Introduce yourself!

[SEB]

Hi everybody,
I am sébastien, 26 years , from switzerland.I started playing kendama 3 months ago. It became an addiction in less than 5 minutes!
I love it and already think about going to kendama events to meet the kendama community, which seems very nice by the way!
Currently, I am working on speed trick b,
cheers

[BKA]

Hi Sébastien,
Welcome to the forum, and welcome to kendama! It's fun, isn't it?
Yes, definitely get to any event that you can - it's so much fun to jam with other players. Oh, and more pins are always welcome on the map....
What's your best Speed Trick B time so far?
Cheers!

[SEB]

I need to improve my accuracy on some of the tricks, especially lighthouse. I hit it twice under 2 minutes so I guess it is a start. I am looking forward to improve it!

[KenSan]

Welcome to the forum SEB. I actually memorized speed trick B last week so that I could practice it, but then I started to do other things, as usual.

[Yogi]

Hey guys!
I'm Jacob or Yogi, I'm 24 and hail from Manchester, UK! Nice to meet you all!

I got into kendama whilst I was living in Japan last year, I saw a group of guys doing some pretty crazy looking stuff whilst wandering around a park in Osaka. I went over and asked them about it and they told me it was called kendama and it's a traditional game, I later spoke to one of my students about it and the next week they brought me a red Ozora as a gift. I played with it that evening and got most of the basic tricks down of over the next couple of days, but started getting complaints about the incessant clacking sound from my neighbours, thanks to the thin Japanese walls, so kind of let my interest fade trying to avoid annoying them. Then when I returned to the uk recently and was unpacking my bag I rediscovered it as well as one I bought intended as a gift but decided to keep and have been playing again ever since.

I have always loved dexterity toys (pen tricks, etc) and woodwork so kendama is a bit of a match made in heaven for me, but will probably turn into a nightmare for my wallet! Since returning I picked up a Krom Viking due to my big hands which I love!

I have most of the basic tricks down, the only low level trick I struggle with at this point is Lighthouse, but have fairly high consistency with the rest of the tricks I know. But I really can't get to grips with kenflips and bird so if anyone has any tips on them please let me know!

[BKA]

Hi @Yogi , and welcome to the forum!
Oh, so you're UK-based? Well, it's insanely late notice, but if you can get down to the BKO in Bristol this weekend, you'll have a blast and learn loads. If not, keep your eyes on the the Events forum for the next jam/meet.
Have a look at the Trick Archive (in Tricks forum, duh ) and check out the Threads for Bird and Whirlwind.
Other than that, have a general browse around, see what you can find, and chime in on anything you feel like.
Clicks!

[Yogi]

@BKA Thank you very much!

I would love to go but I won't be able to make it, I really want to make it to something like that in the future though, or even find a few other people around Manchester to meet up with!

I have had a brief browse but will have to have a closer look!

[Blackhawkfan]

Hi, I'm Denise from New York.  Am waiting for my first real kendama to come in the mail (right now am using a plastic one).  Looking forward to learning to do a few tricks with it, though my real intention in buying it was to work on my hand-eye coordination.

[BKA]

Hi Denise,
Welcome to the forum!

[Brinx]

Hi my name is Ben (always go by "Brinx" online) and I've been playing Kendama for less than a month at this point. Done some juggling and other object manipulation in the past and recently while getting back into it, got bit by the Kendama bug! Loving it, currently quite the obsession. I wish I had discovered it earlier!

I'm out in Northwest Washington State in the US. This is a great forum, I've been lurking for a couple weeks and getting some great info. I thought I would go ahead and make it official and join.

[The Void]

Welcome, @Brinx ! Glad that you're finding the forum useful already. So... which trick are you closest to getting, right now?

[Brinx]

I'm working on a few. I actually have been doing a little "vlog" where I'm trying to hit 30 different tricks in 30 days. The first couple are pretty bad, but I'm hitting my stride a little better now.  I'm using the vlog as a bit of an experiment to document my process and as an excuse to do some video. Plus it is going to push me out of my comfort zone pretty soon (I've done 10 so far). Like I said, still a complete beginner, but excited to keep working on harder tricks. You can check it out here if you're interested. I'd love any feedback from folks:

https://www.youtube.com/user/cutthenoise

One trick I'm trying to get right now is gunslinger/revolver, but there seems to be a discrepancy around the internets on the starting grip? I see some holding it in the regular grip, and others in this, I guess "revolver" grip so its almost like the ken is halfway turned already? Seems easier to start that way, but the trick name/description is unclear. Either way, working on that, getting better with kenflips, and working on my lighthouse fall-in at the end. I'd like to get more consistent with j-sticks, I'm at like 5% hit rate with those. I also want to figure out downspikes and stuntplane, those are a real challenge or mental block for me currently.

Sorry for the long post! Kendama is so fun right now, I feel like I could write a book and I've only just started!

Here's my most recent video. I was planning to post in the videos section at some point, but I guess I got carried away in my response here...

[otherincome]

My husband Rico is the kendama player. 

He is becoming more involved with painting tamas and kens, and now has a store wanting to carry his customized kendamas.  He gave me a bunch of kendama boxes for reference, and asked me to help figure out packaging. 

I found this thread about the subject: http://kendama.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1309.0

I have questions. 

[KenSan]

Welcome to the forum @Brinx and @otherincome .

That's a nice Vlog Brinx. Good to see plenty of knees in use in the ones I've watched to.

The jumping sticks will get more consistent with practice. Eventually you will be able to see the landings more clearly so that then you'll be able do move onto doubles and maybe even tripples . Also you don't have to just let the ken come round and plop into the tama, you can move the tama to meet the spike.

Keep up the good work!

[KendamaGuide]

Been learning tricks for the last 4 years, but haven't been active in the community, looking forward to changing that!