Yo-Yo Boy
Meet Hyrum. In his pocket is a yo-yo. I’ve known him since he was a baby because I’m his aunt. I’m so lucky, because without this special relationship, Hyrum would be too shy to talk to me. Hyrum McNeill is a 14 year old boy: brown hair, hazel eyes, and an aptitude for math and running. His latest science project studied the bacterial growth on cell phones. (Spoiler alert, ewwww! Wash those things!)
As much as his teachers loved him, his parents loved him, and I loved him, he struggled with friends at school. As a young boy, he was usually the kid that didn’t have a friend to play with, so he’d read. He also found out yo-yo was a solo sport, and it interested him. He would watch YouTube videos of it. By watching the pro yo-yo players, he learned better tricks. The internet provided a source of procedural research for Hyrum. He is a scientist, after all. He watched the Pro yo-yo players and practiced. His favorite player was Gentry Stein, the 2014 Class 1A World Champion. He’d practice the confidence, the charm of the superstar, and mastering his tricks.
The yo-yo skills didn’t transfer to social acceptance in middle school. Hyrum was targeted by jerk boys. One boy would knock him on the floor, and when Hyrum would attempt to pick up his pencil a boy’s foot would meet his fingers.
The smooth casing of the yo-yo in his pocket was familiar as he practiced after school. It was his own world. None of his siblings could yo-yo. His parents didn’t yo-yo. This was something he could do just for him. Imagine being his mom. Listening to your boy tell, in soft sentences, tears in his eyes, his face turned away: they pushed me against a wall. They punched me in the stomach and choked my neck. If you were the parent, you might do anything to protect your child. If you could, you might even try to give him a fresh start with a new town.
The family moved to Thatcher, Arizona. Hyrum ran on the cross-country team and did well. He found a new peer group. He may not have had a group of besties, but at least he wasn’t getting punched in the stomach. Hyrum was hopeful and building confidence. He saw an ad for an Arizona State Yo-Yo competition in Phoenix.
We need to pause for a moment and get a grasp on what competitive yo-yo is right now. My experience with a yo-yo involved a Christmas stocking stuffer. Once upon a time, there was a red yo-yo with a string that I would tie around my finger with a slip knot. Then, I would roll the string up around the yo-yo, and throw it down and hope with a cherry-on-top that the yo-yo would return to my palm. Sometimes it would, and sometimes it wouldn’t. And sometimes the string would get too tight around my finger. And sometimes the string would get tangled. And that blasted yo-yo was a nightmare! So we all need to stop thinking about that yo-yo and get the correct picture. The little red yo-yo in your head is not to be found here. Yo-yo competition is more like Jedi warfare.
Yo-Yo players use sleekly designed yo-yos that leave the strings they are on. Their shape is like two table tops put together so the spinning pointy ends glide up and down the string--fast. Like, really fast. Competitive yo-yo is made up of tricks, music, and choreography. Each player develops their own style based on the music they perform to, their body movement, and the speed of their tricks. It’s similar to dancing, but the entire time you are moving the yo-yo spinner. Hyrum’s hero, Gentry Stein, is known for his rhythmic style. Every single move he makes is in synch with the techno music he performs to.
In contrast to Stein, Hyrum describes his own style as smooth. His transitions from one trick to another are unruffled. To prepare for competition, Hyrum needed a two to three minute routine with unique tricks. Since Hyrum had no experience in dance or choreography, he hired help. Fifteen year old’s aren’t made of money, but he used his limited cash to pay his sister and a girl from the high school dance team to help him with the routine. The great thing about a yo-yo is you can practice anywhere, and Hyrum did. A yo-yo was always in his pocket-- between his freshman year classes, waiting for a ride after a church activity, or blocks of time on Saturdays. After months of work, Hyrum was ready.
The McNeill family piled into the minivan to cheer Hyrum on in his first competition. During the three hour drive to the competition, Hyrum battled the knots in his stomach. The time finally came for his preliminary round. Hyrum took the stage. He recognized one of the judges. It was none-other than Gentry Stein. THE Gentry Stein. The twenty-one-year-old yo-yo national and world champion, the main event in YouTube trick yo-yo videos, and Hyrum’s personal hero. He reminds me of Leonardo Dicaprio on Titanic. Charming. (I’ll never let go, Jack). To Hyrum, he looks like a freaking rockstar.
The familiar Andy Griffith theme song remix played, and Hyrum did his first trick. “I was doing a Kamikaze that fits smoothly into a Braiding.” He was getting into his own smooth rhythm when the unthinkable happened. His string got a knot in it. Knots can happen when a string is worn out. This particular string was attached to a yo-yo that went through the washing machine in a pocket. “I tried to keep going, but the knot was too bad.” All he could do was smile at the judges, and wait for the music to end.
Hyrum left the stage defeated. “Let’s just go.” His family tried to cheer him up. No, he didn’t want to watch any other competition rounds. No, he didn’t want to pick the restaurant to grab lunch. No, he didn’t want to go to a movie. As far as he was concerned, he’d failed. He wasn’t prepared for a knot. He should have had a backup yo-yo and he didn’t. He should have changed the string and he didn’t. He was miserable and it was all his fault.
Gentry Stein was trying to find the boy who got a knot in his string. “I knew exactly how he felt.” During the 2015 World Competition, a knot derailed the champion’s routine. Fortunately, Stein had an extra yo-yo and was able to continue. The rookie yo-yo player was stuck. Stein also knew what it takes to come to your first competition. He didn’t know specifically what Hyrum overcame, but he saw something of himself in the rookie.
After asking around, he was informed that the newbie Hyrum had left right after his round.
“A knot is the worst case scenario for a yo-yo player.” Stein watched the brown haired the rookie struggle with his performance, and wanted to do something. That’s when the idea came to him. Stein and his camera man surprised Hyrum on the Eastern Arizona College campus. I know a little about Eastern Arizona College. I went to college there my first two years. It’s a little town surrounded by cotton fields. One thing I would do with friends during harvest time is go on late night adventures jumping into the balers full of cotton. Our hair and clothes would get full of twigs and bits of fluff, and we'd be sneezing from the dust. It’s a small town with three local high schools that have intense football rivalries. The point being, it isn’t exotic. Yo-Yo Factory Adventures have taken Stein and his yo-yo tricks all over the world. The Dead Sea, the Base Camp of Mt. Everest, Iceland, New Zealand, and now Thatcher, Arizona.
Hyrum piled into the family van again, going somewhere on the college campus that didn’t quite make sense. A shy smile grew when he saw his hero peek out from behind the bell tower wall. The sun shone down bright on the banner from the Arizona State Yo-Yo contest. With Stein as his judge, Hyrum performed his routine again. “All he needed was one more chance,” Gentry said to me over a phone call. With a camera filming Stein started the stopwatch. Hyrum was told he could take as many times as he needed to get it right. It only took once. “I could see it in him. He was stoked. You could tell he was lit up!” High fives were exchanged all around and when Stein invited Hyrum to several more Yo-yo competitions Hyrum was all in.
The video of this interaction is on YouTube. Stein asks Hyrum what advice he would give other young yo-yo players who might have a slip up at a competition. Hyrum suggests they don’t give up, learn from their mistakes and carry two yo-yos. This summer, Hyrum competed again. This time in Dallas, TX. He didn’t place, but he felt great about his performance, and this time he had a back-up yo-yo.
As much as his teachers loved him, his parents loved him, and I loved him, he struggled with friends at school. As a young boy, he was usually the kid that didn’t have a friend to play with, so he’d read. He also found out yo-yo was a solo sport, and it interested him. He would watch YouTube videos of it. By watching the pro yo-yo players, he learned better tricks. The internet provided a source of procedural research for Hyrum. He is a scientist, after all. He watched the Pro yo-yo players and practiced. His favorite player was Gentry Stein, the 2014 Class 1A World Champion. He’d practice the confidence, the charm of the superstar, and mastering his tricks.
The yo-yo skills didn’t transfer to social acceptance in middle school. Hyrum was targeted by jerk boys. One boy would knock him on the floor, and when Hyrum would attempt to pick up his pencil a boy’s foot would meet his fingers.
The smooth casing of the yo-yo in his pocket was familiar as he practiced after school. It was his own world. None of his siblings could yo-yo. His parents didn’t yo-yo. This was something he could do just for him. Imagine being his mom. Listening to your boy tell, in soft sentences, tears in his eyes, his face turned away: they pushed me against a wall. They punched me in the stomach and choked my neck. If you were the parent, you might do anything to protect your child. If you could, you might even try to give him a fresh start with a new town.
The family moved to Thatcher, Arizona. Hyrum ran on the cross-country team and did well. He found a new peer group. He may not have had a group of besties, but at least he wasn’t getting punched in the stomach. Hyrum was hopeful and building confidence. He saw an ad for an Arizona State Yo-Yo competition in Phoenix.
We need to pause for a moment and get a grasp on what competitive yo-yo is right now. My experience with a yo-yo involved a Christmas stocking stuffer. Once upon a time, there was a red yo-yo with a string that I would tie around my finger with a slip knot. Then, I would roll the string up around the yo-yo, and throw it down and hope with a cherry-on-top that the yo-yo would return to my palm. Sometimes it would, and sometimes it wouldn’t. And sometimes the string would get too tight around my finger. And sometimes the string would get tangled. And that blasted yo-yo was a nightmare! So we all need to stop thinking about that yo-yo and get the correct picture. The little red yo-yo in your head is not to be found here. Yo-yo competition is more like Jedi warfare.
Yo-Yo players use sleekly designed yo-yos that leave the strings they are on. Their shape is like two table tops put together so the spinning pointy ends glide up and down the string--fast. Like, really fast. Competitive yo-yo is made up of tricks, music, and choreography. Each player develops their own style based on the music they perform to, their body movement, and the speed of their tricks. It’s similar to dancing, but the entire time you are moving the yo-yo spinner. Hyrum’s hero, Gentry Stein, is known for his rhythmic style. Every single move he makes is in synch with the techno music he performs to.
In contrast to Stein, Hyrum describes his own style as smooth. His transitions from one trick to another are unruffled. To prepare for competition, Hyrum needed a two to three minute routine with unique tricks. Since Hyrum had no experience in dance or choreography, he hired help. Fifteen year old’s aren’t made of money, but he used his limited cash to pay his sister and a girl from the high school dance team to help him with the routine. The great thing about a yo-yo is you can practice anywhere, and Hyrum did. A yo-yo was always in his pocket-- between his freshman year classes, waiting for a ride after a church activity, or blocks of time on Saturdays. After months of work, Hyrum was ready.
The McNeill family piled into the minivan to cheer Hyrum on in his first competition. During the three hour drive to the competition, Hyrum battled the knots in his stomach. The time finally came for his preliminary round. Hyrum took the stage. He recognized one of the judges. It was none-other than Gentry Stein. THE Gentry Stein. The twenty-one-year-old yo-yo national and world champion, the main event in YouTube trick yo-yo videos, and Hyrum’s personal hero. He reminds me of Leonardo Dicaprio on Titanic. Charming. (I’ll never let go, Jack). To Hyrum, he looks like a freaking rockstar.
The familiar Andy Griffith theme song remix played, and Hyrum did his first trick. “I was doing a Kamikaze that fits smoothly into a Braiding.” He was getting into his own smooth rhythm when the unthinkable happened. His string got a knot in it. Knots can happen when a string is worn out. This particular string was attached to a yo-yo that went through the washing machine in a pocket. “I tried to keep going, but the knot was too bad.” All he could do was smile at the judges, and wait for the music to end.
Hyrum left the stage defeated. “Let’s just go.” His family tried to cheer him up. No, he didn’t want to watch any other competition rounds. No, he didn’t want to pick the restaurant to grab lunch. No, he didn’t want to go to a movie. As far as he was concerned, he’d failed. He wasn’t prepared for a knot. He should have had a backup yo-yo and he didn’t. He should have changed the string and he didn’t. He was miserable and it was all his fault.
Gentry Stein was trying to find the boy who got a knot in his string. “I knew exactly how he felt.” During the 2015 World Competition, a knot derailed the champion’s routine. Fortunately, Stein had an extra yo-yo and was able to continue. The rookie yo-yo player was stuck. Stein also knew what it takes to come to your first competition. He didn’t know specifically what Hyrum overcame, but he saw something of himself in the rookie.
After asking around, he was informed that the newbie Hyrum had left right after his round.
“A knot is the worst case scenario for a yo-yo player.” Stein watched the brown haired the rookie struggle with his performance, and wanted to do something. That’s when the idea came to him. Stein and his camera man surprised Hyrum on the Eastern Arizona College campus. I know a little about Eastern Arizona College. I went to college there my first two years. It’s a little town surrounded by cotton fields. One thing I would do with friends during harvest time is go on late night adventures jumping into the balers full of cotton. Our hair and clothes would get full of twigs and bits of fluff, and we'd be sneezing from the dust. It’s a small town with three local high schools that have intense football rivalries. The point being, it isn’t exotic. Yo-Yo Factory Adventures have taken Stein and his yo-yo tricks all over the world. The Dead Sea, the Base Camp of Mt. Everest, Iceland, New Zealand, and now Thatcher, Arizona.
Hyrum piled into the family van again, going somewhere on the college campus that didn’t quite make sense. A shy smile grew when he saw his hero peek out from behind the bell tower wall. The sun shone down bright on the banner from the Arizona State Yo-Yo contest. With Stein as his judge, Hyrum performed his routine again. “All he needed was one more chance,” Gentry said to me over a phone call. With a camera filming Stein started the stopwatch. Hyrum was told he could take as many times as he needed to get it right. It only took once. “I could see it in him. He was stoked. You could tell he was lit up!” High fives were exchanged all around and when Stein invited Hyrum to several more Yo-yo competitions Hyrum was all in.
The video of this interaction is on YouTube. Stein asks Hyrum what advice he would give other young yo-yo players who might have a slip up at a competition. Hyrum suggests they don’t give up, learn from their mistakes and carry two yo-yos. This summer, Hyrum competed again. This time in Dallas, TX. He didn’t place, but he felt great about his performance, and this time he had a back-up yo-yo.
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Oh my goodness, I love this. I love Hyrum and his family and Gentry Stein. More than a bit haunted by the stories of the school bullies. Hyrum will continue to triumph with all the goodness that is within him and around him. Love you, Evelyn. Thanks for sharing this story.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I missed this post, but I love it! Great tribute. I hope things only get better from here for Hyrum. Stein seems worth being a hero. Going to watch a yo yo video now.
ReplyDelete