By Claire Brackenbury | March 22 2021 |
The kendama is a simple yet difficult game played across the world, and is just one example of a perfect pandemic pastime. Kingston Secondary School’s very own Harry George was kind enough to share his experience with the game kendama and how it has been a positive activity for him during Covid-19.
Harry first started to practise the challenging game of kendama last summer after he discovered the game on Tik Tok. But first, here’s a bit of a back story and explanation of the game itself:
Kendama is a small, hand-held game with the objective of landing a string-attached ball on one of two different components: the cup or the point. One theory of the origin of this game is that it was first created in France in the sixteenth century. The name for kendama in France is Bilboquet; bil meaning ball and boquet meaning small tree, which describes its basic shape. The objective of the game is to land the ball on one of three cups, or even skewer the ball onto the pointed end of the stick. However, there are some creative ways to achieve these goals that Harry has recently mastered. He was able to land the ball on the pointed end of the kendama stick after flipping it, and catching it, in the air twice!
It is not always easy learning a new skill, but Harry was determined to get it done. He explains how goal-setting is the key to his success at difficult tricks.
“When I was feeling demotivated by this one branch of tricks called juggling, I made a challenge for myself where every day I would have to land the trick more times than I did the previous day. This helped me because I had a purpose and more of a goal when practising.”
In addition to the wicked tricks he can now do with the kendama, Harry also established a friendship with another kendama legend in Alberta. Harry was inspired when he saw him doing some awesome tricks with the kendama on Tik Tok and reached out to see how to get started. Now, they keep in touch about their kendama achievements.
If you’re eager to start a new hobby or learn a new skill, consider trying the kendama! They’re small and portable (that is why Harry likes to keep one or two in his pockets at all times) and plenty of fun!
If you have a silver lining story of the pandemic you would like to share, please reach out to Claire Brackenbury brackenburyc@limestone.on.ca!
Photo source: tsunagu Japan https://www.tsunagujapan.com/what-is-the-kendama-the-japanese-toy-that-is-now-trendy-worldwide/
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Love these pandemic silver lining articles!