The US National YoYo League is getting a bit of an overhaul, and with it are coming some interesting changes!
Full disclosure: I am one of those changes.
André Boulay and I have joined the National YoYo League as “National Coordinators” and will be working with NYYL Director Thad Winzenz (as well as all NYYL Regional Contest coordinators) to begin making some long-needed improvements to the US contest system.
The first major change is the addition of a new requirement that all players competing in championship divisions at a Regional YoYo Contest MUST be a paid member of the National YoYo League for that year. Membership is $25/year, and that money goes towards helping the NYYL to provide event insurance and organizational support all NYYL events. Members will be eligible for seeding to the US National YoYo Contest, and also have their yearly contest scores tallied towards a national ranking system, with the goal of end-of-year prizes and awards for the top ranking players in the country.
NYYL membership will not be required for any non-seeding divisions, including Amateur Freestyle and Sport Ladder divisions.
NYYL membership is open now, at http://league.nationalyoyo.
More changes are coming, including:
- Unified registration and music upload for all contests on ONE website
- More resources for organizers (venue proposals, sponsorship proposals, league-wide sponsors)
- Better venues for Regional events
- Consistent rules and judging criteria across all events
- Better reporting of results
André and I are working with League Director Thad Winzenz on a ton of ideas to make the NYYL a more efficiently run organization that is of far more benefit to both contest organizers and players, and we’re looking forward to working with all sides to find and implement the best way forward.
Thoughts? Sound off in the comments section below!
Kudos to each of you who are working on developing NYYL membership standards. Your efforst to standardize judging….will elevate yo-yoing to a more credible sport. Many people still see the yo yo as a childish toy. Standardization, national rankings …. will help change that. Your plans sound similar to the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) membership. Our son is a yo yoer and tennis player. He has to be a member of USTA to compete in their tournaments. He has to play a certain # of tournaments each year to be ranked. His USTA membership provides him with a monthly newsletter, online tournament registation, and ranking. As a parent of a yo yoer, I will appreciate higher standards and improved organization at every level. Good luck to you. Get some sleep!
I don’t understand how so many people don’t have $25 they can set aside for a year.
I run a weekly yoyo club will the nyyl have any plans to help clubs like mine?
Isn’t your club supported by the former organizer of the World YoYo Contest?
I support this 100%. Great move on the part of the NYYL. I look forward to seeing where this takes US yoyoing in the near future!
All these people complaining about this membership fee are clearly not seeing the big picture. This helps legitimize things and shift it into truly a sport.
Plus youll drop hundreds of bucks a year on new yoyos. Why not 2 to support the community.
Will there be any yo yo events in So Cal?
Yes, there will be the BLC/Southwest Regional in September.
Do we get a cool membership card when we sighn up
Yep! We’re working on them now! 🙂
Im interested to see how the international player deal ends up.
This is awesome! Even though I am not regional level yet I would still support this to help the scene!! Great ideas!
Will Canadians that compete in American contests have to buy a membership? I fully support this move, I’m just curious as I usually compete for fun in the championship division at pnwr.
Still working on this….we’ll announce when we have a solution!
Some of you are making this out to be way more than it is. It’s only $25 per Year. And only for the main competitions.
The amateur and sports ladders are not involved. But the extra money will generate the ability to have events at bigger better venues exposing yo young to more people as well as being able to have bigger better prizes and such.
This is a good thing for everyone.
U.S. main competitors. If international player are involved with a contest (BAC, PNWR, BLC.) Rules need to be set. The rule now is for U.S. competitors. If a u.s. competitor cant compete while not a member of the NYYL, then what is the rules for international players? I for one would think it is unfair to allow an international player to compete when a non NYYL Competitor can not.
Yes.
But they wont be “Members” of the NYYL. No seed
Will be given either way.
my first priority is moving Nationals iI feel like my money would be better spent going to a number of the regionals over nationals because they run longer and cheaper cheaper to get to.
When I join the nyyl doe I have say in what they do or who the leadership is.
A new venue/location for Nationals is currently being discussed, but nothing is concrete yet. We do have a couple of really stellar options, though, if we can make them happen.
Correction *BAC?
Also does this mean “International Players” can not compete at regional contests? Like BLC?
This is a great question, and I don’t have an answer, but it’s worth considering that international players couldn’t get the seed either way.
We’re discussing how to allow for involvement from international players, but have not yet agreed on a solution. It will be announced once we’ve got one, though.
So whats does this do to PNWR ’14? Null and Void? Or…..?
We were unable to get everything in place in time for PNWR, so competitors for that event got a “free pass” for that one event in 2014.
Hey Steve,
I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this but, if someone is seeded to Regionals do they still have to be registered with the NYYL? Just want to make sure it’s clear.
Yes, seeded players still need to be current members of the NYYL.
Cool thanks. State organizers may want to consider including $25 at least for 1A to go to Regionals, if they aren’t already giving away cash prizes. IDK just a thought, I know I probably will.
Awesome! and yeah I meant MER lol I am greatly looking forward to a refresher in the US contests!!!
This looks like a great change and good corwRd momentum for yoyoing. I really am excited about what this can do for state contests down the road. One thing I’d like to throw out there though: any thoughts on making a regional contest for the mid-east that isn’t in michigan? Here in Kentucky, the very middle of the country, it’s a twelve or more hour drive to get to the closest regional contest. I vaguely remover a contest in Chicago but I believe that was triple crown which is no longer around. I’m not saying we should have a regional in Kentucky since the local scene is very small, but a more centralized regional contest would benefit all players in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio, even the northern parts of Georgia.
This past November there was Illinois States in Chicago.
However, hopefully a legitimized National Yo-Yo League will make way for a consistent and continuous Triple Crown.
Triple Crown took a year off because Seth left the organization and Andre had a baby. We needed a summer off! But it will be back this year, end of July or first weekend of August (dates to be announced soon).
Mid-East Regional is staying put for this year, but if another organizer wants to put in a proposal to run it in 2015, we’ll happily give someone else the change to grow the contest in a city that is more accessible to the region.
Can I earmark my registration fee towards a black backdrop for Nats?
Duly noted, and agreed. 😉
Will there still be entry fees for each regional contest on top of that membership fee or will memvers be able to compete at all the regional contest with only that one payment
Yes, there will still be registration fees for each individual event. The NYYL membership is above and beyond these fees, and provides a larger layer of resources for ALL of these events, including insurance, organizational assistance, and National Ranking for players.
Do I understand correctly that I’m not able to compete At Regional Contest in 1A Division without the membership? Or does it just relate to the seeding for nationals?
Correct: In order to compete in the 1A division at any NYYL Regional you must be a current member of the NYYL.
What about different locations of events, like MWR is way up in Detroit I was wondering if events would ever be moved to a more middle ground location like Chicago or Indianapolis for MWR.
MWR is at the Mall of America…I think you mean MER?
For 2014, all events will remain as they are. For 2015, we will be accepting new bids from contest organizers to host Regionals, and if an organizer can produce a viable proposal that includes relocation to a better city/venue for a particular contest, that will certainly be considered.
I’m curious as to if in the possible future, this will entitle a special members only run of yo-yos?
There are no plans for this, but we will be expanding the available NYYL merchandise (patches, stickers, apparel, etc) to give players a chance to pick up great collectibles and support the NYYL at the same time.
I understand the reason for this move, and I hope it works out. However, there will be a decrease in the number of participants in Regional contests. This is an empirical thesis and may be proven wrong over time, but I predict that either there will be a decrease in average income per event, or events will have to charge a large entrance fee for the Novice Freestyle division, which will suck for the kids who are trying to get their first experiences as competitors. As I usually only go to one or two Regional contests a year and I have been considering giving up on competing for a short time, this will end my competitive “career.” I can’t justify spending $25 dollars to be able to compete, then $25 for registration as a hungry college student just to throw a yoyo for a minute in front of people. But good luck, and I’ll see everyone at contests soon, as a spectator.
Remember, you don’t have to compete in order to have fun at a yo-yo contest.
Like I said, I’ll still show up as a spectator. I wouldn’t miss hanging out with with yoyo friends.
I’d donate as a supporter so hopefully you can implement that soon.
This needed to happen with the current state of events in the US. I look forward to taking a more active role.
Upon first reading about this, I wasn’t very excited. But once I actually thought about it, I think that this will be a great step towards legitimizing the sport of yoyo. I look forward to it’s implementation!
I think that this action will move away from the world of yoyoing (an entity that is already very small imho) many people. I hope that this thing will remain confined to America and not to europe-asia.
A similar system has already gone into play in Japan, which is probably the most intense competitive yoyo scene in the world.
And systems like this have already been in play for many other competitive youth sports for decades now…it’s time for yoyoing to begin the process of becoming a legitimate youth sport worldwide.
Will there be benefits/enticements for amateurs to sign up for the NYYL as well? As an active amateur, I would be interested in participating in this growth as well.
We considered a “Supporting” membership for players are are still competing in non-championship divisions (or just hobbyists who want to support the league but are not competitors) but we’re trying to keep things simple for this first year. Next year, though!
Psh. I’ll join anyway. Yer not the boss of me, Steve Brown.
Even if it’s excluding state contests, this is a tremendous improvement in the legitimacy of yo-yoing as an actual sporting event.
To think, there will be a day when it means something to be a member of the National Yo-Yo League. We’re definitely living in the future now.
We’re hoping to have the organizational end of things sewn up enough to begin including State contests in 2015.
I support this move and can’t wait to sign up. To take competition yo-yo play to the next level an infrastructure needs to be created. It’s time to get serious. Being a member of an actual organization will give yo-yo players something to be a part of. Something to keep up with and be active in. It’s the first step to creating an actual overall yo-yo sport league. Sure some folks don’t want to pay anything and they want it all for free, this will aid in weeding out those competitors that do not take it seriously. When they are ready to take it serious, they will pay and be proud to compete in events that will provide a larger reward than if it were free. I’ve seen way too many contests with freestyle competitors that do brain twisters or boingy boings for an entire 1 minute prelim while missing their binds over and over. I’ve even seen a competitor dress up in furry costume for their competition freestyle. If you don’t want to pay, then stand to the side and play. It’s time to take competition yo-yo play seriously or GTFO.
I’ve been very excited about this since Nationals, can’t wait to see what we have in store for this next year!
So, let me get this right: I can’t compete at any Regional event unless I pay the $25 NYYL Registration Fee? That’s not fair.
You are free to compete in Amateur Freestyle divisions or Sport Ladder without being a NYYL Member.
I’m not sure how fairness comes into play. You receive the benefits of a service. You pay a small fee towards that service. You can choose whether or not you perceive it to be a value…but fairness is not in question.
This is great. I’m super excited for what this will do to the US contest scene.
I don’t understand why I should have to pay a yearly fee to compete. I mean the contests have been going on for quite some time without a fee needing to be paid so why the sudden change now? Also I only compete once a year and will never reach the level of being able to score up on those leaderboards you’re talking about so I have no chance to score prizes against other competitive yoyoers so the benefits don’t really attract me to it. And the fact that you are going to make kids (many under the age of 10) pay $25 just so they can compete in sport ladder at there first contests or novice freestyle seems a bit rude to both them and their parents.
Will this benefit the NYYL? Yes.
Will this benefit the players? No.
And players are what drives contests.
Please re-read the post. Players will not need to be members in order to compete in Sport Ladder or Amateur freestyle divisions. This is only for championship divisions.
And please try to understand that greater resources for contest organizers WILL benefit the players as we are able to produce contests in larger, better venues, bring in larger sponsors from outside of the yoyo industry, and generally raise the quality of all Regional events as well as the US Nationals.
This benefits EVERYONE, and is still tremendously cheaper than most organized youth sports in the United States.
Any word on when this will all be implemented? As a contest organizer, it would be very helpful to know if my contest will have to conform to these requirements. Also, what about state contests?
Implementation has already begun. These requirements are ONLY for Regional events seeding to the US Nationals. We hope to expand the system to include greater support for state contests in the next few years, but we aren’t there yet.
THIS. IS. AWESOME.