11-year-old national Beyblade champion heading to world champs

Eleven-year-old Charlie Ross-Matenga’s 16-hour car ride to Auckland and back to Foxton Beach was well worth every minute for the taste of victory at a national Beyblade competition.

About 150 children between the ages of 8 and 12 descended on the central Auckland arena on Sunday for a chance to be named national champion and win a trip to the world championships in Japan.

“For Charlie to be able to do what he did ... is an absolute miracle,” mum Sue said, recalling how much he’s flourished since he fell in love with Beyblades in the past five years.

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The win on Sunday night showed how far he’d come from the days when he was extremely shy and nervous around strangers that they’d have to lure him out from under tables, she said.

“We cried our eyes out," she said. “When I realised that he's gonna win it, I was shaking, I couldn't eat and I was thinking, ‘oh my goodness, how does Charlie feel if I feel like this?’ I'm not even in it.

“But we were just so proud of him … he's our little champion…

“I believe he did so well yesterday because he’d look up and see us there.”

Beyblades are major in Japan, where they were developed by a toy company in 1999. They’re known for the tagline “let it rip” – usually shouted as bladers pull the ripcord and the spinning top drops onto the battleground.

Contestants land various points in their ‘attacks’ (for example, outlasting others’ blades or knocking rivals into the corners labelled as ‘Xtreme Zone’ or a ‘side pocket’ in the arena), with battles lasting anywhere from seconds to minutes.

Charlie, from the Manawatū-Whanganui region, has been mad about them since the age of 8, studying and practising with them for about three hours a day and collecting a container full of them. He even named 65 of them off the top of his head on the drive home on Sunday night.

“I like how they look and how they perform,” Charlie said. “I just like Beyblades and I got better and better at it.”

Sue said she’s always checking his pockets because he tries to sneak them into school.

“When he's interested in something, he'll go the full hog, so he'll study it and he'll look into it. Like when people say to him, ‘oh, have you got this Beyblade?’ Yeah. ‘Have you got that Beyblade?’ Yeah, he's got them all.

“But in the last little while, we've been saying, you know, ‘hey, the big bucks are happening now’ because we're buying the more expensive ones.”

Over the weekend they splurged $150 on Beyblades which Charlie picked out ahead of the competition.

Being named champion, he was given a prize of a golden Beyblade, which Sue believed could be worth up to $1000.

Charlie had been meticulous in his strategy, mapping out the best parts to build a masterpiece that won’t fail him.

He’d not taken part in competitions before, but a few weeks ago, his dad decided they should have a crack at one held at Hobby Lords.

“One of the kids laughed at his Beyblade when he went in like, ‘oh, he’s not gonna win with that’,” Sue recalled.

“The second week he won, and the third week he got [second place].”

Charlie was nervous ahead of the national championships, especially in his final showdown with Oliver - an 8-year-old who had told him he was “going down”.

They became good friends, so the win was quite bittersweet, Sue said.

Ahead of the Japan trip, Sue said they’ll be making sure he gets enough rest and builds his arm muscles.

“We've had some great games, him and his dad, they play together. [His dad Patrick] even decided that he will start playing as well, just to be with Charlie and just be able to help him.”