Whirlwind Earth Turn

[KendAlex]

Hello kendamates,

After i've got a lot of questions about this nice combo, i decided to make a tutorial.
I hope you all like it and i hope it helps people that are having a hard time on this combo.
Enjoy.



All feedback is welcome.
cheers

[The Void]

A.K.A. "Earth Turn, Whirlwind Earth Turn" or just "Whirlwind Earth Turn" (depending on where you start from).

Good stuff Alex! I've done this trick a few times only, and I'm very sketchy on it. I think that I have tried to start my Whirlwind just before the ball has left the spike.... but maybe that's where I am going wrong. I'll try again, your way.

Cheers!

[KendAlex]

Thanks Void,

i understand the name of the trick and i made a correction on the titel of the edit,
thanks you like this one too.
means a lot.

cheers

[pascoe]

Really enjoy your tutorials Alex, by breaking the tricks down it really helps with the technique of landing them consistantly. Keep them coming

[The Void]

So @John 's post doesn"t get lost in the Today thread....

@johndmc As someone who has only recently learned whirlwinds, I watched a lot of videos and took a lot of tips from people until I finally unlocked it. From one beginner to another, my absolute best advice is this:

1. Decide which ken grip you're going to use. Many people hold the ken with the index, thumb and middle finger all at the bottom but some people find it much easier to place the index finger much higher, under the sarado. Have a look at the kendama USA tutorial with Dave Mateo to see what I mean - I liked this for awhile, but in the end I found it easier to place all my fingers at the bottom. Choose whatever's comfortable for you.

2. Don't use any wrist! This is what caused me the most trouble and led to most of my problems with the tama spinning too quickly. Start with your knees low, and use the upward momentum of your body to make the tama spin. With a bit of practice you should be able to find the "sweet spot" of the tama rotating just as you want it.

3. Don't look at the kenflip (well, at least not for too long). Try and keep your eyes as much as possible on the tama rotating so you can get the spike. This is easier said than done, I know, and I still glance down at the kenflip to make sure it's not too wonky. But that's not the most important thing. If you don't keep an eye on the tama, you'll never spike it anyway!

4. Perfect kenflips will come with time. You're not going to be rocking exact kenflips, one may come every now and again but expect them to be wonky whilst you learn the trick.

5. Don't throw the tama too high, or you'll get a weird yank situation going.

Hope I helped!

I did find that rather than push the ken to get it spinning, that just exaggerating the opening of my hand made the ken flip quite well, as pushing it for me just made my arm have more movement to have to cope with, if that makes any sense?

I know what you mean, it's easier in a sense to do the tama release and kenflip in one simultaneous motion. Like a pull up gunslinger.  However in the long term, you will learn how to do it in 2 different motions. If you watch other people do whirlwinds, they release the tama first, give it a moment and then do the kenflip to spike. That's difficult, and I still haven't got it down the way I want, but it becomes easier.

I suggest to just do whatever feels comfortable for you at the moment, whether it's technically "right" or not, and then fine tune once it's a bit easier. Whirlwinds are hard, and it'll take some time. I'm still pretty rubbish at them so take my advice with a pinch of salt, but give it a couple of months and the clicks will come more frequently.

[johndmc]

I read this thread today