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14-year-old Gideon Huddleston (USA) has proven himself to be the kendama king after breaking the record for the fastest time to complete five kendama spike catches, with a time of 13.38 seconds.

If you’re now asking yourself, “What’s a kendama?”, well, you’re in luck because Gideon is here to show you. 👇

The kendama is a traditional Japanese toy. Its name translates to "sword and ball". ⚔️

Here are all the different parts of a kendama, alongside their Japanese names:

• A handle (ken)
• A pair of cups (sarado)
• A ball (tama) with a hole (ana), which is connected to the handle by a string

The top end of the handle is a spike (kensaki) that fits into the hole in the ball, whilst the bottom end of the handle forms another cup.

Gideon has lived in Miyagi, Japan his whole life and has always loved playing with the kendama.

"I always wanted to break a world record so I combined the two and broke a record with the kendama." – Gideon Huddleston

After seeing the record online, Gideon realized he could beat it and began practising for his official attempt.

For Gideon, the hardest part of performing five fast spike catches was "all of the kendamas getting tangled around my hands and fingers." 😵

On the day of his official attempt, Gideon made sure to not get caught in a web of kendama string and he smashed the previous record of 16.95 seconds, achieved by Ramel Bulana (Philippines) in 2021. 😎

Here’s how to do the kendama spike like Gideon:

1. Hold the handle with the spike pointing up at a slight angle
2. Make sure the ball is still
3. Bend your knees
4. Pull the ball up with your entire body
5. Position the spike underneath the ball to catch it

Gideon’s top tip for beginners is to just keep practising: "The more you practise the more tricks you can master."

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