#SweetsinSingapore Hey guys, it’s Lukas from the Homegrown Team. I had the incredible opportunity to travel with the legendary Oase to Singapore September 8th-12th for the 2016 Singapore Kendama Fest at OneKM mall and I’m going to do my best to walk you guys through some of the highlights from my short stay. I hopped off my 16 hour flight and was immediately overwhelmed by the humidity. Coming from Minnesota, this kind of weather was not something I was used to. But ooooh boy do your damas get honed. We woke up the next morning for day 1 of the event. Oase and I went out on a short film session and after 15 minutes in the sun, I was already done for. I had sweat more in those 15 minutes then I had in the whole last week. I changed shirts before heading to the mall to meet-up with all the kids at the event. It was crazy, we showed up and right away got to meet tons of shredders from all over Singapore. We jammed for a bit and got hydrated until the emcee kicked off the event. Oase and I got to dawn the important role of “judges”, so we sat down at the table and watched these kids RIP the stage apart with their freestyle runs. That was only day 1. That night we got to roll around the city with Azrin and the Cereal Kendama Crew. Those guys really took care of us and really care about kendama so huge huge huge shoutout to them. They took us to some really dope local spots and gave us the low down on some of the history of Singapore.
Day 2 ran pretty much the same, wake up for some breakfast, roll to OneKM Mall and jam before kicking off the event for the day. We got to witness even more crazy freestyle as we took all the competitors from the first day of the event and put them in a head-to-head bracket. Oase and I got to throw down some freestyle runs during breaks between competition. I spent most of the trip jamming the Canary Fade F3 and Oase was killing it on one of the 2016 Matt Sweets pro models. At the end of the day we all gathered for a group selfie and headed out to dinner and to finally get some rest.
Day 3 was for sure my favorite. We rolled up to the mall for the final day of judging. Top 32 free-stylers competing for a $1000 cash prize. You could feel the tension and the hype as all the competitors honed in on their tricks. Little did Oase and I know, we were about to be blown out of our chairs by what these kids were going to lace. The day started off and right away everyone was lacing insane lines. Slinger juggle late slinger spike, kenflip juggle late kenflip spike, triple tap juggle lighthouse, all like it was second nature. I think you can tell by this picture Azrin snagged that we were pretty blown away.
As the final round approached, it was clear that Oase and I were having to make some crazy tough decisions about who’s moving on. I never realized how difficult judging freestyle can actually be when the competitors are all so incredibly talented. We finally reached the final round. Two young slayers: Alfyan vs. Anson. These two kids demolished the stage and I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some of these guys at Catch and Flow in Japan next year. After debating for minutes, Oase and I finally came to a decision…3….2…..1…. Alfyan was the winner of the Singapore Kendama Fest 2016!!!
After 3 long days of judging and shredding, we all knew what it was time for… MORE DAMA! We rolled out to grab some dinner and shred with a huge group of the kids who stuck around to say what’s up. It was a great way to appreciate the scene in Singapore and end my trip to a new foreign country for the first time.
Of course I’ve got to give thanks to a lot of people. Huge thank you to Sweets Kendamas because anybody who is reading this already knows it’s the greatest company in the world with nothing but love for their players and all of you guys; the community. Also I couldn’t have made it out to Singapore without Raj and Loraine and everybody at the A-team. Also thanks to every person who came up to ask me about kendama or ask for a picture or just say what’s up. It’s crazy humbling to meet people who look up to you as much as you look up to them. And one last and final thanks to the Cereal Kendama Guys. They’re some of the nicest, most legit guys I’ve ever met. Hope you guys enjoyed, and hope to be back to Singapore soon! Peace out, Lukas Funk
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