There has been a lot of talk since the restructuring of the World Yo-Yo Contest by the IYYF about the possibility of creating a contest similar in function to the European Yo-Yo Championship and Asia Pacific Championship in America. Due to the number of National Contests that are now being held, which is a great sign about the expansion of the community, continental competitions will now be the only contests to seed to the World competition; however, America previously did not have a contest for Pan-America, thus Gregory Cohen (previous organizer of the World Yo-Yo Contest) and Isaac Kanarek (Chair of Mexican Yo-Yo Association) have teamed with Johnnie DelValle and Bill De Bois Blanc to bring the inaugural Pan American International Yo-Yo Contest (which would make the acronym PAIN–I’m not opposed to calling it this).
The contest will be held at the, apparently, timeless Rosen Plaza in Orlando, Florida, the previous home to the World Yo-Yo Contest from 2000-2013. This is a big step in the yo-yo community as the contest circuit is becoming more complete and well defined; however, the main concern with the World Yo-Yo Contest was that it had run stale at the Rosen, so it will be interesting to see if there are any substantial changes to inject some excitement into the new contest. With Isaac’s involvement, hopefully some positive changes come to fruition for contests held at the Rosen.
Keep an eye out on the website for when registration opens and additional info: Pan American International Yo-Yo Competition.
Here is an official statement from Contest Director Gregory Cohen:
After a lot of work, from a lot of people, the PAI yo-yo contest is now confirmed. It will be one of the three events that seed into the finals at the World Yo-Yo Contest, wich this year will be held in Prague. The contest will seed winners from every national yo-yo contest in North and South America. In addition to the Seeded freestyles that seed into the WYYC, this year we will also have a non-seeded freestyle division the will only be one minute freestyles (We’re open to naming suggestions here.) This is intended for players that are not at the top level to let them compete, and to let them have the exprience of a contest of this size.
We are happy to have the staff that has supported past Orlando events back, and the staff list will grow soon as we finalize staff positions.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Orlando.
-GReg
Director 2014 Pan American Yo-Yo Contest
With Johnnie DelValle on board with the PAIYYC, I was expecting a cleaner website given that he’s a good web designer. But then, I can just guess that current layout is just a filler until a better one is made.
This is awesome news, great to hear that Greg’s plans have panned out.
Dates, please? (Ok, I see they’re on the website, but they should really be in the article somewhere)