Tales from an MKO judge

If you watched any of the MKO livestream, you probably saw me on stage helping judge the Open division, or sitting alongside Oase and Ruisch, judging the freestyle. It was an honour to take part in the event again, serious props to Sweets for throwing another epic kendama getdown!

Anyways, perhaps my favourite moment came during a match on Saturday, in either the 3rd or 4th round. The trick was 'one turn to penguin ariplane, penguin J stick'. Gabe Youngstrom (Kendama MPLS) was on his second attempt at the trick, if he landed it, he would win a point.

The 1 turn penguin airplane was flawless, it was one of those ones where you swear the sarado hits the tama before the spike even touches the walls inside the tama hole. Gabe paused for a second, then bent down to toss the penguin J stick, popped up to send it flying..... and WOP! he stomped into a perfect penguin stilt. Rock solid, it was like a magnet sucked the cup rim onto the tama. Without missing a beat, Gabe quickly hopped from stilt to in, and the crowd went crazy!

I felt like there was a very long second that passed, and then I threw my arms up in an X, signalling the trick was missed.

Gabe turned to me, and said something along the lines of "so... do I get a sketchy re-do?"

My reply: "Nope, that wasn't the trick, we're moving on to the third try now. BUT I will give you a serious fist bump, cause that was awesome"

To end it off... if I remember correctly, Gabe went on to win a point on his third attempt. Retribution!


Did anyone else witness this going down? It was pretty awesome

 

It was during this year’s Singapore National Kendama Championships that i was seated next to the judges (albeit not judging), that i started to record runs of who i think could win the flight ticket to KWC later that year.

One of the largest candidates was a kid called Anson Yeo, who is a phenomenal slayer in his own right. During his KWC style, 3 minute run, he had already hit 4 of his 5 tricks - two Level 8s, a Level 10 and Level 11, and he even had a So Kanada moment by hitting his already completed Level 10, before realizing he had already completed it.

Anyways, he’s trying to have a go at his final trick - the Level 10 Airplane, 1/2 gunslinger swap 1-turn falling in, and instead of having it fall in, the ken got sucked to the tama hole, and landed a super clean stilt ender, instead of the usual fall in.
I was astounded beyond belief.

A couple of tries later, he quickly completed his run, with loads of time remaining.
He won SNKC that year, got a flight ticket to Japan, but was unable to attend due to studies.


Here’s a video of that run i recorded (the accidental stilt ender is at 2:36)

 

Glad you were able to help out! Judging can be tough, it really puts you on the spot, because ultimately, hurting someone's feelings must take a backseat to keeping things legit. Its tough when there is a player that hasn't competed before, and doesn't know simple rules like 'once you start the trick, you CANNOT touch the kendama with your other hand', but at the same time, if they want to get on one of the biggest stages in kendama, then it should be expected that they will be held to the highest standards of clean play, regardless.

I was very inspired by how hardcore Daniel Robinson was: our goal was to let nothing slide in the open. I actually called a kid on using his left hand to push the cups down during the 'Jstick x3' trick: after his first airplane, he used his other hand to push the bottom cup towards the tama, effectively shoving the cups down tighter, before starting the Jsticks. It honestly just looked instinctual, clearly this was his usual sorta routine, which is unfortunately not legit for the big stage.


One of the tougher calls I made was actually on Kengo in an early round (he eventually finished 2nd place!). It was also on the 'one turn penguin airplane, penguin Jstick': Kengo hit the 1 turn, and then when he did the J stick, it went in, but not quite all the way. It was like the spike just caught the bead or something inside the hole, so it was like... 80% in? But not entirely. Which in itself is fine... except Kengo almost immediately just popped the ken out, almost like an insta.

I was like... ahhh crap! In a friendly game of DAMA, that would've been fine, but the combo of not-quite-100%-in and instant-pop-out left me to make a quick call, X'ing the trick. Kengo spun to look at me, wide-eyed and pointing at his tama, unsure of why I called a miss.

I quickly explained insta-outs are no good, and to keep it in control for at least a couple seconds after completion. It was a stressful moment, but I stick by the call. Perhaps thankfully, Kengo still advanced, despite the X'd trick.

 

@htimSxelA Did the JKA Overseas Examiner course you sat in on cover their competitions or mainly history, level testing, etc? Did anything from that course figure into how you look at judging?

 

Interesting question. The examiner's course covered history and ideology (kendama-do), and then focused on level testing. I don't think competition environments were explicitly mentioned, but I'm sure a lot of the emphasis on standards and the level of strictness they demand would be the same.

I don't think I ever consciously looked to that course for inspiration, but I do respect the level of legitimacy they uphold. I would say that taking it helped me gain more of an understanding of their system, and the JKA system is what defined the basics back in the day. So its all connected somehow or another!

Perhaps interestingly, Daniel Robinson was one of the invited guests to a JKA-sponsored event in San Francisco a year or two back, and I did take a lot of inspiration from him judging hardcore at the MKO. So the answer to your Q is probably yes.. one way or another!

Also, just wanted to say that I think the way you dealt with it was good. I just re-read my other reply, and I I think it came off as a critique or something, which I didn't really mean for it to be. In beginner & intermediate contests especially, shit like that will happen. When it does happen, it can be a chance for rules get to get clarified (Norx on the mic). And then everyone learns! (hopefully)

I guess... keep the contests legit, but don't ruin some young kids day because he's never heard the 'no string adjust' rule before. lol. Issue a warning and hopefully he doesn't do it again!

 

Right on! I had to call out one downspike, it was quite up-spikey though lol.

 

@htimSxelA is Daniel Robinson a JKA member/judge?

 

I don't think so.. he wasn't there the year I sat in on the course at least. I only know of a few western players that hold JKA memberships, and most of them seem to do it in order to progress through the Dan system (Void, Ruisch, Sweets). There may be a couple that hold and use their examiner status, but I couldn't name one right now.
Jake Wiens was another guest at that event, and Tajima Akira travelled in from Japan as well if I remember correctly