# Age of speedcubing participants?



## Yes We Can! (Mar 9, 2009)

Hi,
I wonder, whether there is a list of all ages of speedcubers, because I want to beat the German U16 or U18 record, so I have to know the ages 
I only found this: http://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/statistics.php#1, but that doesn't helps me...
Maybe you can help me :confused:

Greets,
Conny.


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## Stefan (Mar 9, 2009)

Yes said:


> the German U16 or U18 record


The what?


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## coolmission (Mar 9, 2009)

Just practice and beat Lucas' NRs  And Stefan's 

EDIT:



StefanPochmann said:


> Yes said:
> 
> 
> > the German U16 or U18 record
> ...


 Hahaha


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## DAE_JA_VOO (Mar 9, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> Yes said:
> 
> 
> > the German U16 or U18 record
> ...



In sports, that means "Under 16" and "Under 18" respectively


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## mazei (Mar 9, 2009)

Cubing knows no age. Unlike football or basketball, cubing is something that can be equal between people who are aged 6 to wtv. In football people who are 6 can't compete with people who are 21. It's just not the same case.


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## Yes We Can! (Mar 9, 2009)

The under 16 German record (age of 16 or younger)... 
Den deutschen U16 Rekord ^^

coolmission, yes of course ^^


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## coolmission (Mar 9, 2009)

DAE_JA_VOO said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > Yes said:
> ...



I'm pretty sure Stefan understands the notion of U16 and U18; I seriously doubt there are U16 and U18 records in cubing, though.


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## Yes We Can! (Mar 9, 2009)

Me too, but I wonder, why there is no age in the WCA profile


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## coolmission (Mar 9, 2009)

Yes said:


> Me too, but I wonder, why there is no age in the WCA profile



Not everyone wants to give out that information. Hey, this is still the internet.


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## GermanCube (Mar 9, 2009)

coolmission said:


> Hey, this is still the internet.



Good point, I'm more or less shocked, when I read through some pages and see what people tell the whole world about themselves!!


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## Lucas Garron (Mar 9, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> Yes said:
> 
> 
> > the German U16 or U18 record
> ...


He wants to beat my competition results from SF09 and earlier. 



Yes said:


> Me too, but I wonder, why there is no age in the WCA profile


Age or birthdate?
Either way, because Clement is "lazy."


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## Yes We Can! (Mar 9, 2009)

birthdate


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## Robert-Y (Mar 9, 2009)

Why does age matter? There is a point where you're too young to become really good at speedcubing but nearly all of us have passed that age already.


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## Bob (Mar 9, 2009)

Robert-Y said:


> Why does age matter? There is a point where you're too young to become really good at speedcubing but nearly all of us have passed that age already.



What is that point?


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## qqwref (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm going to say 3 or 4. At that age your fingers are simply too small to do efficient fingertricks and turn a normal-sized cube quickly. I'm sure you've seen the 6 year old girl, she's sub20 on 3x3 speed, if she can do it anyone her age or older can (with lots of practice). And maybe with the 4.5cm mini speedcube I found (which I can sub-20 easily) even younger children will be able to speedcube.

Having age records for speedcubing is IMO completely stupid and that's why we don't do it. Age is not a factor because you don't need a highly developed brain or muscles, you just need a bit of finger speed and enough intelligence to memorize a solution and learn to look ahead (all of which can be gotten in less than a year's worth of practice). There is absolutely nothing at all in cubing which requires the user to be a certain age to master it, especially such a huge age as 16 or 18 years! Having a record for under-16 or under-18 people would be pointless since there really is absolutely no difference between a 13-year-old cubing master and a 20-year-old one.


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## jcuber (Mar 9, 2009)

There is a difference, 7 years.


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## coolmission (Mar 10, 2009)

jcuber said:


> There is a difference, 7 years.



7 years of wisdom? I doubt that


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## abr71310 (Mar 10, 2009)

Robert-Y said:


> Why does age matter? There is a point where you're too young to become really good at speedcubing but nearly all of us have passed that age already.



I wish I could totally agree with you...
I started cubing WAY too late to become any good at cubing (3x3x3, since I started the day after TOF 2008 happened); my PB I don't think will change from where it's at now (27.xx seconds, 21.xx seconds single), since despite knowing all of the PLLs, intuitive (and somewhat fast) F2L and 2-look OLL, I still can't break a sub-25 average or a sub-18 single.


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## Ton (Mar 10, 2009)

Yes said:


> Me too, but I wonder, why there is no age in the WCA profile



I am 48 , and of 45+ the fastest of the World ...but I see no point for me to ask for an age category, since there is no competition, or it must be 40+ , in that case Ron will win

If speedcubing grows and , I would love to see a category <12 Years
12 until 50 and 50 + 

Why, cubers between 12 until 50 can still compete on the highest level

Year after year I become faster, so I see no reason why I can not do a 16 sec average one day in competition


Btw I would love to see an fun statistic like fastest time div age , I did a 13.28 when I was 47 , so I would score 0,2825 , the less the better


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 10, 2009)

Ton said:


> If speedcubing grows and , I would love to see a category <12 Years
> 12 until 50 and 50 +
> 
> Why, cubers between 12 until 50 can still compete on the highest level



12 seems a bit arbitrary to me. (Not that 50 isn't also arbitrary - I'm just stating specifically that 12 is.) After all, can you imagine how fast Yu Da-Hyun will be when she's 11, if she keeps cubing between now and then?

Of course, that's probably just due to the pink pajamas; maybe we should instead have categories of "with pink pajamas" and "without pink pajamas" - it might make more sense than age categories.


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## AvGalen (Mar 10, 2009)

Mike Hughey said:


> Ton said:
> 
> 
> > If speedcubing grows and , I would love to see a category <12 Years
> ...


Does any cube-shop already sell pink pajamas? It makes no sense that I practice and learn algs when I simply should be buying pink pajamas 

More seriously: Is there any OH-solver older and faster than I am (sup 32 age, sub 40 average). For OH handsize and dexterity seems to matter and those are more related to age


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 10, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> More seriously: Is there any OH-solver older and faster than I am (sup 32 age, sub 40 average). For OH handsize and dexterity seems to matter and those are more related to age



I find it hard to believe that dexterity really becomes a big problem at older ages. After all, some of the finest pianists in the world are quite old; Horowitz was still an excellent pianist in his seventies, and not bad even in his early eighties. If you can play piano well into your seventies, surely you can do OH cubing even into your seventies.

I'm pretty reasonable at OH when compared to my 2H speed (I'm around 50 seconds OH, around 27 seconds 2H), and I practice OH a total of 5 solves per week.  (Although admittedly I've done a fair amount of OH BLD practice, although I haven't done much of that lately.)


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## qqwref (Mar 10, 2009)

Mike Hughey said:


> I find it hard to believe that dexterity really becomes a big problem at older ages. After all, some of the finest pianists in the world are quite old; Horowitz was still an excellent pianist in his seventies, and not bad even in his early eighties. If you can play piano well into your seventies, surely you can do OH cubing even into your seventies.



I am glad to hear this opinion! Far too often I hear "I'm too old to ever do this quickly," especially when the person saying it clearly isn't. Anyone who's got the dexterity to type can solve a Rubik's Cube, with two hands or one.

On the other hand - and I don't have any experience with this so please feel free to prove me wrong - I think it might be more difficult to learn to be good at OH cubing if you are older. That is, I don't at all doubt that someone who has been doing OH cubing for many years (as I assume Horowitz had been playing piano for decades before he reached 70 years old) could do it at age 70 without trouble, but I'm not sure as to whether a 70-year-old could get their hand used to OH cubing without ever having tried it before.


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 10, 2009)

qqwref said:


> Mike Hughey said:
> 
> 
> > I find it hard to believe that dexterity really becomes a big problem at older ages. After all, some of the finest pianists in the world are quite old; Horowitz was still an excellent pianist in his seventies, and not bad even in his early eighties. If you can play piano well into your seventies, surely you can do OH cubing even into your seventies.
> ...



I guess I still think it's more likely to be an issue with overall dexterity than anything else. Certainly many older people have problems with their joints - arthritis, etc. - which can make it more difficult. But for those who do not have those problems, and who have already done things that involve great dexterity with their fingers (such as playing piano, or perhaps juggling), I really doubt that it would be all that hard for them to learn to get fairly fast at OH. Perhaps there is an issue for getting really good (sub-20 and such), but it seems like some speed success should be possible for older folks with a lot of dexterity. I can't imagine it would have been that hard for Horowitz to have learned at age 70, as long as he was actually interested in doing it (which would have undoubtedly been the real problem).

I know that Ton and I are really not all that old (even if we are ancient compared to most cubers), but I certainly haven't had any noticeable trouble with OH solving. I'm about as good as you would expect someone to be with my 2H speed and the amount of practice I've put into it (which is not very much). I would think I could get sub-30 pretty quickly if I really tried (and take that old OH-er title from Arnaud ). Then again, I play piano and juggle, which may help a lot with that. I notice that Ton has a bigger discrepancy between OH and 2H than I do. But then again, Ton is actually fast at 2H, and I'm very much not.


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## Aub227 (Mar 11, 2009)

Ton said it right. I'm 40, with arthritis, and I'm much faster than I was 2 years ago. Two years ago, I would have never thought I'd get a sub 20 solve and a sub 2 minute bld solve. Current avg at home is about 18-19 secs, pb 12.47 secs. OK, I've only been to 1 competition, but I feel my next one will show that 40+ cubers can still compete with the young "gunslingers", as I like to call them. As of today, I'd say my best chance of ranking in the top 20 in the world would be in 3x3 bld (pb 1:12.xx, avg 1:50 .... successful solves only, approx 60% success rate ), but that's another thread. Yes, Ron and Ton would kick all our butts if there was ever a 40+ comp, but it's all about fun though isn't it?


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## TMOY (Mar 11, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> More seriously: Is there any OH-solver older and faster than I am (sup 32 age, sub 40 average). For OH handsize and dexterity seems to matter and those are more related to age


Gilles Roux is older and faster than you are.
Handsize doesn't decrease with age  And IMHO dexterity should not really be a problem, at least if you already got it from other activites befor starting OH cubing.


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## Ron (Mar 11, 2009)

Average date-of-birth of all WCA members (until November 2008, we do not have all dates-of-birth) is: 1988-01-12
That is an average age of 21 years.


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## Bob (Mar 11, 2009)

Ron said:


> Average date-of-birth of all WCA members (until November 2008, we do not have all dates-of-birth) is: 1988-01-12
> That is an average age of 21 years.



I'm willing to bet the average in the USA is significantly lower. I have a feeling the median is also much lower.


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## Ron (Mar 11, 2009)

> I'm willing to bet the average in the USA is significantly lower. I have a feeling the median is also much lower.


USA: 1988-12-01 
Median: 1990-07-12
(same limitations as above)


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## Bob (Mar 11, 2009)

Ron said:


> > I'm willing to bet the average in the USA is significantly lower. I have a feeling the median is also much lower.
> 
> 
> USA: 1988-12-01
> ...



Okay, so the mean wasn't significantly lower, just about a year...but the median was as I expected (still a bit high, but not too much). At most competitions I attend, I am in the top 5 oldest (and I am only 24).


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## Pedro (Mar 11, 2009)

Bob said:


> Ron said:
> 
> 
> > > I'm willing to bet the average in the USA is significantly lower. I have a feeling the median is also much lower.
> ...



yeah, right...


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