In Memory of Darryn Van Vuuren

Megahurtz

On behalf of Martin Dvorak, I regret to report some terrible news.

Darryn van Vuuren, the first Pokémon World Champion, passed away this year

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/search?q=flair_name:"Info"&restrict_sr=1
Darryn van Vuuren (born 1983-12-15) represented the United Kingdom at the Pokémon World Championships 2000, which was the first international Pokémon tournament in history. The Championships took place in Pokémon park on the grounds of Sydney University in Australia. Darryn van Vuuren won the title of the first Pokémon World Champion after defeating Edwin Krause from Germany in the final battle on 2000-09-22. He was recognized as the best Pokémon trainer in the world and became an inspiration for many of us, aspiring young people who wanted to enter the realms of competitive Pokémon play.

To our immeasurable disappointment, he was found dead on 2021-02-18, only a few days before the 25th anniversary of the initial Pokémon games’ release. According to the newspaper Islington Tribune, he committed suicide by falling from the 6th floor. People say he had been suffering from anxiety disorder and paranoia, living in a constant fear of getting poisoned. By the time he suicided, he was working at Camden Council in London as a data and governance officer, according to the newspaper Camden New Journal. His colleagues remember him as a dedicated council member and a friendly guy who was very intelligent, knew many fascinating facts, and had a great appreciation for dry British humor.

This is not only sad news for the international Pokémon community. This is, most of all, a major tragedy for van Vuuren’s family and those who were a part of van Vuuren’s life. Let me thereby express my deep condolences to them.


Pokémon online conference in memory of Darryn van Vuuren
2021-09-25 (Saturday), online (platform and time TBD)
This is not intended to be a virtual funeral. Instead, we are going to celebrate Darryn's great passion for Pokémon and pay respect to his legacy. The date was selected to make the conference happen on the weekend following the 21st anniversary of Darryn's victory.
Call For Contribution!
  • 2 speakers on: History of Pokémon games
  • 2 speakers on: Pokémon competitive play
  • 1 speaker on: Mental health awareness
  • Any number of people who knew Darryn van Vuuren personally and would be willing to share some memories of him
The conference will be followed by an unofficial “retro” tournament in Pokémon Gen 1 games (via Pokémon Showdown). I will add more info soon!
Contact: martin.dvorak( a t )matfyz.cz


Original Reddit post: Darryn van Vuuren, the first Pokémon World Champion, passed away this year : pokemon (reddit.com)

Article following the inquest: Security flaws allowed man to enter council HQ before falling to his death | Camden New Journal
 

madvorak

Martin Dvorak here.
I am still searching for speakers. In particular, these topics have not been covered yet:
  • present-day competitive play
  • mental health awareness
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
madvorak said:
A few days ago, I posted it here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/unofficial-tournaments.666/
Unfortunately, it seems that it got deleted. Do you have any idea what was wrong with my post?
Click to expand...
Hi, I saw this posted in IS in the smogon discord and was asked to post my answer here.

To my knowledge, unofficial tournaments hosted in the Tournaments subforum generally have to go through an approval and scheduling process before being allowed to go through. (https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/tournament-applications.214/) My initial guess is that this either wasn't done or perhaps went up earlier than it was meant to. I'm not a tournament official so I could very well be wrong, but that is my guess.

This could also be relevant: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/unofficial-tournament-applications-schedule-read-me.3569352/

Hope everything goes well!
 

madvorak

My bad I didn't read the rules. At this point, the tournament is too close, so I will just keep the reddit link here in the comments.
 
Beelzemon 2003

Beelzemon 2003

Hello all, my name is Beelzemon 2003, I studied a major related to psychology and took a course about psychological help.

If you know someone that is thinking about taking his own life, the best you can do is to spend time with him and talk to him. A good advice is to ask him if there is something that he would like to do or if there is someone that he would like to see, that could help him to find meaning in his life.

Now, if you find someone that is about to commit suicide (e.g. if he is in a bridge and is thinking about jumping), the best you can do is to talk to him, if you don't know the person, then you should introduce yourself and ask him if you can talk with him. As I told before, it is adviced to ask him if there is something that he would like to do or if there is someone that he would like to see.

The info I just gave is very basic, so I'd strongly suggest that you talk with a psychologist or a psychiatrist if you want to know more about how you can help a person that is considering suicide or is experimenting a life crisis.

Regarding Derryn van Vuuren, I wanted to say that he was a great person. I didn't have the chance to meet him personally, but I was aware of his achievements. People that met him said that he was a nice man and that he was willing to help anyone. Derryn taught us that, if we wanted to achieve our goals, we had to train, to study and to enjoy life, that was a great lesson and I'm thankful for it.

To finish I want to express my condolences to Derry's friends and family. He may have gone, but he will never be forgotten, because he was the very best like no one ever was.

Rest in peace champion.

derryn.png
 
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