The up and down world of a yo-yo champ

BARRINGTON, RI (WPRI)  It took more than a ‘walk the dog’ and a ‘lindy loop’ to send a pair of Rhode Island teens to the World Yo-Yo Championship.

While you ask yourself why the heck there would be a championship for such a thing, consider the strings attached world of 13 year old contender Zach Gorton. (By the way, he conducted the entire interview with us while plying one of his two dozen aluminum discs in a variety of directions.)

“It was snowing out,” Gorton said, thinking back a couple of years to the day he first picked up a yo-yo. “So, I couldn’t go outside unless we went skiing.”

He said at first he was 'yo-yoing', if that’s a word, 1 to 2 hours a day.

• WEB EXTRA
• "Steller" performance
• "Zach" attack

And while you may remember tricks like Walk the Dog, the Lindy Loop, Barrel Rolls and Rock the Cradle, we asked Zach if any of those were still in play.

“That's cradle,” he said rather blandly as he manipulated his yo-yo string with great ease to perform the decades old trick.

In other words, you can't teach a new kid, old tricks and expect him to have a shot at the world championship.

“There's just an infinite number of tricks because everyone just makes up their own,” Gorton said, still zinging his yo-yo up, down and across. “But when you make up new tricks, some people name them. I really don't.”

Gorton and Graeme Steller , 13, Providence, will be in a field of 200 competitors from 23 countries in the World Yo Yo Championship in Orlando, Florida, the first weekend of August.

The annual contest started 80 years ago although this year is considered the 21 ^st annual 'modern championship'. A century before Zach and Graeme were born, yo-yo’s were about 10 cents each. Now some of the best models will cost $400 and even more.

Send your news tips to Walt Buteau at wbuteau@wpri.com and f ollow Walt on Twitter: @wbuteau