For 5 dan you have to get like 8/10 J stick or something and I was on my last attempt for my 10th and missed it... Heartbreaking. Poor Tajima saw me break down...
hilarious post. I don't really compete so I don't know if I have one but @Grandpa Sandz got beat by a 16yo girl in Tokyo once. She was probably pretty sick though
Hmm recent one would maybe be at the MKO, on stage during the company highlight time over the weekend. I feel like I missed the end of every trick I tried. Ugh.. I've seen a few pretty gnarly choke moments at KWC, where a player just totally failed the mental game. Overcoming nerves and expectations is half the battle
I also got my ass kicked by like a 13 year old girl from Itami. But Yukie, the Japanese girl that took 5th at KWC, is really young too. So any Ds members who went to KWC (except for 4 people) have that experience lol
The first time I went to a JKA contest, I made it to the third round**, where I faced off against a girl who I think was 14, and was the current national champ, or something like that. She killed me, two tricks, two points. Next match. I don't think this was a 'choke' as much though, her consistency wasn't really something I was expecting to beat. **I battled Ballard in the first round. We had an epic match, I remember we both hit 2 of 3 scooping bottom cups to tie on it! That one ended abruptly, there was some rule we didn't know about (like the match ends after 5 tricks, or something like that), and I was the winner because I was up 1-0 I think. The second round I had a bye. So it isn't like I beat out two super-consistent Japanese kids to get to round 3 lol
Here is mine... Had a presentation with kendama on stage on some sort of student talent show.i had trick list in my head and everything was going well until i hit myself with tama in head wille doing some foot kick to spacewalk.... Video coming soon (i hope) After that my hands started to shake and i couldnt hold a single lighthouse. That was my first time on stage infront alot of ppl. And i was playing with hand made jumbo kendama
not in competition, but missing the last earth on Tundbridge.... still haven't gone back to it..... Tundbridge now gives me panic attacks LMFAO!!
There is always this perception in a lot of things that girls are somehow inferior and that you should be embarrassed if you lose to a girl but honestly girls can be just as good as guys, it's just that there are probably far fewer women who play kendama so the talent pool has a lot less overall potential.
If an equal number of women played kendama as men you would probably see them taking the title of world champion every couple of years.
Actually, they do win the JKA contests quite regularly, there have been a number of Japanese national champions that are girls in recent years. Some Japanese girls did pretty well in KWC this year too, but a lot of JKA members avoid the KWC, which is unfortunate. If they came out in force then there would be a whole host of 12-15 year old boys and girls kicking butt on stage. Any size/strength advantage a male may have doesn't really help in kendama, I think you're correct that there isn't really any reason girls can't kill it! (PS, for readability sake, can you edit your posts, rather than triple posting? Keeps things cleaner and easier to follow )
And with that said I would say that more men do play kendama so if you are seeing women placing in national championships that really says something. And yes, I will start to edit my posts instead. Still new at this forum thing. Edit: No boy or man should be embarrassed losing to a teenage girl in a kendama contest.
Thats a good point. There have been some really good girl players outside of Japan as well. There was a girl named Joanna that played for KCN waaay back in the day, she killed the stall game. There was a crew from 757 area code called kendama 757, there were a couple of girls that were really good, probably some of the best girl players around back in the day (Emma and Greer I think?). These days there are a lot of girls that kill it. At MKO this year a young girl took me out, she was legit. Banging out 2 turn airplanes like a boss haha. Claire Fuller was her name I think?
My worst choke moment (before MKO 2016 freestyle) was at Beast of the East 2015. First round of Open I got knocked out on a whirlwind by a kid who had only hit one whirlwind before that day. He his two in a row to beat me. I missed so many easy spikes I have never been more frustrated. MKO this year I was first for the freestyle. I got the knot of all knots in my ken after a moon circle...I still have never seen a knot like this one to this day.
@RyanArthurWalker ha! I remember that, you were seriously going at that dama trying to get the knot out. Funny to see a pic of it now! Some serious string jank there!
Worst choke I've ever seen was this dude in my block for rounds 1&2 at kwc16, he was shaking so badly it was pretty unnerving, round 1 didn't hit one trick, then round 2 he was doing pretty badly and the shaking was worse, and he literally had to bite down on his shoulder to stop it, and right after just laced that two turn lh trick and timer went, so he did one trick at least but jeez was it nerve wrecking to watch
@Instagrom3 reminds me of the first year KWC... I was in a group with Sweets, and he landed zero tricks in the first round. By the end of it you could tell he was pretty stressed out about it, felt bad for the dude! Haha sucks to see a homie in that situation
I had the shakes at MKO also, but pretty sure it was from taking handle pulls with Rolf the night before