“With passion, nothing is impossible!” ~ BLACK

Why you should listen to him:
At 14, BLACK picked up his first yo-yo. Initially he couldn’t do even the easiest trick — but after one week of practicing, he realized: I could be good at this. Very good. Four years later (and 10,000 hours of practicing), he took the title of 2001 world champion. And then … he gave it up. Went to school, got a job. But he missed the passion of performing. He realized: “I want to do this: Entertain, and bring excitement and joy to people with the yo-yo.”

Returning to competition after six years, he won the 2007 World Yo-Yo Contest in the artistic performance category. After that, he started dance and acrobatic training to create a new form of performing and art. Imagine a yo-yo performance graceful and thrilling enough to pass the audition for Cirque du Soleil … while being fast and precise enough to pull a tablecloth out from under a stack of champagne glasses!

(Source: Ted)

More on Black:
Born in Tokyo, Japan, BLACK was destined to create a new face of the Yo-Yo world.

At the age of 14, BLACK picked up his first Yo-Yo to embark on a most incredible journey as a professional performer. At first he couldn’t do even the easiest trick. It should have been easy, but he was not dexterous enough and hated sports. That was his first Yo-Yo experience. But after one week practicing, his throw became exactly the same as in the instruction video. He noticed that Yo-Yo had the possibility to be the first object for him to be good at.

BLACK entered the days of training. 10,000 hours of practicing took him to the title of world champion in just 4 years. He won the World Yo-Yo Contest held in Florida, USA. It was not achieved by his talent, but by his extraordinary effort.

Though his dream to be world champion came true, nothing changed in his life. Yo-Yo is not a division of the Olympics and not major sport. There was no value to his achievement in real society even if with the title of world champion. He lost his passion and lived many spiritless days for many years.

Visit his official website and read his full profile here.