Hunter Thomas, AKA BrokenP1ank, is a Twitch Streamer and friend of ours here at Sweets. Representing Dallas, TX with his friends that make up the PCH Ken Club, he's been playing Kendama since 2019. We recently heard his story from him and how he's used Kendama as a means of coping with trauma. We loved hearing how helpful Kendama has been for him, so we asked him to tell his Kendama Story. Read it below!
Kendama was special to me the moment I picked it up. I hated not being able to be good at something. My first Kendama was a Sweets Pro Model from Please Come Home in Dallas, Texas. I was stopping by their shop for clothing and shoes when I saw JBar in the shop playing Kendama. I instantly had to play it.
He told me that they were going to start playing Kendama after work on Sundays, so every Sunday I would show up and play Kendama with them. This was the beginning of the PCH Ken Club.
I was able to become a part of that Ken club in Dallas early on and made a large group of supportive friends that helped me feel a part of something bigger (PCH Kendama). Not long after, we went on to fly to Minneapolis for NAKO 2019. During the pandemic, we couldn’t make Ken club work safely, so I took that energy and started live-streaming where I would play Kendama for my audience on Twitch.
In June of 2020, my father passed away after suffering a stroke. I wasn’t sure how to grieve the death of my own father, and honestly to this day I still haven’t really figured that out, but Kendama was the one thing I was able to do to keep my mind distracted. Kendama started out as a challenge to myself to figure out how to land a ball on a stick, but eventually become a way for me to cope with trauma and make new friends along the way.
I honestly can’t thank the Sweets Crew enough for all the love and support they have given me over the years, whether it’s checking out my twitch channel or even just showing me around their warehouse. I have a lot of love for the game of Kendama and I have a lot of love for the Sweets Mob.
Has Kendama impacted your life for the better? We are looking for impactful, meaningful stories from players of all walks of life who would like to share the life-changing experiences they've gained through Kendama. Fill out our Submission Form HERE with your Kendama Story for a chance to be featured here on our blog!
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