does one make the finals?
I think I have been the only one to ask about top sport division. (AKA ladder)

The rules for the freestyles should be the same as last year: http://www.ispintop.com/freestyle-rules.html

On the schedule right now there is half-hour in the Grand Ballroom for the finals. That means only between 6 and 8 players for the finals. For the prelims there is a slot of a full hour (place to be determined), so if that stayed like that we could have a lot of one-minute freestyles or about 14 3-minute freestyles. But I fear we may lose half of the slot to some sponsor activity.

Since the competition moved from Orlando, there haven't been any sports ladders, either for yo-yos or tops. BUT if there are players interested we can have one (outside the stage). It will be certified by ITSA and we can give medals. That is one reason we formed the association. To compete on that one you don't need to register as competitor on the main event. We should also have the traditional corkscrew challenge and top battles . . .

A bit of a difference from 2013 where the judges were begging people to spin.

Am I not begging enough?

[Kirk]

The rules for the freestyles should be the same as last year: http://www.ispintop.com/freestyle-rules.html

Where did you ever find this link? Are there other pages at http://www.ispintop.com that We should know about?

[ta0]

The rules for the freestyles should be the same as last year: http://www.ispintop.com/freestyle-rules.html

Where did you ever find this link? Are there other pages at http://www.ispintop.com that We should know about?

It is linked from last year's Tokyo worlds website (http://tokyo15.com/en/contest-divisions/spintop/). Re-reading the rules I see that we owe Miki a Traditional Spintop Champion award
Now that spintops.org has taken the place of ispintop.com I need to forward one site to the other.
By the way, the rules for the sports ladder can be found on the 2013 site:
http://www.worldyoyocontest.com/2013wor ... d=127.html

[ta0]

Just two days for the registration fees to go up by $25!

IF we continue having the spintop contests together with the yo-yo contests, you will have to wait 3 more years for it to happen again in the US (next year the yo-yo contest is in Iceland, the following somewhere in Asia). Specially those who live at a driving distance from Cleveland should not miss it!

I finally made contact with Steve. At least I made sure that he knows that are willing to help with the organization of the spintop contest.

The spintop freestyles are Friday and the Yo-Yo contest ends Saturday. I am thinking in flying back either Monday or Tuesday from Dayton, so Sunday I can drive (or get a ride) down to Miamisburg and Cincinnati to visit the Hall of Fame and John's lab at the university. Anybody else interested in this "field" trip?

=======================
MODERATOR NOTE: I split most of the discussion about the justification or not of the registration costs to a separate thread:
http://www.ta0.com/forum/index.php/topi ... l#msg44307

[ta0]

One week left until the registration fees jump by $30 more!

I haven't heard from many freestylers who live at driving distance.

The carpet on some of the photos of the hotel remind me the Rozen Not so much on the main ballroom:

[studio42]

Most hotel ballroom floors are like in casinos: ugly as crap! It's like they all have some sort of requirement to "make people not want to look at it, bring your eyes back to straight ahead".

[ta0]

Prices go up tomorrow. As of May 16th few competitors were registered for tops. None from Ohio! (even Mike Durdak was only registered for 4A.)

[Neff]

I think the part in the rules that says any top that leaves the stage is disqualified should be removed. Not going to fuss about it or build a case, I just think it puts undue pressure on the player. The winding part should stay though.

[kyo]

Most hotel ballroom floors are like in casinos: ugly as crap! It's like they all have some sort of requirement to "make people not want to look at it, bring your eyes back to straight ahead".

Sorry to derail slightly, but I happen to know why they're done this way

In casinos, yea, part of it is don't look down.. look at all the lights and games to play.

In hotels it's more practical.. they can replace any piece of it absolutely seamlessly. It's all gridded out in a computer program, they can order up any section of it and in a matter of minutes make a totally flawless fix. High wear areas, major spills, etc. can be repaired on demand and you'll never see it. I saw this done in person at the Rosen years ago.. two guys showed up in the middle of the hallway, in like 5 minutes they patched a spot and I absolutely couldn't tell where the seam was. Those hideous patterns make your eyes go haywire, hard to see edges.

Kyle

[the Earl of Whirl]

So, how many are registered?

[jim in paris]

5 so far

there is a rumour saying that a certain Punk
who used to blow up tops in a well known video,
will be competing

good news !!

jim :-X :-X

[studio42]

I think the part in the rules that says any top that leaves the stage is disqualified should be removed. Not going to fuss about it or build a case, I just think it puts undue pressure on the player. The winding part should stay though.

Just in my watching of videos of spintops at US Nationals and Worlds(mostly), and with it in mind I haven't watched all of them, I don't recall seeing spintops leaving the stage nearly as much as I've seen 4A yoyos leaving the stage. I'm really not opposed to the "off the stage, stays out of play" rule. I don't see that putting much pressure on a player unless they've only got a couple of tops. Is that what you're referring to?

What's the winding part? Wasn't it like a 1-point deduction if you had to wind the top on stage during the freestyle? I know the discard rule is a lot different. If I recall, there's no discard penalty for tops. This is different than with yoyo, where a discard/swap is a deduction.