Courtesy The Pok?mon Company International Daniel Sargent, 11, of Roy became a top finisher at the 2012 Pok?mon U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. He will travel to the international competition in August.
Catherine Sargent was 9 years old when she came home from school and told her mom she wanted to buy some Pok?mon cards.
"It was just what everyone else was doing, and I felt left out," Catherine said .
Her mom, Andrea Sargent asked what Pok?mon cards were but Andrea could not describe them. Catherine told her mom she had to see them to understand them, and her mom took her to the 7-Eleven and bought their first pack of cards.
Fast forward 13 years, and Andrea Sargent?s 11-year-old son, Daniel, a sixth grader at Roy Elementary School, is headed to Hawaii to compete in the Pok?mon World Championship. In July, Daniel qualified for the international competition after becoming a top finisher at a national tournament in Indianapolis, Ind.
His sister remembers the walk to 7-Eleven as a long journey for a 9-year-old. She said it was nothing compared to the journey they?ve been on ever since. The Sargent family has traveled all over the United States and met people all over the world attending Pok?mon tournaments.
After Andrea Sargent bought that first set of cards, her daughter wanted to start playing the game. They found a league at a local Dairy Queen in the mall. When the Dairy Queen closed for remodeling, Catherine lost her league. Her mom found another league that met at a local card shop. The new league was made up of older boys, 16- and 17-year-olds. Andrea Sargent would sit and read her book while the boys taught Catherine to play. One day one of the boys told Andrea Sargent she needed to learn to play, so she did.
"One day a guy named Tymon Martindale walked in the store and said ?We are having a tournament. You have to join,?" said Andrea, who was pregnant with Daniel at the time. :We went to that tournament, and at that point, we got hooked."
One tournament led to another and eventually Martindale received a promotion at work and was transferred to Georgia. He asked Andrea if she wanted to take over his position planning the local tournaments. Andrea accepted and became and independent contractor for Pok?mon.
It came as no surprise to Andrea that her was interested in Pok?mon before he was 2. He was born into it. His sister was a World Champion and his brother Sean, now 19, played as well. The only family member not playing was his dad. "He knows who Pikachu is, but that?s about it," Andrea Sargent said.
She said that playing Pok?mon has been a benefit to her children both academically and socially.
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"It taught all of my children how to win and lose, which I think will help them in the workplace. It really helped both of them in school. They have exceptional math skills. With every card move, they are calculating points. When you do math in your head and have to rattle it off in a hurry that, it comes very naturally," she said.
Daniel enjoys the social aspect. He loves meeting new people and playing the game. He plays both the card game and the video game. He is most excited about reuniting at the world games with old Pok?mon friends from Japan and Europe. "I don?t see them or get to talk to them except at events," Daniel said.
Catherine, who just graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in fine arts, met the person she is dating at a Pok?mon tournament. "It?s been a huge blessing all around. All the opportunities, it?s been amazing. It?s impacted so much of my life," Catherine said.
The Pok?mon family is expanding to other relatives, too. Daniel?s cousin, 9-year-old Caleb Gardiner, has started attending tournaments and recently competed with Daniel at the nationals in Indianapolis.
"There is no job better that I could have had then taking my children with me wherever I travel," Andrea Sargent said. "We have a great time as a family. We are very close, we play together, and we enjoy each other?s company. My kids are really good to each other."
On Aug. 7, Daniel will be accompanied to the world tournament by his sister Catherine, who will be attending as his guardian. Their mother will attend as a judge, but she won?t judge her son?s division.
"From a group of thousands, only 36 American Pok?mon TCG and video game players will travel to the Big Island of Hawaii with one goal in mind, becoming a Pok?mon World Champion," said Michelle Isacson, spokeswoman for The Pok?mon Company International.
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