About Connor Seals
Connor Seals is an American 1A and 4A yo-yo competitor from Zionsville, Indiana, currently residing in Oakwood, Ohio (Dayton area). He picked up his first yo-yo at a gift shop in 2010 and entered his first competition in 2011. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Cedarville University (class of 2022). Outside competition, he runs a side business selling refurbished electronics on eBay.
Seals spent the better part of a decade building toward a national title. He made his first US Nationals finals in 2015 and finished last in the field — a result he has cited as formative. He went on to win the Midwest Regional 1A championship three consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019) and took 2nd at the 2019 US Nationals 1A, his first national podium. His consistency at the top of American competition continued through the 2020s: 3rd at nationals in 2023, 4th at the 2023 World Yo-Yo Contest in Osaka, 2nd at nationals in 2024, and 8th at the 2024 World Yo-Yo Contest.
At the 2025 US National Yo-Yo Championships in Las Vegas (June 27–29), Seals won the 1A Final with a score of 94.3 out of 100 — winning by roughly nine points over runner-up Chandler Steele — with a freestyle synchronized to “Spiders” by System of a Down. He also placed 4th in the 4A Final at the same event. At the 2025 World Yo-Yo Contest in Prague, he placed 6th in 1A and 8th in 4A. His current sponsor is W1LD, for whom he developed the Contrast (a tri-material throw used to win nationals), the Contrast Brass PC, and the Contra Beta. His earlier signature, the Motive by SF Yoyos (2019), continued in production independently after SF retired. He describes his training philosophy through Bruce Lee’s principle of drilling one technique to perfection: “Rather than practicing 10,000 kicks once, I practice one kick 10,000 times.”
In Their Own Words
From an interview with Spectrum News 1 (Dayton, OH), July 8, 2025:
On his training philosophy:
“Rather than practicing 10,000 kicks once, I practice one kick 10,000 times.”
On finally winning the national title:
“To finally win and be the definitive best is more than satisfying. However, I didn’t win until I learned to let go of the result.”
