Dana Bennett has won national and world championships for his yo-yo skills. The 19-year-old Scarborough resident graduated from Scarborough High School in 2006 and has just completed his first year at Bates College in Lewiston. On Friday, at 3:30 p.m., Bennett and world freestyle Frisbee champion Todd Brodeur will give a presentation to children in Grades 4 and up about the physics involved in their respective hobbies, at the Scarborough Public Library. Last week, Bennett sat down with The Current to talk about different ways to use a yo-yo, the friends he has made through competing and his plans for the future.

Q: How did you get interested in yo-yo competitions?

A: It all started around third grade when a yo-yo pro came to the Wentworth School. Everyone was yo-yoing back then. I have another friend who still does it. We push each other. We go to competitions together.

Q: Where have you gotten to travel to for yo-yo competitions?

A: We started mostly going to competitions in New England – Vermont and Massachusetts. We started going to Orlando to the world competition in 2004. Last year, I went to the nationals in Chico, Calif. So, I’ve gotten to travel a little bit.

Q: How have you done in competitions?

A: Last year, I won the world and national championships. There are five different divisions of yo-yoing – different styles. The style I competed in and won was called freehand. Instead of connecting it to your middle finger, you have a counterweight on the end. It lets you manipulate the yo-yo. The other types of styles – there’s normal, connected to your finger, and there’s off-string, where the yo-yo’s not connected to the string. There’s one called double A, where you have one yo-yo on each hand, and you do looping tricks. And there’s triple A where you have two yo-yos and they both sleep at the end – when the yo-yo spins on the bottom of the string. You can do a lot of tricks with it.

Q: What are some of your signature tricks?

A: A lot of what people do in competition doesn’t have names. Usually, you just create whatever you do. I try to just play around. I do yo-yo for fun. I don’t have a strict practice regimen before competitions.

Q: What are your competitors like?

A: The main yo-yoing demographic is the high school/college age students. There are people up to whatever age, and there are kids that are just starting like I did in third grade, who are probably a lot better than I was back then. The most competitive people are probably within five years of me, either way.

Q: What do you like best about competing?

A: The friendships I’ve made through yo-yoing are pretty interesting. It’s gotten me in contact with people all over the world. I’ve got a lot of friendships that, I guess, cherish. There are people I’ll always stay in contact with. I don’t know how much longer I’ll compete, but I’ll always enjoy yo-yoing and always do it to some degree.

Q: What are you studying in college?

A: I’m leaning toward majoring in math right now. I’ve always kind of been math-oriented in school. When I got to college, I took classes and discovered I still liked it, so I thought that was the way to go – study something you like.

Q: Do you know what you would do with a math degree?

A: There’s the possibility of becoming a teacher of some sort. I’m keeping my options open. I want to do something I enjoy, so I have to discover what that is.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies besides yo-yoing?

A: I like going to the beach. I’ve been doing that a lot this summer. I’ve been working a lot this summer. I used to be in the Gym Dandies, which shaped me a lot. I still juggle. I’m going to be president of the juggling club at Bates next year. That should be fun.

Q: Does yo-yoing take up a lot of your time?

A: I don’t think of it as taking up my time. There’s the world yo-yo competition coming up in August, so I’ve been practicing a little more, but it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed, so it’s not stressful or anything. I have a job, and I still have a reasonable social life, so it doesn’t take that much time.

Q: If there was a movie about you life so far, what would it be called?

A: I hope it would not be called anything that was a play on yo-yos – anything about ups and downs or the world on a string. The yo-yo people would laugh if they saw that, but I guess that’s what people know me for, my yo-yoing, so I guess it should be about that.

Q&A with Dana Bennett – Yo-yo still keeps champ on a string