Around the world on a string

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Some call him, “The Yo-Yo Man.”

In other circles, he’s simply referred to as a “yo-yoer.”

In either case, J-M McNulty doesn’t mind the moniker. In fact, both

are taken as a compliment.

He can “Walk the Dog” without effort, and going “Around the World” is

a piece of cake. Heck, you should see him do the “On the Back Loop.”

McNulty, a senior at Ocean View High, has become a renowned yo-yo

performer, so talented is the 17-year-old that he currently is the

third-ranked yo-yoer in the world.

That’s right, the world.

“The competitions are a great experience, especially when the whole

world gets together,” said McNulty, the J-M standing for “John-Michael.”

McNulty has played sports on the local scene since he was a youngster,

from Fountain Valley Little League and AYSO soccer, to three years as the

No. 1 singles player on Ocean View’s boys’ tennis team. Currently, he

plays inline roller hockey in Huntington Beach.

But it was way back in the third grade, when he was a student at

Westmont Elementary School, when McNulty was introduced to the yo-yo.

“I was immediately hooked,” he said. “Everyone at my school was into

it at the time. I gave it up after a while. Actually, for a long while

after that initial interest.”

It was the summer before his sophomore year at Ocean View that McNulty

said he became interested in the yo-yo again.

“It was in that summer of ’99 and it seemed like everyone I saw was

into the yo-yo craze,” he said. I just picked it up again and have been

doing it since.”

Back in the summer of ‘99, McNulty said that he had gotten about “50

tricks” down pat with one yo-yo, when he discovered two-handed yo-yo

performers at a competition at The Block in Orange. He took up working

with two yo-yos a week after that contest and took a yo-yo class at the

Kite Connection on the Huntington Beach Pier and also at The Block. He

went on to win a majority of the first six local competitions he had

entered, then went with a small group from the Kite Connection and

entered his first world championship competition in Honolulu that summer.

He managed to reach the finals, but finished 26th out of 26.

To reach a final, a competitor first must score enough points after

performing a list of tricks in preliminary competition. In a freestyle

final accompanied by music, each competitor has a three minute time limit

to perform their best tricks.

“I had a blast, and reaching the finals in my first time out was

great,” he said. “I mean, there were competitors from Singapore, Japan .

. . you name it.”

That summer of ’99 tournament was his first taste of world

competition. Currently, McNulty competes in roughly eight events during

the course of a year. Last Sunday, he finished in second place in the

Double A Division (two-handed) at a tournament held in Los Angeles. Next

up is a May 4 competition at the Bay Area Classic in San Mateo.

He has won nearly 20 competitions overall.

But it was last summer in Orlando where McNulty reached his highest

ranking to date. He made it through the preliminaries and reached the

freestyle final and ended up with a third-place finish in the Double A

Division.

Yo-yoers are ranked each year according by how they finish in world

championship competition. They then carry that ranking until the next

world championships.

McNulty has a vast collection of yo-yos, more than 200 and in “every

color,” he said, receiving most as prizes from the competitions he has

entered. He currently uses a Yomega Raider when he competes. He practices

at home every day, for an hour or so, he says, adding that hand-eye

coordination is very important.

Casualties have been few, too. He says that his forearm can begin to

tire after yo-yoing nonstop for a period of time, and the one item to be

broken -- on more than one occasion -- has been the ceiling fan light in

his bedroom.

The glass bulbs have since been replaced with plastic bulbs.

“You know, my family and friends didn’t think my interest in the yo-yo

would last beyond the initial stages,” McNulty added. “But it has. I’m

having a great time with it and as long as the competitions are fun and

I’m meeting great people, then I’ll continue with it.”

* MIKE SCIACCA is the education and sports reporter. He can be reached

at (714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.