what dama player has been playing the longest? I'm not talking about players for hundreds of years back. I think that @Supernog73 has been playing for around 10 years and @BallardKROM as well. And I think that @htimSxelA has been playing for 8 years? I'm still pretty new to kendama so I think that it's really interesting to know, who has been playing the longest?
Ryan and Kris Cabal have been at it for a long time now. Probably edging on a decade or pretty close.
Got my first kendama back in 1993, but it wasn't really "a thing" back then, so for many years it was just another toy for the practise bag. Had several over the years (including swingamejigs if anyone remembers those!) and it's strange to look back to those days. Playing with Stefan Csiszar, the original founder of the North American Kendama Organization. Having a session with Takumi Okada back in 2000 and not knowing who he was! Eventually got my first mugen back in 2008, got invited onto the original Team KD, and been "at it "ever since...
Stefan (aka "The Great Ballini") was a lovely and very talented guy. An incredibly gifted fine artist, and also a juggler and performer. He set up the North American Kendama Organisation, which had grading exams, and wrote and illustrated a book ("The N.A.K.O. Instruction Manual Level 1") which came out in 1998. There are one or two videos of him still up on YouTube. Sadly he passed away a couple of years ago.
In this video I watched recently was about a man named Imada Hiromu who has been playing kendama and teaching kids kendama in Japan for 28 yrs. it's a short documentary by @BallardKROM on his YouTube.
Same here bro what?!?! 1 year and you're way better than me. I started in 2014 and I can't do most of the things you can. It's true that most players now improve hellllllla quick.
Wow! The Great Ballini is the epitome of an original gangster. What a beautifully charismatic style of play. NAKO should totally be revitalized in his name.