In 2009 we took a family vacation to Orlando Florida, and we planned it so I could stop by the World Yo-Yo Contest and see what had been going on the last eight years. My mind was blown, unresponsive play didn’t really exist the last time I threw a yo-yo. It was actually un-inspiring in a way, the gap between my skill level and everyone else in the room seemed so vast I never even took out a yo-yo. I have caught up a little since then, but what really grabbed my attention at Worlds 2009 was meeting a guy who calls himself ta0. That’s T - A - zero, it is his screen name and the name of his website; ta0.com.
I saw ta0 off in a corner foot starting a top (like snap starting but by stomping the top in the ground). I was all like WAT. I approached him and he recognized me immediately from the video above; HTBAP vol 2. He showed me a couple of tricks that blew me away, including Stariway to Heaven, which is like corkscrew but you walk the top UP your arm. I joined his spin top forum immediately and I basically live there now.
ta0 has numerous you-tube videos and many more on his site, so it is hard to pick a video that shows all that is ta0, but let’s try this one. This was back when S8 came out with it’s second wave of tops.