At what point does everyone feel like you need to get to to go from being a high beginner to intermediate? Just curious
I have wondered the same thing. I just managed my first lunar flip, but I still feel like a beginner. I guess look up a few beginner/intermediate ladders and see what you can and can't do within those.
That's exactly how I feel. I can do the beginner ladders, but the intermediates are always a struggle to complete within the allotted time. Consistency is a huge factor. Yah maybe you've hit a 1-2-3 *blank*, but can you do it again and again. We may be beginners in some aspects but intermediate in others. Just remember you are doing it for yourself. Personally, I'll always consider myself a beginner. It takes some pressure off of maintaining the skills and keeps the yearning to learning high.
Back in 2013, you’d probably have a higher chance of getting into a kendama team because you managed a lunar flip! How have times changed.
Yeah the beginner ladders I can get and I can totally nail a lot of the tricks for intermediate but I'm the same way with the timed part, I would probably never try and compete but I'd love to go to some events but be able to hang with people who are there trick wise if that makes since haha
Yeah maybe I'll n a few years haha I'll try and go and be a spectator until then these guys are insane out here
I think this is kind of a moving target, as tricks and players change so does the idea of beginner/intermediate. It still interesting to me to run across players that can nail some tough tricks but get iced in a game of KEN by something traditionally considered much more basic. Maybe we should think of ourselves like doctors and lawyers who despite their advanced learning still use "practicing" to refer themselves (practicing lawyer/doctor).
Man I would love to get paid like a doctor or lawyer to play kendama haha You're right about the basics part though whenever I have a long sesh I work on those basics for half a hour to 45 minut snat least just to stay sharp
I feel like the difference between a high beginner and a low intermediate is the integration of "tech" and medium levels of consistency. I competed in an intermediate ladder two years ago and I could consistently land a lot of the around the "x" but stalls and balance tricks were my Achilles' heel at the time.
I find it funny how people are now doing lunar flips and considering whether or not they are intermediate players yet. There was once a point where some of the best players out there had a hard time with loon flips, crazy
YOOOOO i remembered when my friend and i tried to figure out loon flips for the first time. Took me months to nail my first!
I find loon flips so easy now it's crazy lol I can land those easily but I super struggle with a damn pull up Ken flip or gunslinger, Anything where I have to rotate as I pull up I suck at lol
when you feel like you're tired of being a high beginner? I think I started leveling up when I started feeling like "man I'm way too nooby at this thing, I need to get better at it" I also used the old Sweets tutorials to gauge my skills. If I was at a point where it was like "yeah these tricks are way too easy now," I knew it was time to start trying and learning harder tricks.
I have an app and a note book now that I use to note any tricks or ladders that I want to work on. This year I went to my first competition here in the UK, BKO. Originally I thought that the beginner tricks would be easy so had it in mind that I would try intermediate. When the lists were released I couldn't land a single trick on the intermediate line I thought the jump from beginner was too much. So I entered beginners. I flopped so hard due to nerves lol , however I kept working on the intermediate tricks and can land all of them now. It's useful to keep track of the things you're practicing and looking back at what you have learned in the last month, year or so.
I feel this so hard right now. I've been practicing for the COTK event on Saturday and have no idea if I should compete in beginners or intermediate. Beginners ladder I can do in under 30 seconds every time. Everything in there is first or sometimes second try for me. On the other hand, I've done the intermediate ladder in under a minute but it more commonly takes me like 3-5 minutes. Maybe using a ladder for only one event isn't the best way to measure though? If the intermediate ladder didn't have the slinger in it I would be waaaaay faster.
Had another thought on the subject, perhaps part of the advancement in kendama is a perspective change. For me personally I noticed that I moved from chasing new trick after new trick to wanting to be able to hit tricks on demand (or nearly so). Consistency eventually overtook my primary motivation for playing and practicing. Don't get me wrong, I really get hyped when I nail a new trick but there's something about knowing I can hit a given trick consistently that really makes me feel like I've progressed even if that trick isn't crazy hard. The difficulty level of the trick becomes secondary to the difficulty of hitting it repeatedly or lately, hitting it with either hand.
The biggest factor on the day was nerves for me. I was fine until we all stood there and it started, I ended up not getting past the third trick in the ladder. If you're used to competing them give intermediate a try, but also keeo in mind that that if you want to progress in the comp then go with the level you are strongest.