BKA Membership - new for 2014 - come and join!

[BKA]

Membership for 2015 is now CLOSED.

[kaskaderos.com]

Yeah price draw now :-)

[BKA]

Thanks once again to all those who gave us their support/membership in 2014 and 2015.
Unfortunately, there was not enough interest for us to keep this running.
There will be no BKA membership for 2016.

If you want to support the BKA, enter the competitions, follow/RT/share our social media posts, attend our events, or just use this forum. In short, don't be a lurker.

[kaskaderos.com]

Oh, bad news for the new year.
So there will be no BKA-Gradings in 2016?

[BKA]

Gradings will continue.

[KenSan]

That's a shame, I was just wondering about the renewal to.

[shalafi]

Pity. It was an easy way to support the work you do on supporting Kendama

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Dimensions]

Will Outlink continue?

[BKA]

Pity. It was an easy way to support the work you do on supporting Kendama

Not easy enough for most people, it seems.

[The Void]

Will Outlink continue?

It seems unlikely. I enjoyed running Outlink for the BKA and for BKA members, but the participation wasn't that great, and it's a lot of effort to run it. And when (currently) only 2 people can be arsed to enter the astoundingly easy Paper Kendama competition, I don't see why I should put so much of my time into a complex competition when nobody is paying me to run it. Blunt, but there you go.

[shalafi]

I've been in a similar position to Void, it really sucks when you put the effort in organizing something and people do not get involved.

Sad to see outlink not running again, but I totally get Void's point.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[kaskaderos.com]

I understand the position, but i think, if something dont work like i imagien, i should think about, why it not work, befor cancle all.
One thing is clear, if no membership exist or 2016, it will be dead for the following years too. Its a final decision.

Marketing in these days need special thinking, otherwise it will not work.
The Problems are:
1. Kendama is only a toy in the eyes of "normal" people
2. there is a "social media blindness" that starting to grow up
3. A forum dont work, especially in a sport/game with such smal comunity
4. internet side with downt work on mobile is an "no go" in 2015
5. there is no advertising for the bka, a sticker is not enough
6. membership wich must be updated each year by selfe wont work

Marketing in these days are a verry difficult chellenge.

[LarsVegas]

That's a pity that BKA membership is discontinued. I loved it just for being part of it and to support your great work, Void.
Ok, I also liked the price draws and the competitions. I don't know why only a few people participate, but at least for the paper kendama competition, the British-only restriction might be a good explanation. I loved Outlink, even though I dropped out quite early both times, but maybe that's also a problem of it. The difference between beginners, intermediates, and experts is getting huge. So Outlink could only be won by experts and that's maybe a reason for many not to enter.

I hope that you can change your mind. Maybe a smaller number of events would work out, too - less work for you.

[the milky oolong]

Have to say that I am very sad to read this news too. I suggest that as BKA members we discuss this seriously, regardless of whether that is going to change Void's mind or not.

As someone who vacillates between being quite active and then absent from the forum, I feel I have a good idea about the dynamic of this space, and I would like to say a few things:

Both forum members and BKA members should bear in mind how much our effort means to others, both to the BKA and to other players using this site. Contributing anything more than questions to the site, sharing new ideas, offering trick advice, uploading videos (like the recent JKA Grand Prix video, for example), organizing and taking part in competitions (yes, guilty as sin here about the last one!) - all these things take time and energy. Nobody is being salaried for keeping this place alive; it's our responsibility and if we're using it, we should all be making a bit more effort to maintain it.

Personally, I enjoy the advert-free, clean and easy feel of a bulletin forum like this, but even though some of my other German contacts speak good English, short of placing them under duress, I can't get them to register and use it. They happily join kendama Facebook groups and a few use Instagram, but they use these things anyway, so it's no big jump. That's a shame, because in this case it's not the price of membership, not unwillingness to take part in comps, or give trick advice, etc, it's just the medium they won't engage with.

I am always glad to see the local meets being posted on the forum, but I can't judge the physical presence of the BKA very well from where I am, and I don't know if the BKA has an intended goal or 'ideal situation' regarding members and active participation, etc. As I have already more or less said, I have felt participation on the forum to be quite low recently, especially when there has been quite a bit going on, but I am not sure how and how far other people identify themselves as BKA members - to speak for myself, it means sharing with you guys my kendama experiences, my enthusiasm, and sometimes my knack for locating a specific trick in a forgotten edit when someone needs it. I wanted to go to the EKO and meet everyone again but I didn't feel I was letting the BKA down in not making it. So maybe it's a question also of how people see forum and BKA membership.

I, for one, will offer my membership fee for 2016. The membership card is cool, but I don't get to use it enough anyway. Just let me get back to Europe and I'll send it over.

[Maicodama]

As with the others that have posted, I too am a little sad to hear this. Being inactive recently am a little guilty about the lack of participation. The BKA and this forum, as with most people, started me off in my kendama journey. I'm with @milky oolong as I would gladly sign up again for 2016. Much Dama love as always.