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Welcome to the no frills, yet official, site of the 2004 Southwest Regional Yo-yo contest!
(NOTE: All of this is subject to change up 'til July 2nd. So keep checking back as we get more stuff)

Here's what you have to know:

When:
Saturday, July 10, 2004

9:30am- Registration and the Rookie and Purist Divisions begin
10:00am- Registration for Freestyle divisions closes
High Noon- Rookie and Purist divisions end and the Freestyles begin!
3:30pm- Winners crowned

Where:
Plummer Park In West Hollywood (see map at the bottom of the page)

Entry fee:
$5 for Purist and Freestyle divisions, Rookie division is a suggested donation of $3

Divisions and Rules:

Rookie- This division has 3 age brackets, Under 10, 10-13, and Over 13. It is a ladder competition and we will be using the Official trick list of the National Yo-yo Contest (click here to check it out). The way that it works is that you start at the beginning and who ever can complete the most tricks is our winner.

Purist- This is the division for the "technical" yoists. It too is a ladder contest but will start much harder and go much higher. So if you think you're good but don't feel the need to get on stage and show off- this is the division for you. Details to come but we will tell you that the tricks will be pulled from the National Championship ladder and Worlds compulsories lists and may very well be a variety of disciplines (so bring your matching double A's, your Trips, your OS and your Counterweight!)

Regional A Freestyle- This division is open to residents of the the SouthWest Region (Southern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona). It is the division that seeds to the National Yo-yo Contest and will be judged in accordance with the National Yo-yo League's rules and guidelines. If there are fewer contestants registered than Freestyle spaces allotted, then we will skip the one minute freestyles.

Sponsored Freestyle- Sponsored Freestyle division will be open to all players who are currently on a yo-yo manufacturer's official team and have been for at least 6 months. This division is pre-registered and open to anyone who signs up, but is limited to a maximum of 10 entries (or more if time and entries into Regional A or Inde Freestyle divisions allow). In the event that there are more entries in this division than there are spaces available, then contestants will be allowed to compete in the Inde Freestyle Division; overflow (and entry into this division) will be at the organizers' discretion with preference given to players who have previously competed and placed in nationally sanctioned yo-yo events with emphasis being on previous SouthWest Regionals and state contests. Contestants that are on a manufacturer's official team and not preregistered are discouraged from entering the Independent division and can, at the judges' discretion, be denied entry into it. Contestants must register with the organizers by sending an e-m@il to 2004@popartmogul.com before July 5th. The final list of the Sponsored division will be posted here by July 6th.

Independent Freestyle- The Inde Freestyle division will be open to anyone not on a manufacturer's team and anyone bumped from preregistery in the Sponsored Division. In the event that that there are more entries in the Inde Division than there are freestyle slots open, we will have one minute freestyles with the top scorers moving on to the final freestyle.

Sponsored and Inde Freestyle divisions are open-discipline; any and all styles of play are allowed. There will be 5 judges, each judging a specific criteria:

-Proficiency (x2)- competency, tricks completed/missed, diversity of tricks, and overall command of yo-yo
-Technicality- Difficulty of tricks and routine as a whole
-Innovation- originality, creativity, and newness of tricks and routine
-Presentation - smoothness, style, flow and stage presence

What this means is that you will get a score for how proficient your routine is, another score for how technical your routine is, another score for how innovative your routine is, another score for your presentation and a second proficiency score. Then these scores will be tallied and an over-all score generated from that. This way no specific style of play has an advantage. Thus different kinds of play can compete against each other and in the same routine. Go ahead start with some Single A, then add that second yo-yo for Double A, slow it down for some Triple A- It's all good. You will note that "diversity of play" is one thing that the Proficiency judges will be looking for.

Prizes:

Just for showing up you'll probably get something since we're having a lot of giveaways.

If you win, you'll get even cooler stuff. Here's what people are contributing so far:

1) National Yo-yo League- The winner of the Regional A division will be seeded to the National Yo-yo contest in Chico, CA! That means that if you win here, you are automatically entered to freestyle at Nationals.

2) Guys With Swords- Yo-yoing's biggest, baddest, most mysterious team is giving automatic membership to the top winners of each division. If you are already a Guy with Sword, you will get rank. If this doesn't sound cool to you , you ain't hard-core.

3) 8 foot long playable strings, T-shirts and stickers from 40 Watt Halo

4) 500 sticker rolls for the winners of the Inde Freestyle division from Duncan yoyos

5) Yo-yos! (check back as I'll start listing what we get)

People you'll want to hang out with:

Johnny DelValle, Current National and World Champion, Yo-yo Jam/GWS

National Grand Master Bill DeBoiseblanc

Dave Bazan, Head of Buzz-on Industries

Ben McPhee from Yo-yo Factory

Felix Avellana, Duncan/ DXL/ GWS

Nathan Crissey, Yo-yo Jam/ DXL/ Spin Doctors

National Yo-yo Team from Phoenix

Glasseye, Head of DXL and Master of the Glass Lab, Duncan

Mo, world-renown yo-yo modifying wizard

Paul Yath, National Triple A Champ

Jen Niles, Duncan/DXL

m@il the organizer by clicking here