This past weekend was the first (since 2001 I think) WCR, Western Canadian Regionals. Our yoyo club, but mostly my friend from the club, Dennis, organized a contest for everyone we could get in contact with who was willing to travel to Vancouver. A good chunk of the Calgary YoRad! crew (They have an awesome club name, we’re just the Vancouver Yoyo Club) travelled in for the contest. There were also a couple competitors from the interior of BC, and from Vancouver Island. It was most exciting to see these new faces because they had literally zero contact with the growing Canadian scene until they heard of the contest. I’m hoping they can keep in contact with everyone, and keep us up to speed on their progress.
There’s not a complete video set, and I wasn’t able to manage video myself, so I’ll just run down some highlights of the videos I see posted.
First up is Chuck. He was the favorite to win and he didn’t disappoint. He’s been competing at Worlds the last few years, so it was a pretty sure victory. He’s sponsored by Caribou Lodge Yoyo Works, from Alberta. Chuck is somewhat local, but he lives in the rural part of the area, so it’s hard for him to make the trip into the city. He usually meets up with us once a year or so.
Gary Li is our clubs pride and Joy. He’s been a regular at the club for about 2 years now. He shocked the world last year with a 2nd place finish in the preliminary round of Nationals. His final position from Nationals was 5th, but his overall performance caught the eye of String Theory Yoyos and has since had sponsorship. He’s now been able to travel to the PNWR, Pacific Northwest Regionals in Seattle, and will return to the Nationals this July. He got a 4th place finish at WCR this year, and he’s practicing up for a return to Calgary this year.
Jeremy Meugens is integral to our club. He’s a local school teacher, and is responsible for building up the ranks our of youger players. It’s because of his work that we were able to include an under 13, junior division in the competition.
Andre is just brilliant. His whole performance has a definitely theme, with fast rolling tricks the most prevalent, and a few picture tricks snuck in, like the heart at the end. This trick set is great and the whole thing is set to the sound track. He also has pretty good performance instincts, able to improvise during a couple mistakes. In hindsight a pink yoyo should have been and indication when he walked out, but to be honest, pink yoyos are pretty common.
Joey Hockin, From Calgary, finished 6th. He’s a great yoyoer, and has excellent musical taste to match. Last year at the Calgary Stampede he finished 2nd at the talent show, netting himself a $2000 cash prize.