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American Morning
Seven-Year-Old Yo-Yo Mini Master
Aired July 30, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He is only 7 years old and already Evan Nagao's life is full of ups and down. But Evan isn't troubled; he's talented. In fact, he is the national sport yo-yo champion, a walk the dog, rock the baby, milk the cow mini-master.
Recently I had a chance to talk to the little trickster and asked his father how Evan became interested in the sport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAN NAGAO, EVAN'S FATHER: I didn't really get him into it. There were a lot of kids playing yo-yos at my house, like teenagers, not my kids, but other friends and things. And as they started to play in front of him, he would watch them, and, wow, you know, kind of pick up. And then at 1 year or like 18 months, he picked up a yo-yo and started to play with it. And by 2 years old, he was walking the dog and all of that.
O'BRIEN: So, Evan, when you're just home hanging out, relaxing with your friends, are you doing yo-yo all of the time, or do you break to play video games and to read a book and to do your homework?
EVAN NAGAO, NATIONAL SPORT YO-YO CHAMPION: Well, most of the time I just do homework, but still yo-yos.
O'BRIEN: So, you're not doing the yo-yo while you're doing your homework, right?
E. NAGAO: After.
O'BRIEN: Oh, after, OK. So...
E. NAGAO: Well, sometimes I do when I'm on the chair.
O'BRIEN: I see. So, sometimes you're doing yo-yo while you're doing your homework at the same time. Evan, tell me how the judges pick who's going to win. Do they do it by how difficult the tricks are that you're doing, or do you just basically have to be really, really smooth?
E. NAGAO: They basically do it by hard tricks, harder and harder, and it gets harder and harder and harder and harder tricks.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, can I ask you to do some hard tricks for me? What are you going to show me that you can do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. Boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. It was the middle of the night in the middle of a dream I was surrounded by water being carried downstream. The next thing I knew I was hanging with Alice in Wonderland. Mickey Mouse was the drummer of the band. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. Out of the blue, was in the happiest place, there were 101 Dalmatians licking my face. And then no one was up until I saw Snow White. She said, "No need to worry, those doggies don't bite." Just ask Sleepy and Sneezy, they'll tell it's true. It's so easy to make friends with...
O'BRIEN: Alan, we're going to end with you this morning. I know you're really, really proud of your son. We've had the chance to talk before. Do you see him parlaying this into some kind of professional yo-yo career one day? Would you like to see that?
A. NAGAO: Well, actually, he's kind of a little yo-yo professional as it is. We're touring Los Angeles and teaching kids how to play yo-yo, and also San Diego. So, he's actually a little yo- yo professional already.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired July 30, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He is only 7 years old and already Evan Nagao's life is full of ups and down. But Evan isn't troubled; he's talented. In fact, he is the national sport yo-yo champion, a walk the dog, rock the baby, milk the cow mini-master.
Recently I had a chance to talk to the little trickster and asked his father how Evan became interested in the sport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAN NAGAO, EVAN'S FATHER: I didn't really get him into it. There were a lot of kids playing yo-yos at my house, like teenagers, not my kids, but other friends and things. And as they started to play in front of him, he would watch them, and, wow, you know, kind of pick up. And then at 1 year or like 18 months, he picked up a yo-yo and started to play with it. And by 2 years old, he was walking the dog and all of that.
O'BRIEN: So, Evan, when you're just home hanging out, relaxing with your friends, are you doing yo-yo all of the time, or do you break to play video games and to read a book and to do your homework?
EVAN NAGAO, NATIONAL SPORT YO-YO CHAMPION: Well, most of the time I just do homework, but still yo-yos.
O'BRIEN: So, you're not doing the yo-yo while you're doing your homework, right?
E. NAGAO: After.
O'BRIEN: Oh, after, OK. So...
E. NAGAO: Well, sometimes I do when I'm on the chair.
O'BRIEN: I see. So, sometimes you're doing yo-yo while you're doing your homework at the same time. Evan, tell me how the judges pick who's going to win. Do they do it by how difficult the tricks are that you're doing, or do you just basically have to be really, really smooth?
E. NAGAO: They basically do it by hard tricks, harder and harder, and it gets harder and harder and harder and harder tricks.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, can I ask you to do some hard tricks for me? What are you going to show me that you can do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. Boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. It was the middle of the night in the middle of a dream I was surrounded by water being carried downstream. The next thing I knew I was hanging with Alice in Wonderland. Mickey Mouse was the drummer of the band. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. He goes boom the boom, boom, boom the boom. Out of the blue, was in the happiest place, there were 101 Dalmatians licking my face. And then no one was up until I saw Snow White. She said, "No need to worry, those doggies don't bite." Just ask Sleepy and Sneezy, they'll tell it's true. It's so easy to make friends with...
O'BRIEN: Alan, we're going to end with you this morning. I know you're really, really proud of your son. We've had the chance to talk before. Do you see him parlaying this into some kind of professional yo-yo career one day? Would you like to see that?
A. NAGAO: Well, actually, he's kind of a little yo-yo professional as it is. We're touring Los Angeles and teaching kids how to play yo-yo, and also San Diego. So, he's actually a little yo- yo professional already.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
