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IYYF Announces New Guidelines For National Contests

March 21, 2019 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo Federation

The IYYF announced additional guidelines today for all National contests worldwide. Worth checking out, if you’re a competitor or organizer!

National Contest Seeding Additional Guidelines 2019

In the interest of continuing to guarantee fairness for all National Contests that are recognized by the IYYF as officially seeding to the World Yo-Yo Contest, we have some new rules that we are putting in place. These rules are effective immediately, and should pose no issues for contest organizers while also helping to maintain a clearer standard of excellence for all existing events.

1. All National Yo-Yo Contests recognized by the IYYF and seeding players to Multi-National or World events must adhere to whatever IYYF rules and guidelines are in-place at the time of the event. To accommodate events of different sizes, contest organizers may request a variance to specific rules by contacting the IYYF Board of Directors for approval.

2. National Yo-Yo Contest results may not be combined with any other event results to determine what players are seeded and eligible to compete at the World Yo-Yo Contest. Countries may combine results from multiple events for their internal titles and prizes, but only the stand-alone results from the single, recognized National Contest, run to IYYF standards, may be used to determine seeding eligibility.

3. If evidence is presented to the IYYF to indicate any issues with the accuracy of scores, either intentional or by accident, it will trigger an audit whereby an IYYF representative must oversee scoring at the event in question in order to maintain recognized seeding status. If the audit is refused, the contest will no longer be recognized as an official National event, and winners will no longer be seeded to Multi-National or World contests until the National event in question has been brought back into compliance.

We hope these new policies will help allay any fears that players might have about the validity of event results, and welcome any feedback from contest organizers to continue making sure that their events are held to IYYF standards.

Filed Under: Contests, General News Tagged With: guidelines, international yoyo federation, iyyf, national yoyo contest, rules

IYYF Announces Changes To World YoYo Contest

September 19, 2018 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo Federation

The International YoYo Federation announced some organizational changes to the way the World YoYo Contest will be handled moving forward. At this year’s IYYF meeting in Shanghai, and after discussion from board members, a few key changes were agreed upon to help streamline the organizing process.

Here’s the official statement from the IYYF:

WYYC2020 will be held in Budapest, Hungary.
WYYC2021 will be in Japan.

IYYF is proud to introduce the host countries of the 2020 & 2021 World Yo-Yo Contests. WYYC2020 will be held in Budapest, Hungary, and WYYC2021 will be held in Japan.
Further details will be announced when they have been confirmed. Keep your eye on www.iyyf.org for news.

WYYC Proposal Process Change

We have had many discussions among the IYYF board on how to decide the location and team for running WYYC. Each year there are many exciting location options, yet at the same time there are many challenges and difficulties that come with running the contest in a different place every time.
Learning from our experiences over the course of the past five years organizing WYYC, we decided to reevaluate our situation and have, as a result, revised our decision plan.

Here are some changes about how the WYYC location will be chosen in the future.

1. We will no longer be bound to the three-year cycle of Americas, Europe and Asia.
2. We are no longer accepting proposal documents for new locations in the same way that we have in the past.
3. If you are interested in running WYYC in your country, please contact us so we can discuss the possibilities; we will also ask serious applicants to join the current WYYC organizing team as a core member.

This way, the IYYF team can better share its knowledge, resources, and get to know new members through working together with them. New members will be able to learn more from current organizers and work alongside them to help run WYYC. Essentially, instead of asking other people to struggle and come up with ideas by themselves, we have decided to welcome more people so we can diversify our team and work closely together for future contests. In the long run, we hope to better ensure stability, consistency, and increase the quality of the event year to year.

Thank you, as always, for your participation in the World Yo-Yo Contest. None of this would be possible without your involvement and support. We look forward to being able to bring WYYC to even more places around the globe, and we hope you’ll join us on that journey!

There has already been some confusion over some of these points, so let’s go through them for some clarification.

We will no longer be bound to the three-year cycle of Americas, Europe and Asia.

This does not mean the contest will no longer travel! This just means that it will no longer be forced to follow a strict pattern of movement. The IYYF’s Executive Board is currently the core organizing team for the World YoYo Contest, and all three Executive Board Members (Ondra Sedivy, Hironori Mii, and Steve Brown [me!]) are constantly looking for new locations & venues for the World YoYo Contest. Breaking the cycle means that instead of trying to force the contest to fit into a certain region in a certain year, the IYYF can take advantage of any opportunities that arise to hold the contest in the best area with the best support for that year. This may mean that regions will double up in the future (two years back to back in Asia, but different countries) or it may mean that the IYYF simply changes the order to best use it’s resources (Americas – Asia – Europe), but what it definitely means is the contest is still moving, and the IYYF now has a little more freedom to make sure that the best possible option is utilized for that year.

We are no longer accepting proposal documents for new locations in the same way that we have in the past.

World YoYo Contest proposals in the past have assumed that the contest would be run entirely by a local team, with some logistical support from the IYYF, and the results have been mixed. External teams have done some great work and with oversight from the IYYF there has been some degree of consistency, but for an event as important as the World YoYo Contest, a higher degree of consistency must be maintained from one year to the next. And not just at the event itself, but also in the lead-up to the event, with registration deadlines, sponsorship proposals, ticket sales, etc. Moving the organization of the contest to a new group each year essentially means starting over each year for a lot of these things, and for the continuity of the contest it’s easier for one core organizing team to manage the main aspects of the event each year, regardless of location. But fresh ideas and new people are essential to the growth not just of the event but also of the IYYF, which brings us to….

If you are interested in running WYYC in your country, please contact us so we can discuss the possibilities; we will also ask serious applicants to join the current WYYC organizing team as a core member.

Instead of people saying “Hey, my team can run Worlds, here’s our proposal” the new protocol will be to vet applicants based on their standing in the community and experience in event organizing, and then bring them into the organizing team for the upcoming World YoYo Contest. This will allow them to work side-by-side with experienced contest organizers and learn all the detail and procedures that need to be addressed for the World YoYo Contest, which will in turn make sure they have all the skills and perspective needed in order to take the lead on organizing the event in their home country. For example, the 2019 World YoYo Contest will be held again in Cleveland, Ohio and organized by Steve Brown and the 2020 World YoYo Contest will be held in Budapest, Hungary and organized by Vilmos Zoltan Kiss. In order to add continuity to the proceedings, Vilmos has joined the Cleveland organizing team to make sure that he has all the information and knowledge he needs in order to run a great event in Hungary, and the core team from the Cleveland event will also be assisting with the event in Hungary. After that, the core teams from both Cleveland and Budapest will assist with the 2021 World YoYo Contest in Japan.

Moving forward this will not only guarantee a higher degree of consistency for each event, but will also bring in more organizers with new skills and perspectives that can help grow the IYYF and the World YoYo Contest.

tl;dr – Worlds is gonna continue getting better, and keep moving around the world. All good. 

Filed Under: Contests, Featured, General News Tagged With: international yoyo federation, iyyf, world yoyo contest, yoyo contest

IYYF Recognizes RYC As Official Russian National YoYoing Contest

December 15, 2016 By Steve Brown

The IYYF has officially recognized the RYC (Russian YoYoing Competition) as the official national yoyo contest of Russia, and the seeding event to the World YoYo Contest. The previously recognized event has been inactive in recent years, and the RYC has proven itself with consistency, quality judging, and high production quality. Congrats! Check out their official statement below.

Dear friends, we are happy to announce the end of the 2016 competitive season in Russia – and our 10th anniversary year with amazing news: RYC is now officially recognised as Russian Nationals by International Yo-Yo Federation. We are extremely thankful to the board and proud to see Russia back on the global scene – it’s a huge step for yoyoing.ru, Russian Yoyoing Federation and the local community. We’d like to thank our friends worldwide, the players and the brands who supported us on this journey – for almost eleven years now.

But the main news for today are these names: we are proud to announce Lazar Medvedev as 2016 Russian National Champion, Ilya Matros finishing second with only 0.4 points difference – and Konstantin Uvarov who took the third place in 1A Division.

We are also happy to name the X-Division Champion, Alex Stein, Nizhny Novgorod city champion, showcasing 4A on the Nationals scene this year.

The fight for the titles was tough; we’d like to thank all the competitors for their dedication, creativity and sportsmanship – and invite you guys to the official event page at yoyoing.ru where the full results are being added right now together with freestyle videos on our YouTube channel.

Thank you guys, it’s been an amazing decade – and stay tuned for more from Russia and yoyoing.ru.

Filed Under: Contests, General News Tagged With: iyyf, Russia, russian national yoyo contest, yoyo contest, yoyoing.ru

IYYF News – New Executive Board, Worlds 2018 Location Announced

August 18, 2016 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo Federation

The IYYF announced their new Executive Board Members at the 2016 World YoYo Contest in Cleveland, Ohio, during their yearly meeting on August 5, 2016. They also formally announced the location of the 2018 World YoYo Contest!

The new Executive Board and its Audit Committee will serve a two-year term from September 1, 2016 until August 31, 2018.

Executive Board Members:
Ondra Sedivy (Czech Republic)
Hironori Mii (Japan)
Andre Boulay (USA)
Alfredo Mascali (Spain)
Steve Brown (USA)
Moyo Lin (Taiwan)
Grace Welch (UK)

Audit Committee:
Marcus Springer (Germany)
Nathan Crissey (USA)
Roy Teo (Singapore)

Shanghai China

 And the 2018 World YoYo Contest will be held in Shanghai, China! This is HUGE news for the massive Chinese yoyo scene, and this event could easily top 500 registered competitors. Congratulations to the organizing committee for Shanghai, and we’ll see you all in Iceland in 2017 and China in 2018!

Filed Under: General News Tagged With: china, executive board, iceland, iyyf, world yoyo contest

IYYF Extends Deadline for WYYC 2018 Proposals

December 2, 2015 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo Federation

The International YoYo Federation has extended the deadline for proposals to host the 2018 World YoYo Contest. The 2018 World YoYo Contest will be held in Asia.

There are several inquiries for running WYYC2018 in Asia, however, many of them are not fully ready for putting their proposals yet. Therefore IYYF extended the deadline to Feb. 1, 2016 from originally Dec. 1, 2015.

If you are interested in running WYYC2018 in your country, please send your proposal to iyyf@iyyf.org by Feb. 1, 2016.

Filed Under: Contests, General News Tagged With: 2018, international yoyo federation, iyyf, world yoyo contest, wyyc

Reykjavik will host the 2017 World Yo-yo Contest!

November 15, 2015 By Rafael Matsunaga

tzoo.blog_.northern_lights_reykjavik.031815-1024x512

The International Yo-yo Federation has just announced that the 2017 World Yo-yo Contest will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland! The decision closes the 2017 (Europe) candidacy cycle.

Here’s the full announcement:

The International Yo-yo Federation is pleased to announce that Reykjavik, Iceland, has been elected as the host city for the 2017 World Yo-Yo Contest!

Featuring some of the most experienced and well-known yo-yo contest organizers from Europe and the USA, the team behind the 2017 World Yo-Yo Contest is ready to deliver an event focused on players, where contestants from around the globe will be able focus on competing in the best possible conditions.

The IYYF congratulates the Icelandic team, and is looking forward to a fantastic event! Further details about the event and Reykjavik itself will be available in the coming days.

We would also like to express our gratitude towards team Poland, for stepping up to the challenge and presenting themselves as candidates to run the most important event for the worldwide yo-yo community.

We’ll surely hear more about the contest in the coming days, so keep your eyes open for more information soon!

The 2018 (Asia), and 2019 (Americas) cycles are also ongoing, with candidate application deadlines for the former scheduled for December 1st, 2015 and August 1st, 2016.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: 2017, featured, iceland, iyyf, reykjavik, world yo-yo contest, wyyc

Schedule and application dates for WYYC host candidate countries

September 13, 2015 By Rafael Matsunaga

The World Yo-yo Contest is coming back to the Americas in 2016, closing the first tour of the contest around the globe since the formation of the International Yo-yo Federation and the introduction of the round robin system.

The system will remain in place for the next contests, and the IYYF has announced the schedules for choosing future World Yo-yo Contest host countries.

Starting with the 2017 World Yo-yo Contest, these will be the general guidelines:

  • 3 years prior to the contest: all applicant countries/organizers must send in their application
  • 2.5 years prior to the contest: organizing country/entity is chosen by the IYYF
  • 2 years prior to the contest: country is officially announced
  • 1 year prior to the contest: venue is announced

2017 – Europe

The schedule for 2017 is slightly late, of course, but candidate European countries can still send in their application according to the following schedule:

  • October 15th, 2015 – deadline for application submission
  • November 1st, 2015 – IYYF makes a decision
  • November 15th, 2015 – host country for 2017 is announced

2018 – Asia

2018 is also slightly late, but very close to the proposed schedule.

  • December 1st, 2015 – deadline for application submission
  • February 1st, 2016 – IYYF makes a decision
  • August 1st, 2016 – host country for 2018 is announced

2019 – Americas

  • August 1st, 2016 – deadline for application submission

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: iyyf, world yo-yo contest, wyyc

Change in WYYC 15 Seeding from Multi-National Contests

October 29, 2014 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo Federation

The International YoYo Federation has issued a new ruling on how Multi-National events will seed to the 2015 World YoYo Contest as well as all future World YoYo Contests. This does affect the upcoming Las Vegas Open!

Previously for WYYC14 Champions were seeded to the FINALS of the World Yo-Yo Contest.

Starting with World Yo-Yo Contest 2015 the Top 3 will instead be seeded to the SEMI-FINAL of WYYC15.

EYYC (Poland), AP (Singapore), Las Vegas Open (United States) and Latin America (Mexico) are the qualifying Multi-National Contests for WYYC15.

Not only EYYC, AP and Pan-America, but in the near future, we see a strong possibility of other regions being able to host their own MNC. Therefore, in order to accommodate all MNCs to be seeded to the World Contest, IYYF has decided to seed the MNC winners to the semi-finals instead. Furthermore, we value the quality of skill and performance of the top placing winners of MNCs and have decided to seed the top 3 from each division of all MNCs.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: international yoyo federation, iyyf, rules, yoyo contest

2015 World YoYo Contest – See You In Tokyo!

August 16, 2014 By Steve Brown

First shown at the conclusion of the 2014 World YoYo Contest in Prague, this teaser has everyone excited for the upcoming 2015 World YoYo Contest in Tokyo!

In the hands of the IYYF and the Czech YoYo Association, the World YoYo Contest got a massive level-up this year with the best production value we’ve ever seen. In the hands of the Japanese YoYo Federation, I think it’s safe to assume we’ll see the contest continue to grow and improve. See you in Tokyo!

 

Filed Under: Contests, Video Tagged With: 2015, featured, iyyf, japan, jyyf, tokyo, video, world yoyo contest

Pan American International Yo-Yo Contest Announced

February 12, 2014 By Patrick Borgerding

panapamlogocolor

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

Filed Under: Contests, General News Tagged With: iyyf, PAI, PAIN, Pan American International Yo-Yo Contest, world yo-yo contest

EYYC 2014 – Freestyle Rules Posted

February 3, 2014 By Steve Brown

The official freestyle rules for the 2014 European YoYo Championship have been posted! These are the official freestyle rules as dictated by the newly minted International YoYo Federation, and it’s a safe bet to say that this is the new standard for all major yoyo contests in the coming year. Full rules are cut-and-pasted below…sound off below in the comments section with your thoughts. ALL yoyo competitors should take the time to familiarize themselves with these rules…the standards for yoyo competition are changing, and as always it’s your job to make sure that you know how to squeeze every possible point out of your time on stage.

—

Rules

Freestyles will be graded on three criteria: Technical Execution (T.Ex), Technical Evaluation (T.Ev) and Performance Evaluation (P.Ev).

Judges are assigned into two groups:

  • A Group: Technical Execution (T.Ex)
  • B Group: Technical Evaluation (T.Ev) and Performance Evaluation (P.Ev)

EYYC14 Score Evaulation

Technical Execution (T.Ex) – 60%

clickers

Each judge uses two clickers, one each for positive and negative points. These are added together for the final T.Ex score, which is 60% of the total possible score.

Judge takes only succession, difficulty, risk and variation of each trick performed.

Originality, amplitude, long-sleep, continuity, uniqueness, style, choreography are NOT subject to be scored here.

Definition of divisions

  • 1A: Freestyle with one string trick yo-yo
    (Moves are based on touch and mount between yo-yo and string)
  • 2A: Freestyle with two looping yo-yos
    (Moves are based on making circles with yo-yo trajectory)
  •  3A: Freestyle with two string trick yo-yos
    (Moves are based on touch and mount among two yo-yos and two strings)
  •  4A: Freestyle with yo-yo(s) which string is not attached
    (Moves are based on tricks which are possible because the yo-yo is not attached to the string)
  •  5A: Freestyle with yo-yo(s) which has counter-weight on the other side of string
    (Moves are based on tricks which are possible because the yo-yo has counter-weight)

Positive Points

When the contestant performs advanced level trick elements, points will be given for each element.

All points are given per trick element.

Here are some examples of trick elements in each division.

1A Division:

  • Mount (Trapeze)
  • Hop (Eli Hop)
  • Laceration (Hook)
  • Release Catch (Suicide Catch)
  • Whip Catch (Iron Whip, Slack Trapeze)
  • All other appropriate moves for 1A Division that come with a certain difficulty.

2A Division:

  • Looping (Loop, Hop)
  • Moon (Reach for the Moon, Planet Hop)
  • Wrap (Loop Wrap, Sleep Wrap)
  • Tangler
  • Around the World
  • All other appropriate moves for 2A Division that come with a certain difficulty.

3A Division:

  • Rolls (Velvet Rolls)
  • Kink (Kink Fu)
  • Trapeze (2-Hand Trapeze)
  • Assisted
  • KoroKoro
  • All other appropriate moves for 3A Division that come with a certain difficulty.

4A Division:

  • Whip (Over Whip, Open Whip)
  • Recapture
  • Boingy Boingy
  • Toss
  • Orbit (Around the Arm, Orbit the Leg)
  • All other appropriate moves for 4A Division that come with a certain difficulty.

5A Division:

  • Direction Change (Shoulder Pop)
  • 360
  • Propeller
  • Bee-sting
  • Aerial (Meltdown Jump)
  • All other appropriate moves for 5A Division that come with a certain difficulty.

Tricks such as Gerbil and Rancid Milk are seen as a group of trick elements not as a trick and each trick element is scored individually.

Generally, the same trick elements performed in a freestyle will not be scored the second time. However, high risk repeating trick such as Suicide combo, or same trick elements in a different trick combo can be scored the second time with some reduction of base points given for the trick element.

Negative Points

Any trick miss and control miss is subject to deduction.

Negative 1:

Trapeze miss, control miss, catch miss, corkscrew in looping.

All deductions are counted per yo-yo. If the contestant has a mistake in each hand (with two yo-yos), the contestant will receive two negative points.

Yo-Yo stop, or yo-yo change will be counted in Major Deduction stated below.

Technical Evaluation (T.Ev) – 20%

Judges (Group B) evaluate four categories from 0 to 10 points, total 40 points, then they will be halved to make the 20% of the final score. They will not be normalized between judges. Entire three minute performing time is subject to evaluation.

evaulation scale

The table above is a basic grading guide.

The following are the four categories to be scored as Technical Evaluation.

1. Cleanliness (CLN)

(Control of Yo-Yo/String, Line of String, Trajectory of Yo-Yo, Smooth landings and flowing transitions)

Are the tricks executed in a clean, fluid and controlled manner?
Do the transitions into and between trick elements demonstrate mastery and control of the yo-yo style?
Does the yo-yo land and exit the string cleanly?
Is each trick well-practiced to the level of mastery?
Were tricks maneuvered smoothly?
Were the tricks refined to be seen?

# It is not about how smooth the routine is, nor the number of mistakes. It is simply how good the control of yo-yo and string is.

2. Variation (VAR)

(Different techniques within the style of play, Variety of trick styles):

Does the routine have a well-balanced mix of trick styles?
(The player should not keep showing the same kinds of tricks too long.)
Was each trick style mastered well at a sufficient level?

3.Rareness (RAR)

(Uniqueness, Originality, Creativity, Newness, Unusualness of tricks)

Does the player demonstrate an original or unique, unusual tricks, moves, or elements from all other contestants in the current contest scene?

Does the player have unique, original, creative tricks, style, or trick elements?
(The player should not fill the routine with common, ordinary tricks, moves.)
Did the player perform any new, unusual, creative tricks, elements?

# It does not require that those tricks are made by the player, nor never seen at all.

Same with all other criteria, doing simple picture tricks (like Tower or Rock the Baby) or looping in 1A do not earn any points here. (Need to be sufficiently difficult. Need to be within the division’s realm.)

4. Execution (EXE)

(Success Rate of Tricks, Succession, Less mistakes, Completion)

How few are the mistakes?
Is the routine performed as planned?

# It is not about the mastery or perfection of each trick. It is about the completion of all tricks. If the entire routine went well without any mistakes, it will have a full score. Even if the tricks are smooth and well-practiced, if the player has many mistakes, it will be low. Also it does not require any difficulty or risk to be seen as full score. It is evaluated as perceived by the judges.

Performance Evaluation(P.Ev) – 20%

Judges (Group B) evaluate four categories from 0 to 10 points, total 40 points, then they will be halved to make the 20% of the final score. They will not be normalized among judges. Generally, the entire three minute performing time is subject to evaluation. However, even before and after the three minutes, any inappropriate action or devaluation will be counted for the categories.

evaulation scale

The table above is a basic grading guide.

The following are the four categories to be scored as Performance Evaluation.

1. Music Use (MSC)

Choreography, Hitting Music Cues, Rhythm/Beat, Imagery/Atmosphere:
(Necessity of Music, Music Timing)

Does the music seem to fit the freestyle theme?
Are the tricks timed to match the beat of the music?
Is there any cueing or choreographic points?
Are body moves and tricks matched with the music?

2.Body Control (BDY)

Stage Manners, Posture, Stage Professionalism, Attitude:
(stage presence/composure, Moves of body)

Does the player demonstrate a mature professional presence before, during and after the freestyle?
Does the player demonstrate total control of all aspects of the performance?
Is the contestant aware that he/she is on stage and being seen?
Are body moves well refined?
Does the contestant appear to be confident/professional?
Was the show appropriate to be seen by a general audience?

# Sticking tongue out, tilting head when making a mistake, or making a bitter face in hard time, and ignoring the audience unintentionally are all considered to be bad examples for this category.

3.Space Use (SPC)

Largeness, Amplitude/Focus, Size of Yo-Yo Moves, Stage Use:
(Size of expression, moves, performance, Effective use of stage and space, and/or focusing on/into a subject effectively)

Does the contestant use the stage and space effectively?
Is the trick performed big and easy-to-see?
Were the small moves or subtle actions focused to gather the audience’s attention?

4.Showmanship (SHW)

Theme/Story, Enjoyment, Entertainment, Overall Impression of Show:

Was the performance staged and constructed in a manner to add to the interest level of the freestyle?
How entertaining was the freestyle presentation?
Does the freestyle have a story or theme?
Is there any effective usage of an outfit?
Is it a performance to attract and entertain the audience?

# Interesting or Entertainment Value that comes from pure amazing yo-yo skill will not be counted here. Added work toward making the freestyle interesting (Showmanship) on top of the yo-yo tricks and skills is required here.

tev-pev3

Major Deductions (MD)

These deductions will be subtracted after all the scores above are summed.

Yo-Yo stop (restart), Yo-Yo discard (change), Yo-Yo detach (string cut) and dangerous play will be subject of this deduction.

Yo-Yo Stop (Restart) – Minus 1

Any stop of yo-yo spin with string unwound will be subject. Even if the yo-yo does not stop completely, if you need to help the yo-yo to regain its spin with your hand or string, it will be considered as a yo-yo stop. However, contestant can hand-wind yo-yo with half-wound string or add more spin to the yo-yo spinning fast enough to be able to wind by itself without this deduction. Any intentional or planned yo-yo stop will be seen as a yo-yo stop with the deduction. After the yo-yo stops and the contestant adds the spin to the yo-yo then fails to wind and it stops again, it will be counted as another yo-yo stop to be deducted.

Yo-Yo Discard (Change) – Minus 3

Any yo-yo discard will be subject. Leap of 4A and 5A yo-yos, or any yo-yo change or stop using the yo-yo will be counted. Even if the contestant comes back to the yo-yo to reuse it, if the contestant uses another yo-yo once, the yo-yo discarded will be counted. Any intentional or planned yo-yo change will be counted as a yo-yo discard. However, if the discard happens after the yo-yo stops in one instance, only the discard will be counted and not a yo-yo stop. However, if the contestant tries to restart before the yo-yo change, both a stop and a discard will be counted. If you want to show both tricks with 1 and 2 yo-yos in 4A or 5A without any deductions, you need to show 1 yo-yo tricks first, then add another yo-yo to show 2 yo-yo tricks.

When the Performance Ends

If the contestant cannot make the yo-yo come back to the hand fully wound and ready to throw, both a stop and a discard will be counted as a discard (minus 3). The string can have knots or be jammed, yet it needs to be fully wound to avoid the deduction.

The contestant is expected to complete the routine before the music ends. If the music ends while tricks are still being performed, the contestant should stop the trick and wind the yo-yo. (However, the moves required to get out from the shape to wind will be allowed if the yo-yo is still spinning.)

After the music stops, if the contestant fails to wind the yo-yo due to a yo-yo stop, it will be counted as a discard. Also at the moment the music stops, if the yo-yo is not spinning and requires a restart it will be counted as a discard.

If the contestant does not have a yo-yo in their hand ready to throw, for example: a yo-yo is in their pocket, on the floor, in the hat, or string detached from the finger like after Rocket, all will be seen as a discard.

All Performance End Deductions will be the same, even if the contestant decides to end their routine before the music ends.

Yo-Yo Detach (String Cut) – Minus 5

Any dangerous play or any play that can cause any damage needs to be avoided at all cost. Therefore, judges will be very strict to those actions even if it is unintentional.

Yo-Yo coming apart, string cut, or string detach for 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A (yo-yo and weight both) will be counted as a Yo-Yo Detach (Minus 5). Any intentional string cut like “Break the String” trick will be the same. However, unscrewing by hand to fix the string while the yo-yo is not spinning will be allowed without the deduction. Changing yo-yo(s) after a String Cut will be counted as only a Yo-Yo Detach (Minus 5), not both penalties at the same time (Minus 8).

Flying Off – Disqualified

Including 4A and 5A, if any yo-yo jumps into the audience area behind the judges’ table will be subject to disqualification. This will be discussed after the routine is over.

A Yo-Yo jumping into the audience with enough speed, height or dangerous trajectory will be subject. Even if the yo-yo bounces on the stage once, it will be seen as the same. A Yo-Yo rolling off from the stage will be allowed without disqualification.

All those deductions are per yo-yo/string. If two yo-yos are tangled in one incident and need to be changed, it will be 6 point deductions (3 point x 2 yo-yos).

At the same time, any mistake or loss of control is counted as a deduction in Technical Execution, separately from Major Deductions.

deduction table

Final Score

Final Championship Freestyle Score = sum of points for

Technical Execution (60.00-points maximum) plus

Technical Evaluation (20.00-points maximum) plus

Performance Evaluation (20.00-points maximum) minus

Major deductions.

Technical Execution will be normalized (to eliminate the unevenness among judges and let them have the same portion to contribute to the score). All other scores will not be normalized.

Depending on the judges’ availability and skill, the counter(s) of Major Deductions can be different by contest or division.

One Minute Criteria (Prelim)

The final score will be the sum of these four categories.

Technical Execution (60.00-points maximum) plus

Technical Evaluation (20.0-points maximum) plus

Performance Evaluation (20.0-points maximum) minus

Major deductions.

Technical Evaluation (T.Ev) 20%

  1. Cleanliness (CLN)
  2. Execution (EXE)

Performance Evaluation (P.Ev) 20%

  1. Music Use (MSC)
  2. Body Control (BDY)

Scoring Distribution

scoring distribution

In The Case Of A Tie:

Judges will determine the winner with the descending order of T.Ex, T.Ev, and P.Ev. If after comparing all three numbers and there is still a tie, the judges will call it as a tie or suggest a better solution.

The judges’ decision is final.

All contestants are expected to read and understand the entire rules above.

 

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: 2014, european yoyo championship, eyyc, featured, freestyle rules, international yoyo federation, iyyf

The IYYF Announces the New World YoYo Contest Round Structure

September 29, 2013 By Rafael Matsunaga

The newly-formed International YoYo Federation has just announced the round structure for future World YoYo Contests, starting with the 2014 contest in Prague.

2014 Worlds Round Structure

There are a couple of big changes here. First and foremost, due to the increasing number of national contests being held around the globe, national champions are no longer granted a spot in the finals, and will instead join the semi-final round.

Multinational, or continental contests are now fully recognized in the round structure, and winners of the Asia-Pacific YoYo Championships, European YoYo Championships, and North American YoYo Championship (if established) will all be granted a spot in the final round.

The top ten players in all National Contests will start in the preliminary round, which now has significantly less competitors.

Non-qualified players will still have a shot at the title, but will start at the new wildcard round. This will be a short 30-second freestyle round, likely held in a private room, with fewer judges evaluating the player’s technical skills (clickers only), and with limited music choice.

Seeding rules have also been announced, and determine the player’s eligibility for national titles and Worlds seeding. Some rules remain the same, such as the Worlds seeding term, which starts at the previous year’s World YoYo Contest and the start of the next edition of the contest.

Rules for players who can legally compete in more than one national contest are now addressed. In summary, a player can only compete at one national contest each year, and if he’s eligible to compete at two national contests for the same Worlds seeding term, only the first one will be considered.

Players from countries without a national contest will also benefit from the multinational contest rules, as placing among the top ten in those contests will grant a spot in the preliminary round of the World YoYo Contest.

These rules apply to all contests held from August 11th, 2013.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: iyyf, world yoyo contest, worlds, wyyc

Goodbye, Orlando

August 23, 2013 By Rafael Matsunaga

I have fond memories of the World YoYo Contest stage at the Rosen Plaza Hotel. I competed there in 1A, 5A, and Combined divisions, I practiced there late at night to hide my tricks from my biggest rival and good friend Makoto Numagami, I faced public humiliation (and fame) at the Wheel of Penalty, I earned my World Title there ten years ago, and I was awarded National Master on that stage.

2013 was the last of fourteen years when the World YoYo Contest was held in Orlando. In many ways, the contest’s history throughout those years has influenced my own, and the development of yoyoing as a sport owes much of its current state to the Orlando era.

My own yoyo career started in 2000, up until that time, the yoyo was no more than a toy for me. That was when I came upon this clip:

The 2000 World YoYo Contest was the first one held in Orlando, thanks to Gregory Cohen’s effort to save the event after a near disastrous 1999 contest in Honolulu — a symbolic end of the late 90’s boom.

That clip video got me instantly hooked. Paul Escolar, Kohta Watanabe, Hidemasa Senba, and the 2004/2013 AP World Champion Tomiyuki Watanabe were all there.

A very important addition was made to the contest structure in 2000: the X division. In 1999, counterweight play was introduced by Steve Brown, Hironori Mii got second place at that year’s World Yo-yo Contest 1A division playing offstring, you can see Doc Pop introducing some Mobius, and Rick Wyatt throwing some 3A in the clip above. The X division, then judged by the contestants themselves, marked the recognition of the new styles as a developing force.

The contest was held at Universal Studios, outside, in the merciless summer Orlando weather. Just walking outside for a couple of minutes in Orlando is a torture, but in 2000, the entire contest was held in the Florida heat, humidity, and rain. Thankfully, that was the first and last time that happened, and the contest found a new home next year: the Rosen Plaza.

From 2001 to 2013, the Rosen Plaza Hotel, in Orlando’s overly-touristic International Drive, was a yoyo haven for three days a year. There’s nothing quite like being surrounded by other yoyo players for 72 hours. During the other 362 days of the year, you were the oddball yo-yo player, but during Worlds in Orlando, it felt like the World’s population was composed solely of fellow players.

Having a contest inside also meant perfect conditions for yoyoing, leading to an exponential increase in trick difficulty on the stage. But 2001 also set the precedent for the Artistic Performance division. Yu Kawada, the previous year’s 1A winner stunned the crowd by focusing on the performance aspect of his routine rather than going technical. He would not win 1A in 2001, but his freestyle inspired the creation of the AP division the next year. A division he would win himself in 2006 and 2013.

Note the almost complete lack of sponsors in the background. The scene would not recover so easily from the burst of the previous yoyo bubble.

My own first appearance at the World YoYo Contest was in 2002, competing in 1A, when compulsories were still in place. My first participation would end rather soon, missing Pop ‘n Fresh twice in a row. The judges for that trick were my now editor Steve Brown, and my current colleague at the IYYF board of directors, Hironori Mii. “Try again next year” — were Steve’s words as I climbed down from the little compulsories stage disappointed with my performance.

I would come back the next year, for sure. 2003 was another breakthrough year for the World YoYo Contest and for myself. That was the first year the fruits of the X Division would be reaped. After three successful and very popular showings in the “extreme” division, 3A, 4A, and 5A would finally be recognized as independent divisions, each awarding a new World YoYo Champion.

That would set the general format of the World YoYo Contest to this date. Another big change came in 2007, when compulsory tricks were replaced by one-minute freestyles, both in order to better evaluate the players as freestyle performers and to save the judges from the tedious job of watching the same tricks for hours. As 2013 has shown us, however, the system does not scale too well, and some adjustments are being worked on for the next editions of the contest in order to prevent the day-long preliminaries torture for the judges.

An interesting tidbit that took place in Orlando was the Combined Division. Held from 2006 to 2009, the division’s goal was to find out which player was the most proficient in all divisions. As the results clearly show, Shinji Saito was clearly better than everyone else — in addition to being nearly unbeatable in 2A — taking the award in all four instances of that division. The Combined Division was also the first to offer cash prizes at the World YoYo Contest.

The experiments and improvements made to the contest in Orlando set a solid foundation upon which the World YoYo Contest can build and grow. Worlds is now mature enough to take new steps, and advance further into a bigger and brighter future.

The 2013 edition was in some ways a fitting first step into that future. This was the biggest diversity ever among the top places in all divisions, with Hungary (János Karancz), Singapore (Christopher Chia), Mexico (Luis Enrique), Taiwan (Tuan Chih-Min and Who Theather), and of course Japan and United States all represented among the top three in different divisions, a sign of a healthy, growing, and competitive scene. The perfect scenario for the World YoYo Contest to set sail.

Next year, Worlds will be held in Prague, Czech Republic — the first edition under the management of the newly-formed International YoYo Federation — marking its first departure from the United States since the the first edition of its modern freestyle format in 1992.

Between doubt and excitement, the consensus is that the World YoYo Contest will never be the same. That’s probably right, and that’s also a good thing. The 2013 World YoYo Contest was not the same as the first contest in Orlando, it’s better in all aspects, much was learned, and all the experience from all these years will be carried on to Prague, then to Tokyo in 2015, and all Worlds editions to come.

The Orlando era will always be remembered as the time when we discovered what we wanted in a yoyo contest, when we figure out how to make it happen, and worked to make it happen. And none of it would have happened without the yearly efforts of one man, who turned the contest’s uncertain future into a solid present, and bright future.

Thank you, Greg Cohen.

Thank you, Orlando.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: greg cohen, iyyf, orlando, world yo-yo contest, worlds

BREAKING NEWS: World YoYo Contest Merges With IYYF

February 8, 2013 By Steve Brown

IYYF International YoYo FederationHere is the official statement from the International YoYo Federation:

We are proud to announce that the World Yo-Yo Contest and the newly formed International Yo-Yo Federation (IYYF) are going to merge into one organization, with the IYYF taking over the running of the World Yo-Yo Contest.

IYYF is a nonprofit organization that unites national associations and is designed to become the governing body for yo-yoing as a sport. Starting in 2014 the IYYF will be responsible for hosting the World Yo-Yo Contest. After 14 years as chairman of the contest, Gregory Cohen is passing the torch to the IYYF so that, together with national yo-yo associations, the IYYF will host the WYYC in countries around the world. The planned schedule for the next four years is:

* 2013 United States of America (Orlando, Florida)

* 2014 Czech Republic (Prague)

* 2015 Japan (Tokyo)

* 2016 United States of America

The exact locations and dates of these events will be announced when they become available.

We will do our best to help the yo-yo community grow, support contests and national associations around the world and much more. You can find more information at http://iyyf.org and at http://worldyoyocontest.com

Ondrej Sedivy (CYA), Hironori Mii (JYYF), Rafael Matsunaga (ABI), Thad Winzenz (NYYL), Gregory Cohen (WYYC)

 

I spoke with Greg Cohen, who has been running the World YoYo Contest since 2000. “There have been a lot of discussions, and this has taken a long time. I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been a fun or easy transition.” says Cohen. “But I’m supporting this move because I think it’s best for the community, and for the event. I’m excited to see the World YoYo Contest in Prague in 2014…handing it off to the Czech crew is going to be a huge moment for me at Worlds 2013 in Orlando.”

Rafael Matsunaga, president and founder of the Brazilian YoYo Association, says “I’m quite relieved we never got to a split and I’m grateful Greg approached us to talk, even if it took an unfriendly and aggressive move from IYYF to make him realize we were willing to sacrifice continuity in order to promote change.”

The World YoYo Contest has been under-fire for several years now due to the general stagnation of the event. But while plenty of people agree that it was time for the contest to evolve and change hands, others disagreed about how the change started happening.

“Personally I’m stoked to see the formation of the IYYF as both a player and sponsor of many events including the World Yo-Yo Contest,” said Brandon Jackson, National Sales & Marketing Coordinator for Duncan Toys. “Many players have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current state of the World Yo-Yo Contest and this was especially true during the 2012 event as rumors began to fly of a competing world championship to be held in Prague. The rumors created both confusion and excitement amongst players, but the consensus was that of excitement and hope of a bigger, better world championship to be held in a new location. It’s very exciting to see an uprising, especially in the yo-yo community. But it’s even more exciting to see these two organizations come together for the betterment of competition yo-yo play.”

Seth Peterson, Communications and Team Manager for YoYoFactory was a bit more reserved. “It’s interesting to hear this finally come together. It’s cool that Greg’s part of it…surprising, but good. Greg has been instrumental in a lot of different aspects of the community for a very long time. He’s been a figurehead for a lot of people in their growth in the yoyo community, and I’m glad to see that his accomplishments and gifts aren’t being thrown to the wayside by the IYYF. I think last years “Worlds13” announcement came as a surprise to a lot of people, including people who were involved in the goal of moving the contest. I don’t think the way it was presented was to anyone’s benefit, but I’m glad that its been resolved in a way that is clearly moving the event forward. It was hard for me to see the way that Greg was being treated, in spite of my own hopes of moving the contest. I have a lot of respect for Greg and what he’s done, even if we didn’t always agree on aspects of the event.”

There’s certainly still a lot of work to be done, and lots more detail that we’re waiting to see before anyone can really determine if this move will help the event. But I’ve been assured that the IYYF will be an open and transparent organization, with elected board members and representatives from all countries with national organizations given room to speak and contribute.

We’ll continue reporting on this as more information becomes available but in the meantime we offer our congratulations to the IYYF and all involved in this huge step forward for the World YoYo Contest and hopefully all other major contests worldwide.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: featured, greg cohen, hironori mii, international yoyo federation, iyyf, ondrej sedivy, rafael matsunaga, thad winzenz, world yoyo contest, wyyc

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