Brandon Baines is an American yo-yoer and member of Team YoYoJam since 2005. He first made a name for himself with his video entitled “Revelation” in the summer of 2005, which prompted a sponsorship from YoYoJam. He followed up with his next video, “My Style,” in summer 2006. Brandon is best-known for his complex slack-style tricks, and his willingness to reject current trends in yo-yo tricks in order to stay true to his style. As a result, Brandon does not put much emphasis on winning contests, but rather, demonstrates his love for yo-yoing and complex techniques through videos and sharing them with friends. Brandon cites Rodrigo Yokota, Mikhail Tu
labut, Johnnie DelValle, and Eric Koloski as his biggest inspirations and his favorite yo-yo players.
Playing Since: 1997
Sponsors: YoYoJam and NFW (watch company)
Favorite Yo-Yo: YoYoJam X-Con Pro
Styles of Play: 1A (primary), 5A (secondary)
Hometown: Scarborough, Maine, USA
Current place of residence: Ibaraki-shi, Osaka, Japan
Date of Birth: June 9th, 1988
Favorite Style of Music: 90’s pop-rock
Other hobbies: Martial arts, singing, watch collecting and watch photography, learning Japanese and Portuguese.
Notable achievements:
2005: Massachusetts State Yo-Yo Competition- 5th place 1A
Northeast Regional Yo-Yo Contest- 5th place 1A.
2007: Massachusetts State Yo-Yo Competition- 3rd place 1A
2009: Northeast Regional Yo-Yo Contest - 7th place 1A
Canadian National Yo-Yo Contest- 2nd place 1A
2010: Massachusetts State Yo-Yo Competition- 5th place 1A
Other facts:
Brandon is a 4th degree black belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate and has been taking martial arts since age 7. In March 2012, he moved to Japan to start a new job teaching English to elementary-aged children, and is now enjoying the wonderful company of the Japanese yo-yo community. Brandon is also well-known in his home state of Maine as a yo-yo performer, and has been sharing the joy of yo-yo’s (and some dry comedy) with audiences of all ages since 2005.