Im sure many of you guys (like myself) dont have a huge scene where you live but would love one. For those who do have a local community (or better, those who have started one themselves) what can we do to create a community? Im working on doing this myself and i know people that want to do the same thing. I have a dama on me at all times and i always encourage people to try it when they show interest, and i occasionally vend at local events. @teejkolesnik recommended partnering with a toy shop(ideally in a mall)and hosting regular jams to get some legitimate publicity. Any other recommendations or ideas?
I'd love to hear from different people in different areas how they got a scene going and I'd also like to hear about what didn't work. Getting a scene going is hard work. I have talked to my brother about this a lot. Jake was a critical element in getting the scene started in SF that eventually spread around the US and continues to play an extremely important role in our Kendama community. Jake basically hosted lots of small, simple battles at his house in a fun, no pressure environment. It seems that these initial events were also while Jake was progressing at Kendama so the group all kinda learned together. I think this dynamic was crucial, that is, the host and the majority of participants were just starting kendama. He also gave away a lot of stuff that he paid for personally, committed a lot of time to making battle ladder edits, and was passionate about kendama. Looking back at his early ladder videos is a great way to get inspired. Like this one at an event with a fun crew including TJ, Turner, Colin and Mateo or ladder videos like this one
Giving away damas was the biggest thing early on for us. Then again, this was back when they were still relatively impossible to find in the US.
It is A LOT of work to make a sustaining community in your town. My friend Josh and I were the only real Die-Hard kendama players in our small town of Barstow, CA. but a lot of the smaller kids in middle/high school started getting into kendama and we teamed up with a small kendama shop there called JC Toys and started hosting events and small get togethers. luckily i have my sponsor KendamaMastaz to help me with prizes. but just host a lot of events and try to link up with small businesses that would benefit from a lot of younger kids coming to their store, or even church youth groups. and have buds help you with running events becouse even small events of like 30 kids will exhaust you with no help. hit up KUSA, Sweets, KMZ, Atlantic and other brands to help sponsor events for prizes and or help. it really comes down to someone or a small group of people really workin it to make a good scene in their community. if youre looking for more help or ideas or a sponsor for prizes hit me up at kmz.sergio@gmail.com
You're the man, i appreciate the feedback. Expect to see stuff from kenneticut in the future, we're on the come up.
I could tell you go into detail with you about what ive been doing and what hasnt worked as well. Youre damn right it is hard work but im willing to do it and i have a little group that i think will be really helpful. Thanks for those videos were super inspiring, and idk how i havent seen them. Stay posted for what kenneticut will be doing in the future!
I wish I had more time. I really want to get all of the Pittsburgh players together. There is a good group of us but we never meet. So so sad.
You can totally do it! Reach out to people and try to coordinate something. It could turn into once a week, maybe more. You can do it!
TLDR: I'm no pro, but I brought kendama to a small sleepy surf town in Florida and it's love spread like wildfire. I've been waiting for a thread like this.. So I'm from South Florida, which I think has been legitimately the last place in the U.S to be exposed to kendama. I started playing a little over two years ago, influenced by the GVK movement while I was at college up in South Carolina. Naturally, after college I moved home and kendama came along with me.. I got home to all my old friends and two older brothers, who started seeing me play with this odd toy all the time. I was still in the learning stages, but progressing pretty well. Then really out of no where and gradually without my encouragement, a few of my close friends bought some damas, then my brothers bought theirs, then roommates got in on it, and soon after other dudes and groms in our small beach town followed suit. One of our local surf shops Blueline Surf & Paddle Co. even started carrying KUSA tribute's for a while. What went from just me playing around town and at my friend's houses suddenly turned into having jam nights. Our group of around ten was consistently playing and making up our own rules for intense games of DAMA. Those times were the most hype and fun I've ever had playing. We really started seeing the scene grow outside of our initial group.. Sadly, adulthood has taken its toll and many of the initial jammers have dispersed for jobs and various commitments. I think because Florida was most likely one of the last states to find kendama, we were at a disadvantage and years behind the insane shredders of the west coast United States. Regardless, I helped spread the love and unity of kendama throughout South Florida and for that I feel privileged and grateful. I still go back and can find kids learning to jam and occasionally get pictures from friends when they spot people playing. If you're ever around Jupiter, FL in Palm Beach County hit me up and I'll point you to some of the local jam spots.
Love this thread... I'm gonna come back and break down what me and the UKA / KE homies did to build out our scene, about 6-7 years ago now. We had a lot of success pretty early on, small scale, but super fun. Local pushes are core to what makes things like kendama thrive!
So, when I first started out, I teamed up with a couple of friends (Ben, and Nick), and we started a club at the University of Alberta, called the UKA (University Kendama Association). We registered it as a not-for-profit group, and contacted some of the Japanese websites to see if we could get a bulk discount from them. We ordered 50 shin fujis, paid probably around $14-15 per piece, and then sold them to all of our friends for $20 each. We used the profits to buy prizes (more kendamas), and held a competition for UKA members and friends (see this video). It wasn't huge, but it was fun, and it was the first of a few contests we held through the UKA. The UKA also held a weekly jam session, it was just a low-key meetup for an hour or two in between classes. Good times! The shin fuji's ran out pretty quickly, so we upgraded to Ozoras (they were more expensive, but we sold them for $25 instead). We ordered 96 of them, and that was in the 'OG ozora' days, so you'll probably like the intro of this edit if you're a fan of the OG. Again, these sold to friends and random people in Edmonton, and it really didn't take too long to move them all. People were pretty hyped on it overall! We eventually decided it would be rad to order a couple of kegs for the next competition, and we had a couple bands play, along with an art show... it was awesome. That was when KE took over running the contests, since we had beer and were no longer using the University's buildings/services to help run them. Yes, that is an OG pink I'm drilling out to turn into a keg tap at the start of the video We held a couple of those type of events... if you can dig out the elusive KE 12 edit you'll see some more evidence of this. All in all, this worked out great, some of our battles had 30+ competitors, and probably 60+ people there to party, so it was a good time! A lot of the people there weren't deep kendama players, but it put kendama in front of a lot of people, and a small group of those players are still in it today. It just took a little bit of work and leadership, and we had an awesome time! So I guess the moral of this story is... if you're looking to start up a scene, find a way to make it very easy for your friends to get access to their own kendamas! Maybe this means lending one of yours out, or pooling money with friends for a small bulk order from a website. Whatever it is, take the initiative to be a leader and help build a fun local scene!
So cool to read these! @Jordan Fox and I are trying to build local community here in Chico, CA (as of like yesterday). So far i'be posted everywhere online to see if there'a any lurking Kendama players out there. My next couple of steps is 1. going to be to contact the local toy shop and see if they know anyone that plays or who is interested. I know they do a weekly yoyo meetup so I might crash that with the dama to get the word out. And 2. I'm bulk ordering affordable damas to give away to people who are interested which is super fun to do! @Michael Joseph Reeves gave me a good tip too which was when you give one away make sure to follow up on the person's progress, help coach and get stoked with them along the way!
@Steezdiaz perfect! In my experience there are two types of two store owners/managers: - Type A is your average person, that doesn't give a shit about some 'kendama community'. Will kendamas make them money? Yea? Okay cool, they're gonna order in a case of crappy Toysmith kendamas to sell, and you can maybe hold a meetup once a week or whatever, as long as it brings some profit their way. - Type B is more rare, but awesome. This is the type of person to get excited that you're passionate about ball n cup. They'll be more accommodating, and are more fun to work with. At the end of the day every shop owner is going to need to make some money, but type B sees the value in investing in the community aspect, as opposed to just the quickest route to making a buck. Considering they're hosting a yoyo club, hopefully your local shop is more of a Type B situation. Also, hopefully the yoyo club is sweet... though it all falls under the 'skill toy' category, yoyo players are definitely a bit of a different breed. Anyways, local toy shops can be a good thing to have on board, but remember that they're there to run a toy shop, not to foster a community. Use their resources, but be wary of becoming too dependant on them. I've seen some crappy situations where kendama sales fell off so the store stopped hosting events, and suddenly the core players stopped having a space to host their jam sessions, making it even tougher for even the most dedicated players to keep playing. Of course, this can be an issue with almost any jam space, nothing lasts forever!
Starting a kendama club at my school really helped me grow a small scene out of nothing. Now everyone in my school knows what a kendama is. People will just come in and start messing around with a dama. The more serious players worked to try to land cup combos and airplanes. The beginning struggle I had when I was trying to start a scene was having kendamas to use. I decided to contact Kendama USA and asked if they had any old or used damas they could donate to my club. They came in clutch and sent me a bunch of damas, some new, and some used. This was amazing because people were able to come in and just mess around with kendama. It allowed me to teach other people kendama and fuel their passion for it. I recommend to people that are working to start a scene, talk to companies to try to get some help. They are always working to spread kendama so when they see people working to create scene, they will help out.
I love this thread and hope more people post about there experiences. I live in a small town in Canada. We have nothing Kendama here. I fluked into seeing one at the dollar store and thinking it seemed fun. Was going to go back and get them for gifts, but they didn’t carry them anymore and I’ve only seen the odd yo yo kind or once in a while a plastic one. I think one small toy store has a plastic one and a regular catchy. The kids I teach love trying mine or watching me try and hit simple tricks as I’m so beginner. I gave a bunch away for Christmas gifts and helped others get some for gifts as well. I might try and do a get together at least with my students, maybe make some very simple ladders or contests and give some prizes. Hard for me to find much, but I’m trying. I found the Sweets recent surge of tutorials great and I made a package of tutorial links and lists to go with the gifts. It would be great to have people to play with sometimes and some support, but being the first here that I know of, I guess I’m the support lol. Yikes! I contacted many companies and people online for any info I could get on where to find as much help as I can for learning and stuff, it directed me hear and everyone had some different and some similar tips. Each person is going to have something unique to add that can be helpful, so I’m very grateful for all the support here and all the resources so far. Almost all of the community has been very kind and supportive. Of course I’m just a newb to some, not worth the time or I dunno, but I truly appreciate all that some of you do and the kindness most of the community shows. Not everyone is looking for a handout, but a handup is always welcome. So hoping to get this thread bumped and maybe more helpful info will come out if it. Thanks
@Kristina are you anywhere near Ontario? @Lucas Canadian Kendama is working the scene over there and even if he's not nearby might be able to offer some tips to help you get something going in your own neighborhood. Ontario Kendama Meet Ups We've got a fair number of other Canadians on the boards too so maybe you guys can connect. @kendama_grandma hasn't been on for a while but made some fun videos for "grandmas" (first timers) you can check out.
Thanks! I live in Ontario, but It’s a big province. From what I have found, most players or meet ups I see are in the southern Ontario which is the main big city area. Where I live, places are more spread out. I am an hour from the American border with Minnesota, but 4 hours from Duluth and about 8-9 from Minneapolis. If I drive the other way, I’m about 8-9 hours from Sault Ste Marie which is a bit of a start of the southern Ontario area and I think it borders with Michigan but not sure how close bigger cities would be. We are almost double that distance to Toronto which is I think where the main scene is. If I go a different route, I’m about 8-9 hours from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The drives to any of these areas are basically just bush and pretty views or some really small little places thatexoat for the travellers. I appreciate the info though and will sure try and pick some brains on any tips. Maybe one day I will meet them too. Thanks.