With strings attached College student shares yo-yo skills with kids
Knox College student Mitch Prentice, 21, displays his collection of yo-yos in Galesburg, Ill. While he will spend most of the summer after his junior year at home in tiny Paw Paw, Ill., he plans to return once a month to take part in the yo-yo club he started at the Galesburg Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
Knox College student Mitch Prentice, 21, displays his yo-yo techniques in Galesburg, Ill.
Knox College student Mitch Prentice, 21, displays his yo-yo techniques in Galesburg, Ill.
GALESBURG, Ill. – Knox College student Mitch Prentice has shared his love of yo-yo’s with people during Farmer’s Market events.
As the 21-year-old performed complicated twirls and spins, including a difficult “horizontal finger grind,” he explained he began yo-yoing two years ago after returning early from spring break.
He bought a $3 Duncan yo-yo from Walmart and spent two days in his dorm room getting down the basics and his first tricks. He learned most of his skills from watching YouTube tutorials and other online videos which are fueling the growing revival of the toy.
He spent three hours a day practicing and learning, and today usually spends at least an hour or two a day yo-yoing. “It’s a very relaxing thing” he said.
While college-aged people are the bulk of those in the online community, the ability to easily find videos and other yo-yoers, have allowed children and pre-teens to take it up.
“People aren’t as afraid to take it up,” Prentice said.
Many competitions take place across the globe for yo-yoing, with the largest and most prestigious being the World Yo-Yo Contest in Cleveland in August.
While he will spend most of the summer after his junior year at home in tiny Paw Paw, Illinois, he plans to return once a month to take part in the yo-yo club he started at the Galesburg Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
“I’m going to try to keep it alive with local kids,” he said.