Lack of talent makes Matt a champ

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSE
Matthew Martin is ranked eighth in the world - but he has absolutely no skill.

When it comes to the sport of Paper, Scissors, Rock, he admits it's all down to pure luck.

"Some guys think they can figure it out but I don't practise, I just be as completely random and spontaneous as I can be. I'm just lucky."

The 34-year-old Rotorua man won the New Zealand Paper, Scissors, Rock Championships last year and along with it a trip to Toronto, Canada, to compete in the world championships where he was placed eighth.

"It's great because my brothers are really sporty but I'm the only national champion at something in our family so I get to gloat," Mr Martin said.

He had "a real ball" in Canada, his placing following four "games", a lot of beer and some good-natured banter from his mates.

So how do you get to be eighth in the world? Mr Martin entered his first regional heat at Tauranga's Pap Tav last July as a "bit of a laugh". The last thing he expected was to actually win.

"I'd never done this before. We've all been playing for years, since we were kids. I've never thought I was any good. It's more tongue in cheek than anything, it's a hard case thing to get involved with."

He said a lot of people really got into the game, dressing up in uniforms or printed t-shirts and wore sweat bands. There were even referees wearing striped shirts and blowing whistles.

"Some people take it really seriously. There are even books and things out about it."

There were more than 500 competitors at the world championships with just as many spectators. Participants were yellow and red carded for going too slow or if it was unclear what signal they were "pulling".

To play, two opponents pull a symbol representing either paper, scissors or rock - paper beats rock, rock beats scissors and scissors beats paper. At the championships the winner was the person who won the best of three sets with the final a five set match-up



Bob Cooper from England won the world championships and received $7000 for his winning effort.

"There's a lot of money out there to be made from this kind of thing," Mr Martin said.

While he maintains he doesn't take it too seriously, others might disagree. He quit his job as an insurance assessor to attend the world event.

Mr Martin is keen to defend his New Zealand title this year and while he doesn't officially train, he gets plenty of practice as he is often challenged to a game at the pub.

"I tend to lose a lot too which people find weird."