Skip to main content
When Aliyah Tan first picked up a yo-yo in middle school, a national title wasn’t in the cards. Procrastination was her goal. But while avoiding her homework, Tan fell down a rabbit hole of YouTube yo-yo tutorials, picking up tricks as she went.
“I think it’s really cool that there’s a fidget that you can get better at, that you can one day become the best in the country at it,” Tan says.
Tan first competed at the national level in 2014. This year, the 27-year-old Portlander became a yo-yo champion, taking home gold at the 2026 National Yo-Yo Contest in Las Vegas this June.
Her specialty is the 3A Two Hands Strings Trick division, which involves seamlessly weaving and bouncing two yo-yos off one another. Her winning three-minute routine featured elaborately choreographed tricks performed to the beat of British rock band The Last Dinner Party’s “Count the Ways.”
Past accolades and national renown, Tan, who is transgender, has found a supportive community in the yo-yo world. Before it shuttered in 2024, Tan worked with Qcrew, a local non profit led by queer yo-yoers dedicated to suicide prevention among queer youth. With Qcrew, Tan hosted multiple yo-yo-themed fundraisers benefiting the national organization The Trevor Project, which shares Qcrew’s mission, and led a pin campaign to promote pronoun sharing among yo-yoers.
Heading into nationals this year, Tan collaborated with designer Dale Tubat on a custom run of trans pride flag yo-yos.
Now, she hopes her success in Vegas can pave the way for others.
“I hope that my win specifically shows yo-yoers that are currently involved in the scene that, if they are struggling with anything regarding their identity, that the yo-yo world is a safe space to not only express yourself, but to meet new people and expose yourself to new ideas.”
Tan’s Portland roots have continually played a role in her yo-yo journey. She works as a greenhouse manager for G&G Interiors by day. The Portland-based interior plant design company sponsored her flight to nationals. She also regularly attends meetups for Portland’s Shrimp Gang Skill Toy Club yo-yo group.
Yo-yoing, Tan says, has always been as much about the people as the tricks, and the relationships she’s formed with her peers competing at national level run deep.
“It always feels like a family reunion in a way, which is really special—having a community of people that you could share a language with,” she says. “[You’ve] seen them grow up and they’ve watched you grow up.”
Tan’s next stop is the World Yo-Yo Contest in Himeji, Japan, this August.
