USU student yo-yos into the final four of Aggies Got Talent

When freshman Eric Bell first started learning yo-yo tricks a year and a half ago, he never expected to gain much more than entertainment and an unusual hobby to perform for his friends.

He certainly didn’t expect to be in the running for a $3,500 scholarship.

Bell is one of eight talented students participating in Utah State University’s first ever Aggies Got Talent competition. After winning the most audience votes at the basketball game on Nov. 17, Bell became one of the final four competitors qualified to win a cash prize.

Bell said that his main goal in auditioning was to earn a performance spot at the Spectrum Stadium.

“I think the biggest thing for talent shows like this is just to get more of a following,” he said. “To bring more people to yo-yoing. It’s a fairly unique hobby.”

Bell became interested in yo-yos when he was 8 years old, after it became a trend in the grade above his. He didn’t pick it up again until February of 2014.

“I learned some basic tricks when I was 8,” he said. “But I gave it up because I got pretty stumped on where I could go and what else I could do. There just wasn’t enough information about it. I picked it back up about a year and a half ago. I started looking up YouTube tutorials and things like that.”

A big part of learning, Bell said, was becoming involved with the global yo-yo community. Besides developing friendships with skilled yo-yo performers both online and in person, Bell also attends national competitions. Last month he competed in the multi-national Las Vegas Open YoYo Competition, where he placed fifth in his division.

In this competition, Bell is up against seven students with their own distinctive skills. Included in the mix are three singers, a beat boxer, a baton twirler, a fiddler and a student who can instantly count the number of letters in any English or Spanish phrase.

The judges and event coordinators were pleased by the variety of talents that signed up to audition.

“We were obviously looking for the ability to perform their talent well,” the judges wrote in an email. “We were also looking for people who were interactive with the crowd. We wanted students who have talents that you don’t see everyday, talents that kind of wow the crowd and make them want to come out to basketball games to see the students perform.

The eight contestants were split into four groups of two and given a basketball halftime in which to showcase their skills. After each contestant performed, the audience had the opportunity to vote for their favorite. Bell was matched with Brae Beck, a junior who has been playing the violin for about 18 years.

To his shock, Bell won his first round and is now qualified to compete in the final round, which will take place after Jan. 12.

“I was extremely surprised!” Bell said. “I had expected Brae to go through and win the final round. He’s really good. My only hope going in was to give him a challenge and make score as close as possible.”

Bell relies on his originality to make his performances as individual and as entertaining as possible. He choreographs all of his routines and creates his own tricks.

Coming up with a new routine is a process, he said.

“I used to just go wherever and see where I’d end up,” Bell said. “But then a friend of mine shared with me his insight on how he comes up with tricks. He’ll go into a mount, and he’ll think of what he wants to do from there. He’ll think of the first thing that comes to his mind, and then he’ll intentionally not do that. He’ll pick the second thing that comes to his mind. That way you remember it better, and you go out of your comfort zone to come up with tricks.”

— h.mickeyd@gmail.com
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