Have you ever watched professional yo-yoing? Yeah, I hadn’t either until I met up with Patrick Canny. Canny is a freshman studying Mechanical Engineering here at the University of Kansas, and he’s also ranked No. 8 in the nation for professional yo-yoing as of a few weeks ago.
Canny is a professional yo-yoer who received a sponsorship from a yo-yo company this past year. He started yo-yoing in seventh grade after his father demonstrated a few simple tricks on an old yo-yo and has since been learning new moves. He began competing in 2011 at the state and regional level. Over the next few years he competed several times each year, slowly moving his way up through the regional circuits. In 2013, at the World’s Competition in Orlando, Florida, Canny became the No. 27 best yo-yoer in the entire world.
Traveling to LA, Orlando and Seattle through the years has exposed Canny to many people from all over the nation and all over the world. He enjoys yo-yoing because of the people he meets. In the beginning, he picked up yo-yoing because it was fun, but once he got to know the people his viewpoints opened up. He now has friends from all over the world — in Japan, the Czech Republic and “pretty much anywhere else you could point to on the globe.”
Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, Canny came to KU because of the Self Engineering Leadership Fellowship (SELF) and the unique campus vibe that he felt when he visited. On campus, he is currently involved in the Honors Program Student Council, the Freshman Engineering Student Council and he’s hoping to get involved with Formula One Baja. In the future, he also wants to get involved in robotics research with a former SELF fellow. Canny was involved with robotics in high school, but unlike many of his peers who were interested in the computer or electrical side of robotics, he was more fascinated by the mechanical side. From the beginning, he’s been passionate about tinkering with objects and figuring out how they work. While his dream job is working for NASA, he’s always had the desire to help engineers with marketing their ideas to consumers more effectively, which may lead him into a entrepreneurial venture in the future.
(source: SELF, School of Engineering)
So, if a yo-yo related career isn’t in Canny’s future, why does he continue to compete?
“I don’t know,” he said in a slightly uncertain tone. “I guess it’s more of a hobby because it’s hard to focus on it with engineering as a major.”
Without devoting all his attention to it, Canny can’t deem yo-yoing a passion. Finally deciding to deem it as more of a sport for himself, he also said he needed to switch mindsets and put his yo-yoing on the back burner and start focusing on his academics.
With this shift in dedication, Canny knows this is not the end of his professional yo-yoing career. He has spent years working towards becoming the 2014 Colorado State Champion and winning the South Central Regional competition this year. His goal for this year’s World Competition is to be in the Top 15 and rank No .1 at the National level. However, for Canny, yo-yoing isn’t just a competitive outlet — it’s also a creative outlet, which can be a positive balance between work and play.
After watching his winning performance in Denver for the South Central Regional competition, it is clear why he’s not finished with this “hobby” yet. Canny moves with a certain energy, a rhythmic, flowing movement that demonstrates just how in his nature his routine is.
“I put a lot of time into developing routines that are different from my competitors, so I have a lot of fun showing off those differences,” he said.
He says when he’s performing, he feels energized because it’s so much fun which can be seen in his performance. The concentration is clear on his face, yet smiles break out and light up his face when he nails a set of technically difficult movements.
Check out Patrick’s performance in Denver, seen in the link below. As Patrick says, “It’s lit.”
More videos of Patrick’s performances can be found online.
All unpreviously sited photos were contributed by Patrick Canny. Video is from Youtube.