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TJ
31 posts
Competitive weekend. Beckett won a challenge at @SVCardArt and a cup at @CardShopSC while also completing his third parkour tourney. We are so proud of his fighting spirit. S/O to @88Cardhouse and @DuelSpecTCG.
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Ethan won his first cup in the new format. Thank you @ciaran_tcg for awesome coaching, as always!
And thank you @DestineFantasy for your support.
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TJ retweetledi
I want to clearly state that Ethan is not going around randomly touching people, patting them on the back or head duck-duck-goose style. I'm not looking for vindication or to prove my son's innocence. Here are some considerations for public transparency:
- He had previously played against them at other regionals
- He thought this was a friend or acquaintance and had conversations with them at subsequent regionals
- He sat next to this person and said good luck to them during phase 1 at Orlando in an amicable fashion
- Wanted to say good luck to them for their win-and-in round
Ethan was never told or given any indication that this person was not a friend, uncomfortable, or did not want any interaction with them. At least not to his knowledge. This situation could have possibly been addressed through a kid-to-kid or parent-to-parent interaction, e.g. "I'm not comfortable talking to you or interacting with you", or "I do not consider you a friend" or "Please stay away from my child".
We had no such warning or conversation between families or even mediation from the judges.
My view as a parent is that this outcome has created a massive ripple in the community and for families. This could have happened to any one of the kids we know. We're all having conversations now about who you can trust and who you can or should be friends with. This is creating unintended emotional distress and paranoia about what can or will be considered acceptable or safe interactions.
This situation completely erodes the perception of psychological safety, family friendliness, approachability and trust throughout the community. This has severe implications on the weaponization for the standards of conduct vs the spirit of the game and positive intent. Why should I risk and broaden my child's exposure to new people and friendships that could backfire on him?
One of the most beautiful things that Pokemon had was that you could meet players from all around the world, discover your love of Pokemon together, compete and establish new friendships. Maybe you'd get to see each other at the next regional or IC or worlds and celebrate each other's accomplishments. It's delightful to see the kids cheering each other on, roaming the halls and eating ice cream together and playing video games and tag or trading plushies.
Many people know that I am a strong proponent for the merits of Pokemon and the growth framework that it provides for the kids. It puts them in the driver's seat for their own self-improvement, develops resilience and pushes them to become determined to reach their goals. This could have been a private learning opportunity between families but has escalated to the general community.
Ethan has already come to terms with the situation. He accepts full responsibility for touching someone who didn't want to be touched. He accepts that if his actions created anxiety or hurt someone, then his disqualification is appropriate. He understands that this ruling will help to inform the broader community about consent and boundaries, and ideally creates a safer space for all families and participants.
I am proud of my son for his character, his integrity, his kindness, and his maturity and willingness to learn from this situation. I hope you all got a chance to witness this in his interview with Pokemon this past weekend.
Chris Chen@chennney
Lots of mixed emotions for this weekend in Orlando. Ethan was disqualified for unsporting conduct and creating an unsafe environment. At the end of Phase 2, we were called up to the hive and notified that Ethan was getting disqualified. It was reported that E had touched someone on the head or shoulder, and it bothered that person. When we asked what could have transpired, E thinks that it might've been when he walked past someone and tried to pat them on the shoulder to wish them good luck, but accidentally touched them on their head because they turned. He touched someone who didn't want to be touched. Regardless of his positive intent, we were told that this was unwanted behavior and that he had been asked not to do this before (he wasn't aware of this), and determined to be severe unsporting conduct and disqualification. While we don't fully understand the ruling, and we don't know the other child's story, we respect the expectations and the standards of conduct. The judges are just following the rule book and trying to create a safe space. For the family that we have caused distress towards, we are sorry. If you come across this, please feel free to reach out and help us improve our understanding of boundaries, and acceptable interactions. It’s a hard lesson for us and our community about the broadening need for respect, recognizing people's boundaries, and to not assume what might be acceptable to someone else.
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TJ retweetledi
I'm super excited to announce that I'm bringing my camp series to NAIC this June! The camp will focus on preparing Juniors & Seniors for the event through gameplay and lessons from some of the top players and coaches in the game! Signup link is below 👇
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The most insane airport experience at IAH.
We arrived four hours early for our flight and still missed it.
Security alone took about five hours. By the time we got through, we were running to the gate, hoping to catch the last flight out Monday night, but no luck.
After seven hours of waiting, uncertainty, standing, running, and dealing with some not-so-friendly strangers, Kenji looked up at me and said, “I don’t mean to complain, but I’m so tired, mommy,” and started crying. This broke me so I started crying and hugging him. Just pure exhaustion and guilt especially coming from such a sweet, happy boy.
Annabelle stayed so strong the whole time, not showing a hint of defeat, even though I know she was just as exhausted.
We ended up spending the night at the airport (because we didn’t want to leave and go through TSA again), finding a somewhat comfy bench to camp out on. Finally secured seats just 30 minutes before boarding. Not surprising that a lot of people couldn’t make their flight.
Thank you to @AlaskaAir for the helpful staff on the phone. After nearly 17 hours at IAH airport… we’re finally heading home. ❤️
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Finished 10-2-2 for top 32 with Gardevoir! Hit a lot of strong players today, very happy with my run. That puts me on 637 points on the season; still work to do, but definitely doable!
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7-1-1 in day 1 at Houston! My best day 1 yet. Excited to keep it going in day 2! Ty @DestineFantasy for the support.
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6-1-2 after a crazy 6-0 start and stream match at Houston Regs!
Excited for day 2 and hopefully running it back 😎
S/o @88Cardhouse
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@JMoose177 Glad we were stuck with you and Aidan and Kian. It was pure comedy, that airport is cursed. I’ve never gotten so many conflicting and absolutely wrong directions 😭😭😭.
Thanks for indulging our sight seeing whims. All things considered, it was a fun misadventure
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Missed my connection home from Mexico city cuz our first plane landed after the connecting flight fled.
Stuck in Mexico City until our rebooked flight tmrw at 9am 😭. Been stuck for 3 hours trying to dind our where our luggage went. Its cursed.
Anyone know what to do in cdmx?
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T256 Toronto (another 128 bubble)
List was good, munki is not needed
Shoutout @SVCardArt for the support and @CerysJonesTCG for the bonkers list
When will I escape t150 jail ☹️
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TJ retweetledi
Finished 19th at LAIC. Huge thanks to my coaches @ciaran_tcg, @FrankWithLaughs, and @LifeWithLaughs for all your support and for being awesome!
Thanks to my dad for tolerating a ridiculously long flight to bring me here.
Had a great time hanging out with all my friends!
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TJ retweetledi
my phone’s been blowing up w/ parents asking my: “How do we explain this to our kids?”
Fair question. when a high profile player gets DQ’d from Top4 and IC for cheating, it shakes the community. But I think there’s real value how we frame this moment 4 the next generation 💕
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TJ retweetledi
It's our birthday! 🎂🥳
Thank you to everyone who has supported us through our first year, without you all there would be no ENDGAME. We're incredibly excited for the coming year, and can't wait to share what we're been working on very soon.🩷
To celebrate, we're doing two things:
- From now until October 14th, all ENDGAME sleeves will be Buy 1, Get 1 free on our online store!
- We're giving away 2 packs of ENDGAME: GENESIS sleeves to 5 different winners!
To enter, follow @endgametcg, like and repost this post, and tag one friend in a reply to this post. Winners will be contacted on October 15th.
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@pokemom_son @Pokenite_Tyler Go Tyler!!! Emma and Ethan are sooo happy for you!
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My son Tyler (@Pokenite_Tyler) made it to his first ever regional day 2.
Hope he keep having good run tomorrow. 🤞🏃💨
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Hello Pokemon and TCG fans! We are happy to announce our first giveaway in celebration of the release of Black Bolt and White Flare as well as our players for making their appearance at Worlds this year! We are giving away an ETB of White Flare on this account and to enter all you have to do is:
- Follow @88cardhouse and @LostZoneKitchen
- Like and Repost!
- Comment your favorite Pokemon!
- Shipping withing US and CAN ONLY
Winner will be announced on July 21st @ 9pm PST! Good luck to everyone and see you guys at Worlds 🥳
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