Josh Grove

Age, what year were you born?

27, 1991

Where are you from and describe where you grew up

I’m from a super small town in the beautiful rogue valley in southern Oregon. I never truly recognized the pure beauty of the valley until I left for a few years then came back. Surrounded by mountains, steeped in rivers and lakes. It’s one of my favorite places in the world.

Where are you currently living?  

Where are you currently living?  

When were you first introduced to kendama?

I was first introduced to kendama from my best friend in winter of 2012.

How were you introduced to Sweets?   

After owning my first dama a green tk16 and shredding it to bits I was itching to get a dama with sticky paint to learn lunar flips on and discovered sweets simply by researching available damas at the time 

What players did you look up to / inspired you at the beginning and now?

Two bears was one of the first players I connected with through the Portland Facebook community and always got inspired by watching his cup flow, In the beginning a lot of my inspiration for learning new tricks and what I could work on next came from that Portland kendama group page. All of the COTK guys and back in the day Tana Hack was the dude that pushed me to try and master perch/stall game. Dave Mateo was the first pro I ever met in person at my first event in San Diego 2013. I always was inspired by is dance influence in his kendama flow. In that moment I new that the profound love and passion someone can have with kendama could truly take them places in life. Now a days lots of players constantly inspire me both in my play and my mindset. I’m constantly inspired by Ben Herald for both of those reasons. His deep understanding with tricking and how he needs to move his body in Tricking, directly correlates to how he plays kendama. His creativity and technicality are in my opinion one of the best in the world.

Who are currently your favorite players?

Ben herald, Nick and Zack Gallagher, Cooper Eddy, Kevin Desoto, Bonz as always, lyndon Whalen, Adrian Esteban

Favorite competition?

Consistently MKO, & Catch n Flow.

Whats your favorite style of play? Casual, the grind for a banger, freestyle, competition?

I honestly love them all. Causal and freestyle play/ practice is one of my favorite movement meditation to do. I love Just throwing some headphones on and jamming, plus in those moments at times I get inspired on a crazy trick idea that leads me into just strait grinding hard for a banger. I always love competition and continue to strive for that top at spot each event.

What trick was the most satisfying grind? / took the longest to lace and film

There are a couple. Wing eclipse wing. Triple BB flip. Or hippie flip to border. Literal days full of multiple hour sessions leading to not lacing the trick. The moment those tricks slapped and were pinned, have been some of the biggest satisfactory moments in grinding a trick.

Favorite edits?

Collin edit 7

Christian Fraser is a Legend

Ben herald summer research portfolio 2017

Nick stodd pro mod 2k19

Missu’s all girls 2019 edit

Bonz pov 1

Nick and Zack documentary

Favorite wood type?

Bamboo ( grass technically) maple, Purple Heart.

How many kendamas do you own?

Personally only about 15-20, I wish I had my collection but I’ve just always given away my kendamas over the years

What has been your favorite kendama trip?

Probably catch n flow 2015, it was was the first time I had gone to Japan, first time I was being professionally introduced to a lot of the big pros and legends. I was 4 to perform and qualified for top, 16 finals, got my butt whooped by Rod Dama, then proceeded to stay in Japan for 2 more weeks traveling with Rod and Tomatsu teaching with Gloken.

Bad habits?

Not doing yoga consistently, eating out, and sometimes to much Fortnite 

Where do you want to go with kendama? Like places

Europe, Africa, More Japan, South America, Australia.

What are some of your other passions besides kendama?

Music, specifically percussion and melodic percussion. Disc golf, slacklining, spikeball skate and snowboarding, camping, rock climbing and just over all adventuring.