Zach Magnuson, a 19-year-old Kendama phenom from Motor City; Detroit, MI, has been playing Kendama for four and a half years and is now on Kendama USA’s Tribe Team! When he isn’t playing Kendama he’s either out shooting pics or making videos about Kendama! In his 2nd year of college at MCC, Zach claims to love school more than DWesty and plans on graduating with a degree in photography and video work. Zach’s progression, passion, and community involvement have propelled him into the limelight and he’ll continue to leave a positive impact on those around him on KUSA’s Tribe team.
“I was introduced to Kendama by a high school classmate who had recently returned from a trip to Japan. My 1st Kendama was a red Duncan Kendama from Toys R Us. I describe my playstyle as very fast paced & new school but I’m still being creative with it. Wyatt asked me to be on Tribe at this year’s Dama in the D comp. Wyatt and I actually met at Dama in the D2 but it wasn’t until D4 that we got to know each other. By the time D5 rolled around, I had honed my skills like never before and I placed in the top 10, even besting Wyatt in open 3-0.”
Emily Evans, nearing 14 years old, has been playing for Kendama for just two years and is now finding herself on KendamaUSA’s Tribe Team. She spends most of her time practicing Kendama, reading and playing Ice Hockey for the Anaheim Lady Ducks 14AAA team as the goalie. Emily was asked to be on Tribe after her win in the advanced bracket at the Lez Dama 2 event, summer of 2016. The previous year she also took 1st but in the beginner ladder. Her progression and persistence have gotten her far, as she continues to amaze those around her. Emily was Haley Bishoff’s second tribe pick and is now the third female to be added to KendamaUSA.
“I first met Emily at the Lez Dama 2 event after seeing her videos on Instagram and facebook. Right away, I knew who she was because of her incredibly long hair and the fact that she was wearing her large purple KendamaUSA t-shirt I’ve seen in all her videos. We hung out throughout the whole event and I soon came to realize that Emily is one of the most down to earth, kind, talented and humble young girls I’ve ever met. After she won the advanced bracket, she didn’t stop smiling for probably the rest of the day and handled the win with such a level head. She is truly something special and I am so happy to have her a part of the team.” – Haley Bishoff
It’s been almost 3 years since Josh Kim picked up his first Kendama. Since then, Josh’s passion & determination to lace Kendama tricks has fast-tracked his skill progression and he is now on Kendama USA’s Tribe Team! Josh’s play style is fast & technical, so try not to blink when watching this edit. With trick combinations including but not limited to boarders balances, 123 variations, & even tightropes, Josh’s gravity-defying lines will definitely blow your mind.
Back when I used to yo-yo around 2013, I would always learn tricks from yoyoexpert.com. I saw they were selling Kendamas, so I watched my first Kendama video on the site, which was the Kendama USA 2012 Japan Tour. Still one of my favorite videos to this day. However, I did not get a Kendama until 2015 where just kept it on my desk, and did not start playing until February of 2016. My first Kendama USA dama was a black silk Kaizen Kendama. My current favorite setup is a Watermelon Slim X Dwesty Ken; throws absolute face melters.
A year later Josh met Wyatt at the 2017 Grand Central Station Jam, where he won a Spike-Off and almost bested Wyatt in a game of Ken. Wyatt saw potential in Josh and sent him a few kendamas after the jam. Since then Josh has helped host a number of events and plans on continuing to throw jams and events in the NYC area.
Kendama for me is just an amazing sport that I love. To be able to receive so much support from the community is phenomenal. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past, and special shout out to my day 1′s; my parents. Without them supporting me everyday I play, I never would be where am I today. So grateful to be blessed with this amazing opportunity to play for Kendama USA. Can’t wait for what happens next!
This year’s COTK Halloween Battle; Stumptown 4, showed that the Pacific Northwest Kendama scene is alive and well. The hype factor of the legend himself, Tamotsu Kubota brought even more people to this year’s’ event, making it COTK’s biggest yet! Sol Kendamas Pro Kevin Desoto also made his way up to Portland to compete and kick it with the squad for the second Halloween in a row. Tons of Oregon pros such as Matt Rice, Two Bears, and KUSAs own Haley Bishoff came out to shred as well.
We were lucky to have a warm sunny day for the battle and everyone was honed. As is Halloween tradition, we were having players lace a trick for a treat. There were people doing tricks like double whirlwinds and triple J sticks left and right for a piece of candy. Mini games were had, prizes were won, and tricks were laced. This was a special event in the sense that this was the first time and COTK merchandise was available to the public. COTK, with the help of Portland local Colin Cathy, made and sold a limited run of 20 COTK Halloween posters.
Grain Theory’s Eli Cory ended up taking 1st in the Pro bracket over Sweets’ Luke Ford. Shout out the the local shredder Josh Marine for snagging 3rd over Kevin Desoto and multiple other pros in the bracket. I’m always so hyped to see how quickly the local kids are improving. They’re some of the next generation of pros and it’s cool to see them get to that point.
Overall, this year’s battle was a huge success.The brackets ran super smoothly, the prizes were amazing, and the turnout was better than ever. It was so great to have guests like Tamotsu and Kevin fly out and I hope next year is even better!
On the 29th of October, the 9th edtition of Spikedama was held in Rotterdam; a city in The Netherlands. During the event, the Open Dutch Championship went down and our TRIBE team member Joris Schweppe took home 1st place. Competing against the former champion, Jeffrey Italiaander, Joris was all but defeated at 0-2 in Italiaander’s favor. Despite the mounted pressure, Joris stayed focused and managed to come back and win the final round with a 3-2 win.
It was one of the biggest turnouts of SpikeDama so far. The attendants came from all over Europe, it was the most international SpikeDama to say the least.
Joris won the competition on his Craft 2.0 Ash Kendama, which was released the same day at MKO In Minnesota.
Joris’ thoughts on the new Kendama: ”Its my new favorite Kendama. I learned new tricks incredibly fast while playing it. The shape is so refined that when I picked it up, I knew I had to use it for the competition.”
The SpikeDama crew is planning to blast out another event early 2017, This will be the 10th edition so hopefully it will be a big one!
We are so proud to announce that Nobu Nori is the newest member added to our Tribe team. Nobu is our first Japanese team member and has always impressed us with his incredible Kendama play, style, and positivity.
This edit, my third kendama edit, is the edit witch symbolizes me finding out who I truly am. The past year I have been busy with lots of things and kendama has never been out of my view, but I didn’t had the time I needed to make an edit. Ive started giving a lot about the earth and the people on it which I already was doing, but I more likely had a reminding of how important it is to me. I made myself know in the Buddhism and get into nature almost every day if was able to, and still do now.
I filmed this edit in almost nothing but nature to show of how much I love it. I made the Edit in less then a week, but I have been thinking about it for at least a year, since I wanted to give this one some real meaning from out of me. It is satisfying for me to look at the result and hope you all like it as much as I do!
The last trick in this edit I came up with a few months ago, and in my opinion should be called the Ying Yang.
Cheers,
~Joris Roy Schweppe
Special Thanks to:
The whole Kendama USA Crew
Keith Matsumura
Jelle Haverkort
Freek Kattenberg
Kaz boot
Eelco Soesman
Matt Sweets Jorgenson
The street bangers
Ruigoord
Zwolstalig
And the stars.
“I first met Miya Song back in Oahu, Hawaii during the YoDama event. Miya made such a strong impression on me since she was the young, 14 year old, female player who was doing incredibly hard tricks. In the year and a half Miya has been playing Kendama, her progression and skill level have increased exponentially. Not only is Miya one of the most chill people to be around, she truly pushes the female kendama scene to a whole new level with technical tricks and unbeatable style. I am so proud to have Miya as a part of my tribe and am psyched to see what she brings to the future of kendama! Stay awesome!”
“This year’s trip to Japan was one for the books. Every time we trek on a new adventure, more and more memories are made. We made our way abroad with two new additions, Tribe Team members Wyatt Bray and Bryan Scagline. It was both their first time out of the country and a great time to experience Japan. I was in the same position exactly 1 year ago and for all the trips I’ve been on, this has been one of the most memorable and fun for me.
The 2015 Kendama World Cup started off with a bang. Zack Yourd, Bryan Scagline, Dave Mateo, Turner Thorne, Jason Morrison, and I all met up at the San Francisco International Airport to hop on a plane to Japan. It was 13 hours of pure fun, rowdiness on the plane, and teaching passengers and flight attendants how to play Kendama. We managed to film an entire edit that features the new Mugen Musou… #TEAMFUEGZ! Coming shortly.
Yes, finally touched down in Japan. Let the adventures begin.
10 long, sleepless, adventure filled days were about to go down. The best and most talented Kendama players all under one roof, competing against each other for the top prize. Luckily, the entire World Cup (2 days) was on a live stream so those who weren’t there were able to catch the live footage and see the craziness go down. For me, the last 10 days blurred together because there was so much going on all at once. So many exciting things happened every day and the level of skill in Kendama has risen to new heights. I’m happy and proud to congratulate my own teammate Wyatt Bray for taking it home for Kendama USA! GO WYATT! WE LOVE YOU!
Let’s just give a quick recap of events. Plane rides, no sleep, Japanese beer tasting, long nights, down pours, early mornings, scaling roof tops, amazing sushi, walking, LOTS OF WALKING, onsens, vending machines, 7/11, alpaca, Japanese style housing, hostels, dama village, polaroid sessions Osaka, Hiroshima, Kendama Street, okonomiyaki, subways, laughing, friends, family, team, Kendama. I hope everyone reading this gets to experience Japan and the Kendama World Cup at least once. For those who did go this year, I hope you read this and smile and think back to all the great memories.
A big thank you to Tamotsu Kubota, Yuka Hyuga, Hajime Ishibashi, Kota Kagoshima, the rest of the Gloken Crew, Kendama USA, and of course, Jeremy Stephenson. Cheers to the future of Kendama! See you all next year.” -Tj Kolesnik
Logan Tosta showed amazing potential to Dave Mateo when they had first met during the KG Roots tour of 2013. During the Tahoe stop, little Logan gave Dave and Tj a run for their skill during a few games of KEN. Logan, along with his family, has always been a supporter of Kendama USA and the many events that have been thrown in Sacramento, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Click here to check out Logan’s announcement edit.
From Dave:
“Logan is a great example of a young man that understood that Kendama was not about winning, but more about the experience shared with another. I have seen his authenticity first hand in Tahoe from the first time we met, in SF at a KG Tuesday event, and in Las Vegas when he and his father Seth had come to support the DXC kicksXkendama event. When picking a Tribe member, I knew I wanted to pick someone young and hungry to learn and progress. Someone that looked past only being the winner. For me I saw a Champ within Logan, not because of what he has won but how maturely he accepted his losses and moved on to the next challenge.”
Sit back and enjoy Logan’s Tribe Edit here and see him grow as the next generation of young players of Kendama USA. Dave and Kendama USA look forward to seeing where Logan’s skills and progression take him in the near future of life and Kendama.
*A few words from Logan:
“Kendama is the best piece of wood you can buy. If I was one of those people that quit Kendama 6 months after they started, I would be sitting around playing video games. If I hadn’t met Dave, Jake, and TJ, I wouldn’t be playing Kendama right now. These 3 inspire me to keep playing and progressing everyday. Kendama USA has always been my favorite company because of their crazy large list of Kendamas to choose from. My favorite Kendama has always been the Tributes because they are really easy to do cup tricks and jumping sticks and the clack on them is just unreal! As soon as they came up with the silks I was super excited. I love Kendama and Kendama USA and am excited and grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Tribe team.”
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!
