European Kendama Open 2013 - Toulouse, France

[mreasyguy]

@Void I'm the same with heat, I just cant function properly haha! But i have got my factor 50 ready!

Day off work tomorrow now to get all my stuff together ready for Saturday morning, Cant wait now!

[BKA]

Hi folks, sorry for the lack of communication lately... We've not had the chance to grab any internet here in France for the past week. But anyway....

EKO 2013 Headline Results:
EKO Champion: Tomoya Mukai
European Kendama Champion: Philip Eldridge
Dan Jam Champion: Christian Fraser
Best Trick Champion: Yan Kudryatsev

Full results on Sunday or Monday, when we get back!

[BKA]

49 players representing 13 countries.

[SamB]

I just thought I'd send send a quick message out. Although my whole body hurts (literally head to toe), and I still need much much more sleep to recover and much much more water to rehydrate, it was truly an amazing week.

Sadly I won literally nothing, fully flaming out in the contest, being first loser in candle conkers, failing at lighthouse racing, unicorns, the chain, Speed trick B, and getting my arse handed to me over and over again in the many many games of KEN, PLAY and TERRA that went down. In spite of this I am so happy I went and got so much out of it.

The standard of kendama now is stratospheric! I knew I was out of practice but these days everyone kills! Every few minutes someone would land something completely mindblowing, but thankfully kendama players are still a super nice bunch and will happily show you how to do that trick too. I can't wait forall the videos (real life doesnt have replays!). This week my kendama playing went up a notch and I'm sure it was from trying all the crazy weird tricks from everyone's different play styles all the time.

So yeah anyone who was there you are all awesome and I'm so glad to have met you and hopefully we will meet again.
Anyone who wasn't there, come next time, find a way to make it work and come next time you won't regret it.

Finally infinite thanks to Void. That man seemingly almost killed himself facilitating an international week long kendama party.

So yeah, thanks Void, I owe you a dinner.

P.S. Today I... landed a naughty bird! Which is flipping nuts! I never thought I'd do that (them danish kendamas are magic I swear...)

[Yoda]

I watched some video's, i read Sam's summation and i hope i'm gonna make it next year. It's all about money.

[The Void]

Home.

Wow, what a great week. So much fun hanging out with a large bunch of players, half of whom I hadn't met before. I'm so pleased that so many people went to the trouble of coming all the way from... Belgium, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, Reunion, UK, Canada, USA and of course Japan! Plus, a couple of Toulousians/French!  Thanks to you all.

It was incredible to see you all in action - so many of you had amazing skills *in person* which is what always really impresses me. There were Dan gradings flying all over the place. (I'll try to get all the forum lists updated soon - be patient please!) Well done you lot, and special congratulations to Nicolas for joining the Westerner 5th Dan club, and to Philip and Thorny who both hit 4th with a bullet.

As for the EKO event itself, I've had a lot of positive feedback, both from players and from audience members, which is greatly pleasing. With 49 players from 13 countries spread across the divisions, and 20 of them Dan Jamming too, I was worried it would really drag, but we managed to get it all done in "only" just over 4 hours.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the judging, and Jeffrey for hosting the Best Trick. This was the first year of the Dan Jam, and it seemed to work out pretty well... and quickly too, so thanks again to Raph, Yannick & Nabin for making their scoring decisions snappily. Judging can be very difficult, but I think the right result came out in this case.

I have video of the whole event (barring a few battery cut-outs), which I will get online as soon as I can. I'm looking forwards to seeing the Dan Jam from the front, and to seeing the Best Trick for the first time.

I also hope you'll all post up links to your pictures of the week, as I only had my phonecam to snap with. (I'll post mine soon too.)

I'll sort out the full results shortly too, and post them on the BKA site.

*Unconfirmed news*
Our current thinking is that next year's EKO will NOT be at the EJC in Ireland, but probably in August sometime, in Denmark, as a standalone (multi-day) event. Hopefully we can make that happen... we'll let you know in a few months.
*Unconfirmed news ends*

Right then, for now I'll sign off with a big THANK YOU to all who came.

The Void
(Typing while heading home Northwards on the Autoroutes)

[The Void]

Group shot from [user]KendaMushroom[/user]

View this post on Instagram

[BKA]

A little taster video of the vibe.

[mreasyguy]

Finally adjusted back t reality to give my views on the whole week.

Firstly I would like to echo what Sam said and thank Void. All the work he puts into events like this just shows how much he loves kendama. It's not just the main event but all the filler contests and everything. He goes above and beyond and cannot thank him enough for all his hard work.

It was such a great week, meeting players i had only ever seen videos of or spoke to over the internet. So many different play styles and everyone just got on with everyone. That's what i loved most about it all. Just chatting to new players, playing loads of games of KEN, I was happy just giving a letter to some people because there was so many good players.

I managed to get my 1st Dan which i was happy about, wanted higher but Moshi Kame just kept beating my ass!

So many memories to take away from the event with my most prominent one being a drunken bike ride with Thibaut, Mirek and Mrsourmash at like 2am  Such a funny night which i will never forget!

I think i drank enough Biere for a few weeks but all in all such a great week. Would do it all again in a heartbeat. So many new friends made and loads of new tricks landed.

I have a few photos on my facebook here https://www.facebook.com/mreasyguy/media_set?set=a.10153080482585006.1073741825.624960005&type=3

[HansNickmans]

Wow, what a week..

Joining the other stories I wanted to give my view on the week. It was my first kendama event, not counting the EKO 2008, when I didn't know what I was watching.

We (me and my girlfriend) were there for the entire convention, so kendama was just one part of it, but what a part is was. It is too much to mention, so some highlights:
- Getting my 2nd dan on the first try. My hands were shaking, which caused me to drop two birds and have shaky lighthouses, but in the end it all worked out. K.Cima was incredibly nice and supportive.
- The support going on around the dan gradings.
- The buzz going on right before the EKO. Going through the advanced tricklist and getting pointers from other players, which was great.
- Seeing my girlfriend get third place in beginners, and Wouter (who was just playing for two days) doing really well.
- The 2nd Kyu for Janne and 4th for Wouter.
- The final between Tomoya and Sweets.
- Seeing Matt get a wingwalker to lighthouse in the waiting line for Best Trick, followed by him getting it on stage shortly after.
- Tomoya's show outside with all the players watching in awe
- Playing spin-off at our tent for hours, neglecting other workshops and shows...
- and so much more...

So many nice people, so much new stuff to work on, and so many new kendamas... It was a week to remember. We hope to get to another event soon.

And thanks to Void as well. Going from organising an EKO, playing high level games of KEN, hosting unicorns, learning Janne the swing-in, supporting people in their exams and teaching beginners the spin-off game, it is wonderful what he is doing for kendama in Europe and beyond. I take my hat off to you sir.

We mostly took pictures at the EKO, and some videos. We will be uploading a selection to the Kendama Belgium page on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kendama-Belgium/214217901964557

And now, back to reality...

[BKA]

Mirek's lovely photoset:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151854426224673.1073741829.69876059672&type=1

[BKA]

Full results are up:
http://www.kendama.co.uk/EKO2013results.html

[Thorny]

Void, do you have a photo of me with Shima after passing 4th Dan? My phone was dead so I don't have one! haha

[Thorny]

Will make another more detail EJC related post later, on my phone in town at the moment haha

[shalafi]

Both Jeffreys, Sam B, Thorkild, KendAlex, Matt Nix and more falling in R1... that must have been quite a strong competition for all those great players to be beaten so early :-O