Marius

What is your name?

My name is Marius Anton Caelen Chastin Saunders (@mariuscsaunders)

Where is home?

I was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. With family ties to England and France.

How/when did kendama/SK become part of your life and who was involved?

New years eve 2017, Paul invited me to the NYE party because I was not doing anything around that time. When I arrived I saw Calum J, Paul, Clarky and Ally playing a game of ken and saw how much fun they were having. I was desperate to get involved. I played almost all night and when I got home I bought a KROM Beams and from there was hooked. Sometime in March 2018 Paul added me to the team. The rest is history.

Describe your play-style in three words.

Beep Bap Boop… if you know you know. Jokes aside I really enjoy tricks that require extreme focus and tap into my twitchy nature like taps and jugs but when I am too tired to do them I like to get a little more creative and try silly tricks that use the body. Also, who doesn’t love a good earth-shattering scoop ;).

Preferred string length/wood type/shape etc.

Me and my string have a complicated relationship, I started with 4 fingers and swore by it for almost two years, but now I’ll sit comfortably around 9-11 fingers. My favourite wood is a maple ken and either ash or beech tama with the tama being lighter than the ken. As far as favourite shapes go I am not the biggest fan of massive cups like Boosts but I do really enjoy the Cereal 1.5 ken and a good Da/O ken.

What is your most cherished kendama memory?

Landing trip innie lighthouse flip first-t during the finals of SKO 2019 and then proceeding to win the comp too. Having my homies pick me up for the W was a very floaty feeling that when I look back on still fills me with butterflies. Another would be the first SKUK event in Newcastle. I hadn’t been playing a year when suddenly what felt like at the time most of the UK scene who I looked up to, rocked up at mine for the weekend. That was the moment the idea of ‘community’ really had a positve impact on me.

What else are you passionate about?

I am an extreme hobbyist, before kendama I collected hobbies like rare pokemon cards. Rocketleague ;). My biggest hobby outside of kendama would have to be fingerboarding. I love recreating a realistic style with my fingers and making edits.                

What music do you listen to?

Depends on the mood and activity, for slaying it has to be DnB as it helps me focus and gets me hyped, however I have been a fan of RnB and hip hop since I was a small kid.

Fun fact about yourself?

I have extremely flexible thumbs, the first knuckle on both my thumbs can flex more than 90 degrees. Biggest downside of this is that because I cannot really keep my thumbs in a straight line and they can sometimes be like hooks that catch the string.

Final thoughts/shout-outs

Thanks for taking time to read my bio and support SK, it means more than you know to me! Huge shoutout to the tribe for keeping me hooked. Lastly, always remember that this is a ball and cup and no matter your skill level remind yourself that you are amazing at what you do <3