It boggles Tyler Severance’s mind that he makes six figures per year from a toy on a string.
The former world yo-yo champion split his time growing up in Wilmington with his dad and living in Section 8 housing with his mom in New Castle.
Some of his buddies were shocked when they’d visit him in New Castle. To them, the environment looked like a gangster film.
“I’d have friends from [overseas] come visit me and be like, ‘Whoa, this looks like the movies … like ‘Menace II Society,”’ Severance, 31, explained.
“I didn’t think I grew up that way,” he added. “Now that I’m an adult, when I see kids in that situation, I’m like, ‘This is gnarly.'”
‘YouTube’ changed Tyler Severance’s life
Severance said he escaped poverty by spending more than 400 hours into mastering the yo-yo. He began at age 8, but started getting serious in 2005.
That’s the same year YouTube launched.
“I would just go onto YouTube and see all these videos of guys from all over the world, and it really amazed me and it opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed,” he said.
More help for young people:Sean’s Room, a mental health save haven, opens for St. Mark’s High School students
Severance won the titles of national and world champion in 2007. He won on the biggest stage with a $20 yo-yo because he grew up poor.
“I was so hungry,” he explained. “You don’t need an expensive yo-yo to be very good. That’s something I really like to hammer home.”
Running a yo-yo empire while helping kids
These days, Severance spends most of his time running his yo-yo manufacturing company, Recess Intl.
He also runs 100-plus yo-yo programs in the Mid-Atlantic region, per year. They teach youth yo-yo basics, which Severances says helps them develop life skills and can even improve their mental health.
Severance is currently wrapping up an eight-week program with about 40 elementary students from Red Clay Consolidated School District in Newport. The Boys & Girls Club runs the after-school program.
This program will culminate in a yo-yo contest on Wednesday, March 22, with top students winning prizes and gaining bragging rights. And possibly some tasty Takis chips.
Yo-yo kids do Eiffel Tower & tornado tricks
Thomas Williamson, 7, thinks he has a shot at winning the contest. The second grader has a bag of yo-yo tricks, some of which he invented.
One of his homemade tricks involves him walking the dog, a famous yo-yo maneuver that mimics that action with the yo-yo spinning on the ground in front of him, while he also spins in a circle.
“I call it the Human Tornado,” Thomas explained.
Lily Bittman, 10, is no slouch either.
“I think I’m one of the best,” she said.
Cheesy March madness:Delaware pizza bracket blown up by Grotto loss. Final Four heats up.
The fourth grader’s favorite move is called The Star, where she walks the dog while simultaneously making the string dance around her fingers until it forms an Astro shape.
Her good friend Chase Ingram, 10, wants to turn heads in the contest with his version of the Flying Trapeze.
It’s a trick where the yo-yo wraps around a finger on your opposite hand, then you casually swing the toy like a pendulum.
Anaiis Jimenez, 7, is going to take the contest internationally when she introduces her Eiffel Tower trick. She does an accurate rendition where she makes the tower lean.
Yo-yos help his mental health
Chase, a fourth grader, said he’s had a history of anger issues because he doesn’t like when his peers accuse him of doing bad things.
Severance’s yo-yo program over the last few weeks has been helping his mental health, he said.
“When I’m annoyed, I just play with my yo-yo and I feel better,” Chase explained.
The second grader Thomas said he accidentally bopped himself with the yo-yo a few times, including the face. But it hasn’t discouraged him from inventing new tricks.
Yo-yos can teach resilience
Severance said yo-yos can teach life skills, such as patience and resilience.
With society obsessed with showing their best selves on social media, Severance said kids today are a little more comfortable with failing at using yo-yos because they want to perfect their tricks before they share them on TikTok.
He’s noticed over the years that students who’ve never needed to study typically give up on new activities quickly if they don’t succeed on the first or second try.
“If you gave up after two times in everything in life, you wouldn’t get very far,” he said.
But there are some kids you don’t need to motivate. “And those are the kids who succeed,” he added.
Austin Harris, education director for the Boys & Girls Club at Richey, said he’s noticed a change in some of their students since the yo-yo program arrived.
“We have a few that have difficulty paying attention and keeping their focus. And [the yo-yo] usually helps them,” Harris said.
Loizaida Collazo, site director for the Boys & Girls Club at Richey Elementary, said Thomas has had anger issues.
But he’s been in the zone when he plays with his yo-yo.
Thomas said working with Severance has been fun because he understands their yo-yo struggles.
Severance said he loves working with kids from Title 1 schools, schools where most of the kids are on free and reduced lunch.
“Because those are kids like me,” he said.
‘I’m very blessed’
The yo-yo wiz is looking forward to the children’s yo-yo competition on Wednesday.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but think back to his humble beginnings.
For a chunk of his life, his mom wasn’t working and was living off the $1,000 per month in child support payments from his dad, he said.
Over the last two months, Severance said he spent $16,000 on yo-yo-related expenses. That’s $4,000 more than his mom spent on raising him for many years.
“I’m very blessed to be able to make yo-yos and do what I do, and pass this on to kids who are able to be affected by it in a positive way.”
If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.
Delaware entertainment news
*NSYNC singer, Train & more: Freeman Arts Pavilion drops new wave of acts
Darius Rucker, Styx & more: Freeman Arts Pavilion reveals first wave of acts
Vanilla Ice, Lainey Wilson: Added to Delaware State Fair 2023 lineup
Paul McCartney & Bruno Mars: Delaware’s 7 hot tribute acts in spring & summer
Viral Delaware cat from The Dodo: He’s a legendary door greeter with his own merch
Zoo fun in Delaware, Philadelphia & NJ: Animal escape room, swimming with otters & more
