Tell us about you first ever competition

I'm hoping to go to a competition later this year for the first time and I'm interested to know about other cubers first competitions. I would like to know things like when it was, what competition, how long had you been cubing, what did you compete in, what times did you get, how nervous were you, who did you take along, how many other competetions have you been in since, and more if you want to add.

I'm going to San Francisco Open tomorrow, but I'm very nervous, mainly because my cube keeps popping, I'm competing in 3x3x3, 4x4x4 and BLD. I've known how to solve the cube for years, but I didn't start timing myself and actually working on speed until the beginning of December last year, so you could say almost 2 months. I'm sure I won't get as fast times as I usually do since I'll be so nervous.

My first competition was Toronto Open Fall '07 (in November). I had been cubing since April '07 and my average was about ~35ish then. I just competed in 3x3x3, since thats all I could do at that time. I was really nervous since I wasn't sure what everyone else's times were like. My first solve was 50ish lol, I really messed up. The next few were inbetween 37 and 44, not bad but not good either. I left right after that XD.

I've been to 5 competitions so far, Toronto Open Fall '07, Toronto Open Winter '08, CanadianCubingClassics, Niagara Open Summer '08 and Toronto Open Fall '08.

First comp was after about one to one and a half months of cubing. I got a store cube (duh) and was using: cross, keyhole, orient edges, orient corners with sune/anti sune combo, CPLL, EPLL. Record was 31 with that. I remember It was Dutch Nationals 2005, I remember walking in the toy fair looking for cubes. And was totally flabbergasted when I saw.... Ron

I'm like, are you Ron van Bruchem? He's like yeah. First thing I asked him if he had a new orange sticker cause I was worried my cube wouldn't be legal with one a bit worn. Then realised it looked very greedy asking for stickers xD I was really afraid he'd not let me compete with the cube.
Anyway, then I met Jaap, Michael Fung, Guus, Maarten, Joel, Koen, Ton etc. and had a great day with horrible best time of 44 sec. I remember I was just doing RU and then realised it didn't do anything useful so I undid it xD

I bought an ES 2x2 a rubik's 4x4 (studio pwnage) and refused sq-1's for a good price cause they just scared me. After that day I knew I'd practise more and wanted to become really fast

I haven't been to a competition yet, but i plan to Im just waiting for one to come in florida...but its sad cause I've been Cubing sense Dec'06 and i still havent been to a comp.

soon, soon

Thanks for making this thread CookingFat! im going to my first comp very soon, im sooo nervous!

My first competition was Dutch Open 2008.

I was cubing for about 4 months and I had times around 45-50 seconds. I was very nervous and the day began very bad. We (me and my friend) missed the train and we were too late. It was a long travel to Eindhoven, about 1,5 hours, but it was a good time to practise a bit. I was really, really when I had to compete but it went very well. I even had a Single PB and a very good average!
I was very, very happy! I met some nice cubers there and it was a lot of fun! I never cubed so much like that day!
It sounds very scary but you don't have to be scared for your first competition! Cubing is all about fun, and just relax and you'll have fun !
Good luck!

My first competition was last weekend in Aachen

I was a bit nervous as well, but managed to get a sub-30 on 3x3x3 with my VERY limited knowledge of OLL and PLL. I did screw up 2 solves, ending up with a 38 average-of-5 ranking me 42nd of 87. Meh.

My 4x4x4 performance was REALLY crappy, mainly because I was nervous, and Erik was my judge on my first solve at a competition ever (which didn't help considering the fact that about 20 minutes later he set a new WR )

@Erik: *cough" timer reset *cough", god I felt stupid

Btw, slightly off topic but:
to all people who say: 'I'll wait a bit for my first competition untill I'm faster' (and I know a lot of people think like this)
I hope you read this thread and finally come to the conclusion that you don't have to be sub-15 to not be ashamed of your times. Competitions are about FUN!

@Coolmission I'm sure you won't do it again see you at benelux?

Well I think I've made a mistake...

Exactly! You meet so many new people, all sharing an interest of yours. I'll be attending more competitions in the future for sure

EDIT: @Michael; Yeah you should really be ashamed of yourself

EDIT2: @Erik: Wish I could, but I think I'll have exams at that time Too bad, I could prove to you I won't do it again

My first competition was Princeton 08. It was quite a big competition. I participated in every event that I knew how to do. Everyone crowded around Harris Chan, Alex Yu, or Mitchell Stern. Harris, because he was the fastest; Alex, because he broke the BLD WR; Mitchell because he was one of the fastest and he was selling many cubes.
First, I bought an assembled type A black DIY from Mitchell. It was much faster than my unlubed white DIY. I did OK in 3x3 and got around 30 seconds. I was shocked by how loose and fast everyone else's cubes were. I was popping like crazy on everything.
Most of the time, when I wasn't competition, I was racing with Michael Gottlieb, Rhodri, or Will Sklar.
I was afraid to speak to Michael Gottlieb at first because he was such a fast cuber! He had the UWR for all the computer cubes.
But he turned out to be very friendly and nice.
Harris Chan was also very nice. He was explaining M2 for BLD to a group of people, but I did not understand it until I read about it myself a few months later...
I did pretty well in Pyraminx round for single, but the average wasn't so great.
I raced Thrawst, Michael Gottlieb, Rhodri, Erik Johnson and several others in pyraminx.
Only nevous part was 4x4 and BLD which I had just learned. I DNFed both.

Mine was the Lexington open 2008. It was awesome. It was nerve-wracking, true, but for no real reason.

My first competition was the Minnesota Open 2008, it was great, Noah Hevey (sp?) brought his whole collection and that gave me a chance to try out many different puzzles, i averaged 29 seconds in both rounds which sucked, but I still had a great time, I witnessed most of Phil Thomas' NAR for 2x2 average. I got to talk to other cubers for the first time in person, it was a great time.

Off Topic: My parents won't allow me to got a competiton until I'm 18. 4 more years to go...

Never been to one... I'm hoping that Canadian Cubing will have a Saskatchewan comp... ...

Vulosity said:

Off Topic: My parents won't allow me to got a competiton until I'm 18. 4 more years to go...

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That's unfortunate. Is there a reason why? I'm lucky enough to have supportive parents who don't mind me taking off for a weekend. During the summer they're letting a friend and I drive across the country to US Nationals.

ShadenSmith said:

Vulosity said:

Off Topic: My parents won't allow me to got a competiton until I'm 18. 4 more years to go...

Click to expand...

That's unfortunate. Is there a reason why? I'm lucky enough to have supportive parents who don't mind me taking off for a weekend. During the summer they're letting a friend and I drive across the country to US Nationals.

Click to expand...

I'm 14 and my mom is HOPING that Saskatchewan gets a comp that I can go to ...

Tabby1292 said:

I haven't been to a competition yet, but i plan to Im just waiting for one to come in florida...but its sad cause I've been Cubing sense Dec'06 and i still havent been to a comp.

Click to expand...

I second that.

ShadenSmith said:

Vulosity said:

Off Topic: My parents won't allow me to got a competiton until I'm 18. 4 more years to go...

Click to expand...

That's unfortunate. Is there a reason why? I'm lucky enough to have supportive parents who don't mind me taking off for a weekend. During the summer they're letting a friend and I drive across the country to US Nationals.

Click to expand...

This may sound weird, but they are afraid of kidapping. :confused: