National Yo-Yo Museum | Recording the Current History of the Yo-Yo
Contest League Past Winners History  
Who's Who? Big-Yo      

Teacher endorses yo-yo as a personal resource

Courtesy of the Chico Enterprise Record

By LAURA URSENY - Business Editor
ORLAND - Students at C.K. Price Middle School assigned to Sally Lord are likely to get a lesson that most other teachers in California don't offer - how to work a yo-yo.

For Lord, the yo-yo is a resource for her sixth-grade physical education class and her eighth grade social studies students.

Tracing the yo-yo is a history lesson that takes students from Greece to China to Europe and then hops from the Philippines to the United States. One of the history books she uses describes the toy's place in history.

Working the yo-yo is an exercise in dexterity, personal competition and the success of oneness.

As Lord proves, it can be a success of the multitudes as well.

Lord is one of the few women who compete in the National Yo-Yo Contest held annually in Chico. She has been among the competitors since the start of the competition in 1988, and competed earlier this month in City Plaza.

It's one of the good things that Lord does for herself, and she's even won. For her, it's not about winning. It's about doing something she enjoys.

Others share her feeling. Preparing for the competition alongside Lord this year was a San Luis Obispo woman she saw last year cheering on her family, all of whom were competing.

"She told me that she saw me (compete) last year, and that she decided to do it this year too," said Lord, thrilled about the influence she had.

She would like to see more women stepping into the competition, which is open to all ages and levels of competition. What she likes about yo-yoing is that the sport is more about personal accomplishment than taking home trophies. You don't have to be a whirling wizard, although there are a number of competitors who are world quality. Many of the competitors are first-timers.

Her teacher's pride jumped out when she heard that a couple of her C. K. Price students showed up for this year's national contest. Unfortunately, they arrived too late to compete.

Tossing a yo-yo is something she took up growing up in El Cerrito and Berkeley, during a day when women's place in sports was on the sidelines or holding the timing watch.

That wasn't a place that Lord liked.

"I'd be out there with all the boys on the playground, practicing my tricks. I'd be part of the contests too," put on by Duncan, the original manufacturer.

Lord would be out there with the boys on other occasions too.

"I'd be playing with the boys on the block, and then they'd go off to play Little League and I couldn't play."

She recalls buying her first baseball glove at age 9.

"I had to tell the store I was buying it for my brother or they wouldn't have let me have it."

But that invisible wall didn't keep Lord out of sports. If anything, it made her more determined. In school, she played softball, tennis, and badminton. She has a bachelor's degree in physical education and a minor in history with an emphasis in political science from Chico State University. She enjoyed Scouting and backpacking, and has tried her hand at windsurfing.

As a teacher, she's been involved in coaching students at nearly every sport offered in the younger levels. And then there's yo-yoing.

At 58, she may get an odd look here and there when she pulls out her yo-yo, but reminds herself that she shouldn't care.

"Why should I care about what other people think? That ties women's hands too much."

She campaigns against "inner talk" - that evil, second voice that can defeat a woman before a thought becomes an action.

Women, she believes, listen too much to that voice, and may even read messages into others' actions that aren't there.

Lord hears the inner voice still, and practices ignoring it.

"I try to let go of it, and I think that's a good thing that women should do."

That's one of the things she's dedicated to yo-yoing.

"I get energized when I'm doing something that I enjoy. That's why I think women should do what they enjoy. Don't worry about what someone thinks about it. If it makes you happy, do it."


Credit

Title
Subtitle

Info.

Press Information

Images and information on this website may be reproduced for purposes of promoting or reporting the National Yo-Yo Museum, National Yo-Yo Contest, National Yo-Yo League, and National Spin-Top Contest.

Use of content or images for any other reason requires consent.


In the News

ABC Radio 891 - Adelaide Australia

Chico ER 9-29-2002

Chico ER 10-6-2002
Chico ER Teacher
Chico ER Yo-Bob
Chico ER YoYo Fanatics
York Count y Coast Star
© National Yo-Yo Museum - All Rights Reserved ContestLeague