The High Speed YoYo Team is:

Chris Rhoads – Editor in Chief

Brett Grimes – Chief Blogger, Head Writer, Founder

Jacob Gross – Videographer

Jake Willis – Assistant Videographer

Thank you for visiting our site, hopefully its been helpful, and informative.

Chris

Chris
How I Got Started: Hmmm….Which time?

The original reason I started yo-yoing is like most others, my dad got me into it. He bought me my first yo-yo, a GITD Duncan Imperial back in the summer of 1984. I was 7 at the time. From there I learned as much as I could and took the yo-yo everywhere. I still have the Duncan but don’t throw it anymore because the axle has come loose on one side. I may have Landon Balk restore it for me and add a bearing to it. For me back then the yo-yo was a way to stay focused, I was a hyperactive child and having something in my hand helped me focus and think. Stems from the fact that I am a visual/kinesthetic learner. Over the years the interest in yo-yos waned as my attentions turned to comic books, science fiction novels, computers, and then girls.

The reigniting of my interest in yo-yos came a couple of years back and i blame my students. I was teaching my third grade class about forces and motion as a part of a simple machines unit. They were struggling on the concept of pushes and pulls so while at home I pulled out a Yomega Fireball that I got from a vendor at CompUSA when I was an employee there. I brought it in to school to show the students pushes and pulls, how the yo-yo was pushed to the ground and how I had to pull in order to bring it back up. Without those pushes and pulls there was no movement, it just slept at the bottom of the string. That got me playing again and I began looping a little bit and just having fun. Knowing that Youtube had videos of everything on it, I decided to just check it out and see what people were doing with this toy. That was early last year. When I did my little search I came across names like Andre Boulay and Johnnie DelValle. They were doing things that I thought was out of this world. At that point I researched what was going on, what the different types of play are, and then settled on a good 1A yo-yo for beginners. At fist I picked up a YYF Velocity and then I found a Lyn Fury and fell in love with the play that the Lyn gave me. I researched modding it and making it dead unresponsive. After a couple of months of plastics and swearing that I would never pay that much for a metal yo-yo, One Drop came out with the affordable M1. I contacted the guys at OD and asked them if it would be possible to reserve a red and pewter M1 and the rest was history.

Now I yo-yo just for fun and find it very relaxing. I will never boast to be anything but an amateur who is having fun. There are many out there who are worlds better than me, including my fellow players at High Speed YoYo. I just have a flair for writing and the vocabulary to back it up.

What keeps me throwing is the community that revolves around this incredible toy.

My Style:Whatever is fun to do. i really don’t have a defined style.

Favorite Players: Ed Haponik is a personal favorite of mine. His style is fun to watch, he blends old and new together seamlessly, and he ALWAYS looks like he is having fun while throwing. I find his videos to be some of the most entertaining on the internet. I have to say that my absolute favorite players are the young kids that go out there and give it their all. They may not have the skills yet but they are excited about throwing and are having blast, even if they can’t walk the dog yet.

Personal Achievements: This, all of it. I have been throwing 1A seriously for several years now. I am not the best but I enjoy what I do. I never imagined that I would meet so many wonderful people and help run a website that is read by players around the world and translated into different languages. So if you are reading this, thanks.

Brett

More info coming soon.

Jacob

How I Got Started: Back in march of 2010 I was cleaning out my closet and found my trusty yomega x-brain. I messed around with if for a few days and decided to try and look up some new tricks on the web. I was shocked with what I found, the new unresponsive play was just shocking to me. It was nothing like my rock the baby and around the worlds that I was working on. I ordered myself a yyj speedmaker and that lead to my new hobby/obsession.

My Style: I haven’t been playing long enough to develop something that I would declare as my style yet. I am still learning and have much more learning ahead of me. So far I have a preference toward slack and whip tricks. I enjoy tricks that have a nice flow and direction, ones that aren’t just what seem to be bouncing from one sting to the next.

Favorite Players: I really like the style that Guy Wright plays. His tricks are great, they are usually focused on slack and they are what some would consider slow, This allows you to see what is happening, while some might think his tricks are easy at first glance. I assure you they aren’t and many of his tricks must be smooth and at the right speed to be completed. I am not a big fan of watching many professional yoyo’ers but Guy Wright is the one that I can watch his videos to the end and usually watch them multiple times to try and get ideas for my own tricks.

Personal Achievements: As far as my achievements in the aspect of yoyoing, becoming part of the highspeedyoyo team is by far my best achievement. It is great to be a part of the team and looking forward to what is on the horizon.

Jake:

Jake

How I Got Started: In the summer of 1984, I was ten and was fortunate enough to have a family connection to the late, great Fred Otto. He was a yo-yo demonstrator for Pro-Spin Yo-yos, and they needed kids for their first yo-yo commercial, so we planned our spring break around being in a yo-yo commercial with my cousins. It took 8 hours for a 30 second spot. A few months later, Fred Otto was in Cleveland for a layover and my family took him out to eat. At my mom’s encouraging, I asked Fred to show me a yo-yo trick. Within 2 minutes there was a crowd around Fred as he made an old metal-axle yo-yo do amazing things. That’s when I knew I had to try and be that awesome. Since then, I have seen yo-yos and yo-yoing change dramatically, and 10-year-olds get better than me, but I will never forget Fred Otto in the lobby of that restaurant wowing complete strangers with a $2 yo-yo.

My Style: I think the best way to describe my style is occasionally slick, and mostly spastic. I am old school trying to be new school, and I only look good when hotshot kids try looping and I whip off 100 in a row.

Favorite Players: I have a ton of favorites, and I really like just about everyone. My favorite group is the kids in my club who started out with me showing them things like how to wind a yo-yo and rock the baby, and are now way beyond my abilities.

Personal Achievements: As the leader of the Lorain County yo-yo club, I am proud to say we have a strong group who are really enjoying yo-yoing, and we’re becoming well-known in our area. I think yo-yoing is an awesome hobby, and showing that to so many people is what I am most proud of. I can point to many people who are yo-yoing because I got them hooked. I am also an artist who specializes in yo-yo paintings, and I am very proud of my work.