YoYo Related News From Around The World
Looks like our dude Ben Conde is getting into the tutorial game! Ben Conde Classics aims to give the 21,000+ subscribers to his YouTube channel a chance to learn how to yoyo from the very beginning. Pretty good way to promote his new responsive beginner yoyo from YoYoFactory, huh? Check them out below, and feel free to encourage your non-player friends to subscribe and start learning!
Yoyo used is the Ben Conde Around The World by YoYoFactory.
Ben Conde and Tessa Piccillo are not dating, but we’re pretty sure that’s only because they are each so friggin’ awesome that if they ever actually smooched it would rip a hole in space and time and kickstart the apocalypse. So instead, they just hang out and throw yoyos and are generally hilarious together. We’ll take it!
Enjoy Ben’s last video of 2016, a Q&A session where the internet asks and they answer.
Yoyos used are the YoYoFactory Flight and CLYW Kodiak.
Spoiler alert: no. Yoyos are not sexy. Not at all.
Ben Conde and Tessa Piccillo went to Venice Beach, California and used their mad yoyo skills to try and get a date. The results are hilarious, at least for those of us watching at home. For Ben and Tessa, the results are maybe a little on the “you’re gonna die alone surrounded by cats” side of things, but we do love them for trying.
Ben & Tessa will be doing a Q&A video next week to answer questions about the video, about Tessa’s new signature yoyo coming out soon (CLYW Kodiak) and anything else you want to ask them. Just leave your questions in the comments and we’ll get them to Ben & Tessa!
Yoyos used are the YoYoFactory One and CLYW Yeti.
Ben Conde turned up on Interviews By Riley, a series where young entrepreneurs sit down and run their mouths about whatever their deal is. The interviews are pretty good, and of course Ben Conde’s is the best because we all know that Ben Conde is the best.
Well, 4th best. In 2011.
This interview is a great peek into the mind of someone who has transcended our little scene and is using his experience in yoyoing to push into larger success out in the real world. There’s a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from this, as long as you aren’t sad because someone said “f*ck”. If that makes you sad, just watch Ben’s routine below and skip the interview entirely. Everyone wins.
Check out an excerpt of the interview below, and then click through for the whole thing.
BEN CONDE: My name is Ben Conde, I went to DePaul University with Riley in Chicago and after I graduated I moved out to LA to learn about the entertainment industry. Now I’m traveling around the world and performing yo-yo. I’m a professional yo-yo player.
RM: You’ve been a world class yo-yo player for a long time, but last I heard you had a full time job. How did you get to taking it full time?
BEN: I’ve been playing yo-yo from when I was 4 years old, I got really damn good, competing, performing and being sponsored by brands. Yo-yo has became part of my lifestyle, and once I grew out of competing, I wanted to understand how to position myself in the market.
I always valued the idea of pursuing a life you wouldn’t regret, as cliche as that sounds, and ever since I discovered a lifestyle of not being afraid to go after what you want and living each day like it could be your last, [I’ve thought,] “Why not go after a life that makes you happy?” To me, that means impacting others and feeling like I’m helping them.
Moving out to LA, the idea was to learn about how I could bring yo-yo into the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry impacts the entire world, so the plan is, I go out to where the entertainment industry is and I see where my expertise fits in.
RM: What do you mean when you say you grew out of competing?
BEN: Once you hit a certain level, putting in all these hours in and reaching a high ranking in the world, you understand what it feels like to be [at the top] and that drive to compete and try to win starts to go away because the feeling just gets repetitive.
Like, no matter whether you get 1st or 4th place, in reality you only really matter to the yo-yo community.
Maybe you’ll catch a break here or there, but you’re really not affecting society that much because a yo-yo is just a toy to society. So that started to get me to rethink, “How could I contribute [to society] and satisfy my creative self through yo-yo?” I ultimately turned to Youtube. I understand how to video edit, I understand marketing and that’s basically what Youtube is. If you can market your channel — people will watch.
Ben Conde wraps up his Around The World: Asia video series with the 15th and final installment, looking back at the entire trip. Good times, good friends, dodgy transportation, tight flight connections, great yoyo tricks, and smiles for days…looks like it was a hell of a trip. Great work, Ben!
Ben Conde put in some work at the Shanghai Toy Fair to teach as many people as possible how to do Around The World. You, sir, are a friggin’ treasure.
Yoyo used is the YoYoFactory One.
Ben Conde learns attends the Shanghai Toy Fair and learns to enjoy wearing pink. He also may or may not get schooled by a Chinese offstring player. Click the link in the top right corner of the video after the trick battle to cast your vote for the winner.
Also, Ben: pink is dope. Get with the program.
Yoyos used are the YoYoFactory Flight and Protostar.
Ben Conde is an aspiring YouTube star, traveling through China where no one has access to YouTube. This makes him 83% less special. But we still love him.
Yoyo used is the YoYoFactory Flight.
Ben Conde meets up with Polo Garbkamol, the first YoYoFactory player to get sponsored based on the strength of his amazing Instagram content. How great is social media when it brings together players from across the globe and gives fresh talent a chance to be seen by the best? Amazing.
Yoyo used is the YoYoFactory Horizon.
We’ve got another trio of updates from Ben Conde on his travels around Asia. We love this guy!
The king of Thailand has died, and Ben is trying to get to the Bangkok airport while the entire country mourns and heads towards the palace…which is right where Ben is staying. Will he make it to the airport?
Ben Conde meets up with Ben McPhee in Angkor Wat and they find some people who make learning yoyo look easy with the YoYoFactory One and YoYoFactory Whip yoyos.
Conde & McPhee race to the top of an ancient temple to get some footage with the YoYoFactory Flight. Who will win?
Ben Conde is such a nice guy. He was filming in Thailand and a guy was watching him and play and Ben thought “that guy is interested in yoyo! I’ll give him one of mine and teach him some tricks!”
Didn’t quite go as planned, ha ha.
Yoyo used is the YoYoFactory One.
Ben Conde’s latest “Around The World” video entries show him getting it handed to him in Japan, hunting down the location of a photo he’s been using for his iPhone wallpaper, and getting up at 4 AM to hit a beautiful bamboo forest before the tourists crush it. Amazing.
Ever try and run through your yoyo tricks with your weak hand? Always hilarious. Watch as Ben Conde and Ann Connolly struggle through a couple of their favorites while in Tokyo for the Throwdown contest.
Yoyos used are the Basecamp Jackknife and YoYoFactory Flight.
Ben Conde, our favorite YouTube dork, has quit his day job and is off on an adventure in Asia with YoYoFactory. After that, who knows!?
What we do know is that we’ll definitely be getting a lot more video from him. Check out the first two videos in his new “Around The World” series and be sure to subscribe to his channel for more!