2009 Funtastik Summer Classic

by Jay Boychuk

fourkast jay boychuk

Funtastik Summer Classic. September 5-7 2009

In North America, out of the dozens of annual events there are only a handful of tournaments that have ran as long as Funtastik, located in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Tournament directors Brenda and Joe Solonoski have successfully ran Funtastik for 24 years in a row, with the support of their own two shops, also under the name “Funtastik”, which have been around since 1987.

Former world champions, Hall of Famers, and BAP inductees all attend and compete at Funtastik on a regular basis. This year, Peter Irish, Daryl Genz, Scott Davidson, and our very own Fourkast team member David Clavens were in attendance. Other important members of the freestyle community fly from far and wide to attend, such as Steve Goldberg from California, Sunny Genz from Idaho and even some Canadians. All of this and the additional east coast players all add up to make the best Labour Day tournament around.

Competitive Freestyle this year began with the skills events, which were Iron Man, Superman and Shred 30. Iron Man makes the player do 100 kicks, 10 stalls, both around the worlds, golf shots, net serve and a spike, all timed of course. Superman had a similar format, needing 40 adds, 50 consecutives and additional net and golf kicks. After the skills contests, the qualifications for 2 minute routines began the real show. Spectators gathered around in the stands, music was cued and 2008 Funtastik winner David Clavens stole the show.

That night, a tradition for the past decade was for Peter Irish to hold the 2009 Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Hundreds of old pictures were on display showing hall of famers throughout the 1990’s. Tonight, he honoured Jack Lentz, Daryl Genz, Jane Jones-Zerbe, Steve Smith, Carol Wedemeyer, and Justin Sexton to the group. Speakers such as Scott Davidson and Steve Goldberg also remarked about the individuals, their accomplishments and funny stories. Fortunate for the audience, Peter Irish was able to demonstrate some of his many talents throughout the show, along with Matt Cross with the music.

On Labour day itself, the streets were crowded and the corner of Pennsylvania we had was loaded with by passers and audience members to witness finals. First up was the skills contests, in which Ben Kellman stole both Iron man and Superman. After some tight shred 30 scores from Dan Greer and Jay Boychuk, it was clear that David Clavens swept all the competition by an obvious amount. A dropless shred 30 with a single 3 add finishing with a “beast” combo, David crowned himself champion yet again. Intermediate routines had veteran Ted Fritsch perform his phenomenal 20+ year old routine to Rush solidifying him in third place. John Goode and Jordan Zuber had to battle it out for the top spot, and after two great routines John was named the 2009 intermediate winner.

Lucky for the audience, there was good competition in open routines as a US Champion, World Champion and hall of fame inductee were in the finals roster. As it ended up, Daryl Genz took 3rd place, Jay Boychuk with 2nd and with a stupendous dropless routine David Clavens took 1st, to now add one more Funastik Summer Classic title to his collection. Congratulations David!

David Clavens Funtastiks 2009

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