Hi folks. I wanted to share a story of something that happened on Saturday.
A friend of ours, Chris, was in a bad accident many years ago. He fractured his skull and was in a prolonged coma. He’s now paralyzed on his right side. He can walk with a leg brace but his right arm hangs limp at his side.
It was his birthday this weekend and we had a party at our house. Some of us were playing Kendama and I said “Chris, I bet you can do this with your good arm.” I know he can’t do yoyo because he can’t wind it up. But Kendama is possible.
We worked on his grip and I showed him how to use his knees. He has moderate movement in his right leg still so he could bend both his knees. After about 15 tries he landed the ball in the big cup!
I should add that although he’s in his 30’s he’s mentally at about a 12 to 14 year old range. Some times it’s better, sometimes he seems even younger. But this time there was nothing but joy in his face. He went on to land the big cup 4 more times in about 10 tries.
I asked him if he wanted to try the end cup? He wanted to try it so we worked on Big Cup to End Cup and after a lot of work he landed it twice.
By that time he needed to rest because his knees and back were getting tired. But wow, that was some great hand eye coordination exercise as well as the physical exercise for his core and his knees.
It was just great to see the smile on his face when he landed the trick. And who knows, if we get him his own Kendama then maybe it will help him be more active and do more body movement. He certainly seemed to enjoy it on Saturday.
