The are a lot of separate threads announcing one player or another on DS but I thought it might be interesting to see what's going on across the community if we had one location for player announcements, moves, retirements or other things going on in the sponsored and/or team players (sometimes players join a team not a brand). Let 2020 be the start date for this and if you know of any players getting on to teams from this year post their announcement videos, IGs, etc. here for people to check out and discuss. With that in mind here are the latest team member announcements from Sweets. Also from earlier the Matt "Sweets" Jorgenson announcement (?? not sure where they actually announced it).
What are everyone's thoughts on these signings? While I'm happy for them, there are so many female kendama players out there who have a much higher skill level than these three. Not to say that they are not deserving, or that Sweets was wrong in doing so, but I am skeptical about these signings. Need to know more about the 3 women to see where Sweets is coming from.
I would imagine that most companies sporting a "pro" (or brand) team have their own ideas about what they want in their members. Some might lean more toward skill and competition, others toward personality and community involvement. I've seen a number of posts regarding the traits valued in a pro and it would seem that skill is not the end-all be-all in the decision making process for most teams. Pros are basically living breathing marketing for a given brand so it's not just how well they play kendama but their personality, energy, how they interact with people, involvement in their communities, and even their draw/appeal in a given demographic. Though goenKendama specifically isn't remotely in the same category as the big companies, we also look for the qualities above plus a teaching element in our team players. All of our team members are very hands-on with excellent people skills and a lot of patience; they're primarily teachers. They're not just supporting our brand but bringing kendama to people of all ages who may have never even seen a kendama before. While major brands have been making tutorials forever, in the last couple of years, direct teaching has also become more of a focus for many; Joshua from Sweets comes to mind. Regarding the new team players you reference it's likely they met the criteria Sweets was looking for in new members. I don't have any inside information so this is speculation. It was likely more about who they are rather than just what they can do. It might also have a good bit to do with the communities within which they are active and how they are perceived within that group. Sweets is kind of known for reaching out into different groups to bring new players in from outside the normal kendama community; think Reed Stark, Boogie T, Boo Johnson. Here are a few other threads where aspects of this were also discussed: Why can't they be pro players? Pro status Pros worthy of pro mods. . . The flow team: on sponsored, non-pro teams and players
Yea I think Jay was Analog before?? Cool to see Tribe picking up some new players.. was Wondering and maybe @htimSxelA has the info.. when pros design their promods for specific companies do they sign any kind of contract dictating they have to stay on the team for so long or have so many of their mods sold before they can leave the team or switch like music artists do with their labels?? I’ve seen players like Wyatt Bray flexing Sol a lot lately which I hadn’t really seen much of in the past and there’s been some #wyattforsol hashtags floating around I think.. but I know he just released his newest promod with KUSA. So just was wondering about some of the inside knowledge..
That changes from one company to another I'm sure. Though I'd feel safe saying that the dama industry pro positions generally run on 'handshake deals' rather than intensive formal contracts. fwiw, I've never signed any sort of sponsorship contract (though I did first join the team LONG ago)
Did u “officially” retire from the KUSA team at some point? Like made a post or something saying you were going to strictly be Terra at some point? I believe I remember Jake doing something when he left KUSA to concentrate fully on GT
hehe, to be fair, the KUSA pro team page has been a long-running joke of "the thing that never gets updated". But otherwise its correct in that I have not left the team officially. @JHard502710 I still do work with KUSA closely in a lot of ways though, I just haven't been as focused on putting out content as a pro player lately. For a looong time I was cognizant of what I was posting to my personal page (ie, tagging KUSA, and letting the Terra pros rep Terra), but I've relaxed that more recently, to help with branding and PR for Terra. Its nice to be able to show off some of my handturned work, etc, in a more personal venue (eg, my IG, instead of just the Terra IG). I think it helps paint a better picture of what Terra is about, and ultimately Terra is how I pay my bills, so..
To quote Chad... "Kris used to ship me boxes of damas, but now I ship him boxes of damas." Full circle lol Congrats Kris! Stoked to see you back on the grind. Please keep sending me snapchat bangers lol
I just checked. He is still following GT but GT doesn't follow him. They do follow the other players though.
..I know, I know sponsored players play other companies Damas. But I used to only see KA post with a GT but I feel like recently I’ve seen him post a trick or two with Krom’s. Maybe I am incorrect, but that what I think I remember last time I saw his IG.
Ok, I saw KA’s IG story this wkend welcoming Adrian to the GT team. So one can assume he is still a team member as well..