The US National YoYo League is getting a bit of an overhaul, and with it are coming some interesting changes!

Full disclosure: I am one of those changes.

André Boulay and I have joined the National YoYo League as “National Coordinators” and will be working with NYYL Director Thad Winzenz (as well as all NYYL Regional Contest coordinators) to begin making some long-needed improvements to the US contest system.

The first major change is the addition of a new requirement that all players competing in championship divisions at a Regional YoYo Contest MUST be a paid member of the National YoYo League for that year. Membership is $25/year, and that money goes towards helping the NYYL to provide event insurance and organizational support all NYYL events. Members will be eligible for seeding to the US National YoYo Contest, and also have their yearly contest scores tallied towards a national ranking system, with the goal of end-of-year prizes and awards for the top ranking players in the country.

NYYL membership will not be required for any non-seeding divisions, including Amateur Freestyle and Sport Ladder divisions.

NYYL membership is open now, at http://league.nationalyoyo. org/registration, and since the National YoYo League is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, your membership may be considered tax deductible. This membership fee is in addition to any registration fees for individual contests, and is ONLY required for players competing in the 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A divisions of NYYL Sanctioned Regional events.

More changes are coming, including:

Unified registration and music upload for all contests on ONE website

More resources for organizers (venue proposals, sponsorship proposals, league-wide sponsors)

Better venues for Regional events

Consistent rules and judging criteria across all events

Better reporting of results

André and I are working with League Director Thad Winzenz on a ton of ideas to make the NYYL a more efficiently run organization that is of far more benefit to both contest organizers and players, and we’re looking forward to working with all sides to find and implement the best way forward.

Thoughts? Sound off in the comments section below!