This tutorial was actually created to be a part of YoYoCommunity's Summer Tutorial Series. Pretty fun.
When I was making the trick, I was trying to experiment with hops. I feel that is one thing that my play style is sort of lacking, so I wanted to incorporate them. Now I can at least say one trick in my repertoire has like two hop-like things in it, haha. Good luck, the slacking-and-rolling part is pretty tricky but fun too.
For those of you that think Sky Bind provides incinerating string burn, you haven't tried Swell. It hurts.
Overall, Swell is a sort of awkward trick. It's not really like any other trick I can think of, although maybe you could compare the movements to the movements of Boingy-Boing. It does seem to me, however, to be most aesthetically pleasing when your yoyo is moving as directly straight up-and-down as possible. Good luck, don't burn your hands off.
I first saw this trick on 365yoyotricks, a project started by Steve Brown to record one trick per day for a year, which is now on its second year. The trick was performed (and, I'm guessing, created by) David Ung, one of the site's contributors. I was attracted to it by its great use of a concept called "breaking the plane," or manipulating the yoyo outside of the plane of its spin. Pushing Forward utilizes this technique in a smooth and eye-catching way.
It helps to have a very strong throw when beginning this trick, simply due to the fact that moving the yoyo in the ways demanded by the trick slows the spin of the yoyo so much. Immediately after the whip, beginning the motion of the yoyo around your throwhand wrist can be a bit difficult sometimes. Just do your best to give it a nice start as smoothly as possible, and then keep that revolving around your wrist going smoothly as well. Gaining a certain level of fluidity in your motions is the key to making this trick pleasing to the eye.
It is my great pleasure and excitement to announce the winners of the Rethinkyoyo Tutorial Contest of 2012.
Coming in first place with his trick, Colossus of Rhodes, is Ilya Shaposhnikov. I was astounded at Ilya's creativity with this trick, his beautiful filming location, his vibrant and clear visuals, and his thoroughness in description. All around, a fantastic tutorial.
Coming in second place, we have a player who placed in last year's contest, Malcolm Chui. I continue to love his creativity, skill, and teaching techniques that make such advanced concepts and moves understandable. Great tutorial, and I quite enjoy the trick.
Coming in third place, is Georgiy Kovalevskiy, with his trick, Medved (Russian for Bear). Georgiy has great style, creativity and finesse, I also was very impressed with his filming location. If the string visibility and teaching were a notch or two higher, this could have been number one. Still a very nice work, however.
The Kyle's Pick award goes to the tutorial for Tethered Gyroscope. This award is well deserved, the detail of teaching in this video was impecable, I couldn't get over the effort put into it. I am personally not a huge fan of the trick itself and the creativity of the location was lacking, but overall a very nice tutorial. I just had to award this good man something for the obvious hard work he put in the tutorial.
The Standout Trick award goes to the tutorial for Turn the Key. At first look, this trick actually didn't catch my eye. However, after thinking a lot about it, I began to really gain an appreciation for the trick. It reminds me of the type of tricks I would have learned back in a Duncan trick book, except with a modern slack element. It is such a creative mix of the old gimmick that is so captivating for a small audience with the new style, I think this trick is definitely a standout. And, very nicely done video as well.
The Globble award, or the award that I am entitled to award to whomever I like for whatever reason I like, goes to the tutorial for Kingdom of Hearts. I personally found this video to be supremely inspiring, and I've even been sharing it with my immediate circle of friends and family as a simply astounding video. Great work, and the trick is really cool.
And just as last year, some honorable mentions... videos definitely worth watching.
Japan Hop and Spicy Throw - I found this tutorial very useful, actually. Two tricks that are very prevalent right now.
Amazing Binds - One of the greatest bind videos I've seen. Very creative stuff in here. Also made by this year's champion, Ilya Shaposhnikov.
Chopsticks Zipper - Very cool trick, a classic with a twist.
Avenger - Slacky flowy trick with hops. What else is there, again?
Blue Rose - Another good trick to add to your arsenal. This guy also made a bunch of other tutorials for the contest. Good on you, sir.
Oh and may I just say... classiest video awards?
TXP - Just wait a second... listen to the ridiculously awesome accent.
For all those that have placed, I will be sending you an email soon to request your mailing addresses in order to ship your prizes to you. Thanks to all you players for contributing your tutorials, and thanks to all you sponsors for contributing your yoyos, string, accessories and merchandise.
My deepest thanks to all of you who participated in the 2012 Rethinkyoyo Tutorial Contest. It is always a great joy and honor for me to be a part of such influential projects of and for the community. Personally, seeing so many people come together from all around the globe in order to teach others without even a guarantee of receiving anything in return does my heart good.
However, for those who have gone the extra mile and put in the extra effort in order to teach clearly, edit professionally and craft their tricks masterfully, there will be reward, and I'm sure all who've competed are anxious to find out who those winners are. If all goes according to plan, I will be announcing the winners next weekend and shipping out the prizes shortly after that.
Thank you once again, community. And thank you, sponsors, for your incredible help this year. I am overwhelmed at the amount of with the desire of everyone involved in this contest for the community to be benefited. Good luck participants.
Get your final entries in, players. Today is the last day I'll be accepting videos. If they're not submitted by midnight tonight, they will NOT be included in the judging (or awarding) process.
Thanks everyone! I was gone for a week without internet, so I will be hopefully replying to all your entries today.
Whereas many of my other most recent tutorials have been steps away from what I would consider my "normal" style, Pump House is a very comfortable trick for me. It's one of those tricks that fits so snuggly into my personal taste of flow and slack that it's become one of my go-to tricks. I hope you guys will enjoy it too!
This trick can be very difficult if it's windy, which is one issue I had while filming this trick. In fact, if you watch closely as the clips roll in this video, you can see rainfall. It started lightly sprinkling during my recording session, after which it continued to get worse until finally a downpour ensued. It was actually a fairly fun trip even with the rain. Sometimes just yoyoing out of the house in a different location can be a true joy.
I've been very busy lately. Right at the heels of announcing the Rethinkyoyo Tutorial Contest, I'm beyond thrilled to announce the biggest overhaul to the Rethinkyoyo website since the beginning of the site.
Within the site itself, Rethinkyoyo has been redesigned with a fresh look and a familiar feel. The design of the site has also been modernized and reworked.
Perhaps the most exciting news, however, is Rethinkyoyo's new partners. I've been in touch with Tony from YoYoCommunity and Ray from MonkeyfingeR for a while now, and we have decided that we would make a great team. The focus of both of these companies is so close to the focus I have had for Rethinkyoyo since the start that I can't imagine a better network. They have hearts and minds for the community, and I am all for that.
YoYoCommunity is an incredible website with, as the name proclaims, an intense focus on the community. Tony started the website in hopes to fill a void he saw. The site is still in beta testing, but it has already drawn a lot of attention to itself by boasting a social networking-style interface where you can share tricks, upload videos, post statuses, connect with friends, and receive the latest news and products - truly like nothing else we have in the community.
MonkeyfingeR is a fresh, exciting Canadian yoyo manufacturer started by Ray and Todd with a focus on doing things differently with unique twists. What has always caught my eye personally about MonkeyfingeR is that they've never been afraid to be bold with their yoyo designs. They come out with some of the most interesting shapes and colors I've seen in yoyos for quite a while. They always keep it fun and lighthearted while keeping quality as a priority.
My hope is that everyone involved in this partnership can feed off of everyone else's passion and excitement. This is a great new step for Rethinkyoyo and I'm so excited for all that's going to come about through it. And be excited, because more new tutorials are on the way for the site, along with even more changes and updates that will keep improving your experience with the site and your yoyoing in general.