When Jared Marcus first saw someone perform the Mach 5 yo-yo trick, he was instantly mesmerized and wanted to learn how to do it.
“The first yo-yo I saw at CVS or Walgreens, I asked my parents if I could have one,” he says.
It was a Duncan Butterfly yo-yo, and after getting it, he’d practice whenever he could. So did his fellow Cub Scouts, and their shared love for yo-yoing encouraged Marcus to master more tricks with more technical yo-yos.
After he crossed over into Troop 672 of Wildwood, Ill., a yo-yo was part of Marcus’ packing list as he’d take one on camping trips. In Scouting, Marcus was part of the Order of the Arrow, served on staff at Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation in Wisconsin and earned the Eagle Scout Award.
He also started participating in yo-yo contests, first going to a local contest, then state competitions and then regionals.
Today, the 26-year-old from Houston has claimed three national titles and has contended in world competitions. He’s also performed at the World Scout Jamboree in 2019.
“It’s crazy; it’s giving me so much,” Marcus says. “I’ve been able to travel so much of the world, and the amazing people I’ve met is unreal. I have friends all over the world. It’s really cool.”
It’s an incredible journey your Scout can begin, thanks to Duncan Toys.
Yo-yos for Cub Scouts
For the past few years, Duncan has sponsored the Yo-Yo Cub Scout Adventure, one of the elective Adventures for Webelos.
In it, Webelos learn how to safely use a yo-yo, how to properly string and wind one, how to do a pendulum experiment, and how to try cool tricks, like the gravity pull, sleeper and breakaway. These are tricks yo-yo champions know, and experts teach your Cub Scout how to do them through online tutorials, courtesy of Duncan Toys.
Marcus recommends a simple yo-yo from Duncan to start with.
“The best budget one is the Duncan Freehand,” he says. “It’s less than $20 and you can do a lot of tricks on it. That one can be modified to do higher level tricks on it.”
Yo-yos for older Scouts
While the elective Adventure is for Webelos Scouts, Duncan Toys offers more fun for older Scouts.
They can participate in Duncan’s Teen Program, earning badges along the way. Scouts study the free tutorial videos available at Duncan’s program page. They learn how to do the yo-yo trick in each video. Then they film themselves completing the tricks and upload their video to YouTube or Vimeo. They fill out the form on this page to submit their videos. Finally, they’ve earned the badge and move on to the next level.
Duncan also offers fun challenges any Scout can try.
The world of yo-yoing
Even if your Scout doesn’t claim a world yo-yo title one day, he or she will learn a lot from trying. Marcus says yo-yoing combined with Scouting has helped give him confidence and build connections.
“It’s an awesome way to meet people,” he says. “It brings people together regardless of where they came from.”
It also showed him to appreciate the little things, like mastering something new.
“Something as simple as a basic trick, I was freaking out over,” he says. “You never know where it can take you.”
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