By Kevin Russell
Staff Writer
For many students yo-yoing is a fun toy but for Junior Julian Grunauer it is a serious passion that has taken him to competitions across the United States.
Grunauer began yo-yoing four years ago and ever since has been inspired to become the best that he can possibly be at it. He was first inspired by one of his good friends to try yo-yoing out as a hobby after visiting a yo-yoing club with him at the Redondo beach pier and realizing he really enjoyed the yo-yoing community.
“I saw one my friends yo-yoing once and thought it was interesting so I bought a yo-yo to try it out and realized I really liked it so I began to practice everyday,” Grunauer said. “Now it’s my favorite hobby.”
Grunauer loves yo-yoing because it is difficult with hundreds of possible tricks to learn and then master which makes it a very fluid and variating hobby. Yo-yoing is very challenging because you add on your own changes to tricks like the Backburner a trick where one spins the yo-yo throwing it from behind your back and catching it again.
“I like how everything looks really hard and complicated but with practice anything is possible,” Grunauer said. “It’s nice to see my improvement because it makes your progress really obvious.”
Grunauer is sponsored by Yo-yo Jam, the second largest yo-yo company in the United States, based in Florida. Yo-yo Jam began to sponsor Grunauer after his yo-yoing mentor inspired him to start yo-yoing saw his potential and talked to the company which he was also sponsored by.
“I was very excited because It’s something I had worked really hard for and had finally achieved,” Grunauer said. “It was really nice to be recognized by so many people.”
Yo-yo Jam helps support Grunauer in his yo-yoing by sending him a package of free yo-yo’s every couple of months. Along with packages of free yo-yo’s Julian recieve points for how he places in competitions which they can use to get free merchandise for the company.
“It’s a pretty awesome agreement,” Grunauer said. “It’s really helpful to receive free merchandise.”
One of Julian’s favorite parts is the team aspect with other yo-yoers who are sponsored by Yo-yo Jam and those who also compete competitions against him. Although it is very competitive, it is a very supportive community of people that Grunauer loves to be a part of.
“It’s a whole team of sponsored yo-yoers and we get to hangout,” Grunauer said. “When I visited Florida for a national competition I competed in I got to stay at the owner of Yo-yo Jam’s house.”
Julian has competed many times in Los Angeles for regional competitions and has competed as far away as Florida for a national competition. He received first place in a recent exhibition in Redondo beach and when he competed in the 2013 nations in Florida he received 4th place in the 4a division where the yo-yo isn’t connected to the string.
“His off string yo-yoing is a bit like an ocean because it moves like a wave,” yo-yoer Ross Levene sponsored by slithering hippo. “He’s like a child prodigy.”
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