My pick for the Tribe team is Derek Astin, he is 12 years old and lives in Utah. I chose Derek because he is one of the most talented and down to earth Kendama players I have ever met. Derek is lacing some of the hardest tricks in the game with style and consistency. Derek is constantly uploading new and innovative tricks everyday to his Instagram account @Dama_derek. Aside from the mind blowing tricks, Derek is a very positive and polite person who is always willing to teach you something new! I am beyond stoked to have you on the team, Congratulations Derek. Welcome to the TRIBE! – Turner
Huge thanks to Sam Allgood for helping film and Derek’s Parents for the tremendous support!
Haley Bishoff and Tribe member Wyatt Bray were up in Portland, Oregon for the KidFest Northwest event this past weekend. Tons of local shredders from Portland and various places around Oregon traveled up to jam with the KendamaUSA crew. The Portland Expo center was filled with tons of toy booths and even a real baby lion exhibit! Needless to say, we had a blast. Huge thanks to KendamaUSA and everyone who came out to play dama with us!
Spike Hard Sunday was a huge success. The Las Vegas scene is strong and still growing. Spike Hard Sunday is a great way to start your week where the kids will be able to pick the park they want to meet, hang and jam for a few hours. Think of this as your local Kendama community you can call your own and bring the scene and growth to your favorite parks in Las Vegas. These sessions are brought to you by Spike Hard Catch Low in collaboration with Kids Ken.
Kids Ken lead by Keith Cristobal (father of the infamous @casedama) has the vision of uniting not only the kids of the Kendama community, but also their parent’s. Keeping them aware that Kendama is great thing. Not just a toy to keep your kids busy. Kids Ken is here to push the parents to be a little more involved and to push other parents to support there kids in Kendama community.
Japan this year was a unique experience. We were deeper into the country than we had ever been before. The entire team was together for the very first time. With obligations like the Kendama World Cup, it wasn’t easy to find time to just play and lace some tricks. We worked in some stompage for the sake of having memories of this classic era of the team. We are stoked to see it evolve.
Kendama USA TRIBE team member Wyatt Bray unleashes more of his signature slayage on Kendama USA’s new full-purpleheart setup. Watch as Wyatt plays the conditions on a rainy day, laying down tons of never-before-seeen combos.
While taking a ride on my skateboard with a friend we came by this parking lot which was looking like a fun place to film some tricks. We stopped by and did a little session with the pink and blue Beech wood Kaizens. Enjoy!
Check out a behind the scenes look into what Kendama Pros Jake Wiens and TJ Kolesnik do during a trip to Hawaii! From Lacing tricks to making bloody Mary’s Jake and TJ cover it all!
“Going back out to hawaii, I was anxious to see the Kendama scene since our last visits in January and March for the YoDama events. Immediately off the plane Jake and I went for the classic Poke bowl with Hawaii Island guava punch, the exact meal I wanted before a long week of shredding Kendama with the locals. Doing 4 shop visits and an event seemed to be an immense amount of work to get done in such a small time span, but Jake and I succeeded. It was so awesome to hit up different shops on Oahu and see the original Kendama players and seeing the new beginner Kendama players. Jake and I showed up to the shops, signed autographs, played Kendama and had tons of fun with all the kids.” – TJ
