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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Stouts fire burns 15,000 acres and counting ... 'Mitigation banking' ... The El Niño effect ... Stouts fire burns 15,000 acres and counting ... 'Mitigation banking' ... The El Niño effect ... TALENT SHOW WINNER Logos student has spin control Cole Homen is a skillful yo-yoer despite having partial blindness Comment By Howard Huntington Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Howard Huntington Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Mar. 22, 2015 at 8:29 PM By Howard Huntington Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Mar. 22, 2015 at 8:29 PM Yo-yo club --> Are you a yo-yo enthusiast? If so, you might be interested in a new group that Cole Homen has started called the Southern Oregon Yo-Yo Club. The club is scheduled to meet for the first time on Apri... » Read more X Yo-yo club Are you a yo-yo enthusiast? If so, you might be interested in a new group that Cole Homen has started called the Southern Oregon Yo-Yo Club. The club is scheduled to meet for the first time on April 4 from 9-11 a.m. at the Dutch Bros. Coffee House at 332 N.W. Sixth St. (corner of Sixth and D streets), in Grants Pass. Contact is [email protected] . » Social News In the hands of Cole Homen, a yo-yo swoops, soars, returns with a flick of his hand, like a personal falcon. "I don't know if you can call it art," says the 15-year-old, who recently yo-yoed his way to first place in a talent show at the Logos Public Charter School he attends in Medford. "But when you get into the zone and you're listening to music, it's very comforting. You just kind of shut down whatever's going on in your life, if I'm having a bad day." As a grade-schooler, Cole, son of Eric and Julie Homen of Grants Pass, says he wasn't really good at anything. Sports didn't work because he's blind in one eye. "Me and my dad would play catch. I wasn't able to catch the ball because I'd be seeing it go this way when in reality it was going that way." Nor did video games do much for him. But six years ago, with help from a friend who showed him the basics and steered him to a website, YoYoExpert.com, Cole cast his future to yo-yoing. "I just started from there and took it bit by bit," he says. "I was able to come up with my own tricks." He practices at least an hour a day. "It's just kind of natural for me," he says. "I wake up and do a couple of tricks, then stop and go do something, then go back to it." His friends enjoy the results. "I go over to their house, and I'm the only one who can yo-yo," he says. "They always try to get me to put down a hat somewhere on a corner and get money, but I never do." It's surprising how infrequently he looks at his yo-yo, as if he could see it in his mind. "Some tricks I've just been doing long enough that it's kind of like muscle memory." Bearings and weight distribution enable the yo-yo to spin longer. Catch this excerpt from an expert on YoYoExpert.com: "The Zipper. This is another great trick. It goes off the Sleeper. It looks like this. Throw a strong Sleeper, land the yo-yo into the string. Instead of doing a Brain Twister, because this a Brain Twister mount, you actually come off and stick your thumb out. "…As the yo-yo is swinging around, it comes over your thumb. It kind of looks like a backwards Trapeze over your thumb if you don't pull your string over right away." Kind of makes your head spin, doesn't it? Cole hopes to compete someday in the National Yo-Yo Contest in Chico, Calif., which is also home to the National Yo-Yo Museum. "He's been doing it for so long that it's just part of him now," Julie Homen says. "We've been trying to get him to do competitions. He doesn't think he's good enough. He might not qualify, but at least we want him to try." Do Mom and Dad yo-yo? "Nooo," Julie says, adding that her son "makes it look so easy, but it is very hard." Contact reporter Howard Huntington at 541-474-3726 or  [email protected]   By Howard Huntington Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Howard Huntington Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Mar. 22, 2015 at 8:29 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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