Yo!Yo!

Free Press: So I’m told you yo-yo and you do it competitively. When did that start?

Brandon Baines: I started yo-yoing in 1997 when I was nine years old. It was a big craze at my school so naturally I picked it up like every other kid on the playground, and I just took it from there, and after everyone else quit I just kept going.

FP: Where are the competitions?

BB: The contests are all over. The ones I go to are mostly in the US on the east coast, but this year I went to the Canadian National Yo-Yo Contest in Montreal so that’s the only international contest I’ve been to. But next year I want to go to Brazil for the Brazilian National Contest.

FP: How did you find out about these competitions? How did you know you wanted to compete in these yo-yo contests?

BB: I attended my first contest in 1998 and I found out about it through a yo-yo online forum, discussion board type of thing, and ever since then I’ve been part of the yo-yo community. I guess you would call it. Word travels around about contests and various places.

FP: How well do you do at the competitions?

BB: This year I got second place at the Canadian Nationals, which is pretty good, and I beat the guy who wins all the new England contests for the past like, five years. He actually got fourth place, so I didn’t care about winning. That’s all I cared about was beating him.

FP: You’re continuing with these competitions?

BB: Yeah, I mean I compete mostly just to participate, not really to win, but if you compete at a contest it sort of gives you a feeling of camaraderie.

FP: So do most people know that you’re a competitive yo-yoer?

BB: Yeah everyone I interact with knows I yo-yo its gotten to the point where it is an inseparable part of who I am.so when people think of me, they think of yo-yoing.

FP: Do you know what you want do with that after you graduate?

BB: Actually I’m not sure because right after USM I want to go to watch making school.

FP: What is going on with your interest in watches?

BB: I got into watches seriously about three years ago it was sort of something I’ve always liked but never got into mostly because I never had any money when I was younger but yeah about three years ago I got into it, I started collecting them

FP: How many do you have?

BB: I have about fifty a lot of people think that’s a ridiculous amount

FP: Ha ve you made any watches yet?

BB: I’ve made three watches at this point. What I do is I order the parts from other places and once I get them I assemble them together and turn them into a final product.

FP: Where exactly is watch-making school?

BB: It’s about ten miles outside New York City in New Jersey. They only take eight students a year, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get in with my past experience

FP: Do you have any weird hobbies or talents that people don’t know about?

BB: Well I guess something that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m actually a fourth degree black belt in martial arts. A lot of people think that I basically just yo-yo and that’s my thing, and some people know about the watches, but I’ve been doing martial arts even longer than I’ve been yo-yoing. I started when I was seven and I just achieved the fourth degree rank in June. It’s something I’m definitely proud of.

FP: What can’t you live without?

BB: Well first of all.Clothes, I wouldn’t like to be naked all the time, and yo-yos. Yo-yoing is such a part of me that I couldn’t go for very long without doing it. It’s an unbreakable habit.