The BKA headed over to Germany to attend the European Juggling Convention in Karlsruhe - the largest ever gathering of jugglers in one place: 5360 of them! What better place to try to gain some new converts to the way of the kendama?

Things got started with Matt Hall & Void getting up on the Renegade Stage on Sunday night to give a quick demonstration of what the Speed Trick Challenge was all about, and to plug their workshop and the competition.

The next afternoon saw a well attended workshop, with well over 20 participants learning the golden rule of "More Knees!". The time seemed to whizz past really quickly, so more time was spent demoing tricks later in the week.

Before that, however, there was a play-off for 3rd place, since there were prizes at stake! Tom faced up against Pharayo, and this time raced away in a fast time of 35 seconds to earn 3rd place. Before the final though, there was time for the Best Trick competition.

The format for this was simple: a time limit of 5 minutes, during which anyone could get up on stage and try any trick. If they succeeded, it was noted down, if not, they would get off stage, and come back for another attempt at the same, or a different, trick. At the end of the 5 minutes, head judge Void called out the succesful player's names along with their trick, and the crowd got the chance to cheer for who they thought had amazed them most.

Many tricks were attempted - special mention to Mark T for trying all his hardest tricks, Matt Hall for his Stab & Scoop, & Tom for his Thumb trap, but in the end the crowd decided that the winners were:
1. Idam [UK] (Chopstick trick)
2. Pharayo [GER] (Commando roll/cup)
3. Fabian [GER] (Body Catch)