Asian Qualifying

China opened the Asian part of qualification with an easy defeat of Turkey in Beijing. South Korea was the favorite heading into the match against Qatar, but led by Achmed Al Masri, the Qatar team beat Turkey by 7 in Nanjing. The wide open Group B started with Japan beating the Israeli team in Changchun. India opened their tournament in the right way with a victory over the United Arab Emirates team in Macau.

China was the host and favorites in the tournament, and their victory over South Korea in Tianjin had the Koreans all but eliminated. Al Masri scored 18 points and lifted Qatar over Turkey in Shanghai eliminating the Turks and Koreans. The 34th ranked team in the world had beaten the 19th and 23rd shockingly. In Guangzhou, the Japanese team beat the UAE to be 2-0 and in prime position to advance. Israel knocked out the Indian team in a heated battle of the 16th and 17th ranked teams in the world, the game went into the final seconds with Israel blocking India’s shot at the buzzer in Hong Kong.

In group A, the teams that advanced were already set. But China beat Qatar for seeding in Changchun in a close game. South Korea came in blazing against Turkey in Macau, but were put in their place with Turkey saving themselves from a winless tournament. India and Israel were tied record wise with one game left before the knockout rounds. India was facing Japan with a chance to win, but Japan went on a 10-1 run after half and sent the Indian team home from Nanjing. Israel had lots of support in being the underdogs of the tournament, and they continued their run with a win over the UAE in Tianjin putting them in the knockout round.

The mighty Chinese team beat the darling Israeli team in Guangzhou, advancing to the finals against the winner of the second game. Japan and Qatar faced off in Hong Kong with the Japanese team who rolled through the group stages, but the tournament MVP Al Masri had a triple double and sent the Japanese to the Bronze medal game trying to score the 3rd team in the World Yakball Cup. Japan played Israel in the 3rd place game in Beijing beating the Israeli team 40-31. The finals were a highly anticipated match up between Qatar and China in Shanghai. The Qatari team put up a fight, but the home team with all their support won the game and will be a favorite in America.

Qualified teams

WYC: Canada

I don't know what exactly happened, but I was doing this set, and I saw a logo with letters mashed together interlocking, I thought I could do that. I did a crest, with a banner on the bottom. I had a maple leaf up top cut down for design purposes. Then, I did my letters in the center. It's pretty basic, but I'd like to get feedback!

Adidas for the Canadian team! Simple adidas stripes on the shoulders, with a bit of color underneath the arm. Just simple stripes on the pants too, nothing crazy.

WYC: Jamaica

I didn't look into icons, because I liked the flag so much. I did a diamond with a banner wrapping around with the name, and the flag on the diamond. Real simple, with the yellow popping out from the green and black.

Puma for this team, just like the track team. I didn't want to use yellow or green for the home kit, so I went with black, like I did with a concept a few years ago for a football team. The clash is a white version of the home. I actually had about 3 versions for them before I settled on this one. Hope you like!

North American Qualifying

The tournaments will be in the style of the Euro tournament. The best teams in each conference have group play, and a playoff to determine who advances.

The North American tournament took place in Mexico. The best teams were split off in the draw, putting the USA/Belize/Mexico/Trinidad & Tobago in group A, and Canada/Jamaica/Honduras/Cuba in group B. The round robin tournament was underway with the US beating the host Mexico in the new Mexico City arena. Belize beat the T&T national team in game 2 in Guadalajara. In day 2, Canada beat the Cuban team in Cancun by a lot. Then Jamaica lost their opening match to the Honduras team in Obregón, looking to upset the 15th best team in the world. 

 The second round of match ups started the next day. The US won again by a large margin over Belize in Torreón. The home Mexican team beat Tobago to the delight of the crowd in Monterrey. The second day of group B was very dramatic. The Jamaicans beat the Canadians in dramatic fashion with a last second point by their captain Eric Black in front of the Mexico City fans. Cuba beat Honduras spoiling their chance to take the group lead in Guadalajara, tying Group B up at 1-1. 

 On the last day, all games would be played two at a time. The US team beat the Trinidad team in Obregón, sweeping the group. The group really came down to the other match in Cancun between Belize and Mexico. Belize won with 5 straight points to end the game, winning by 3 over the host team. Belize would advance to play the winner of Group B. Canada faced off with the Honduras team in order to advance, and did so easily in Monterrey. The Jamaicans were in the same situation, facing their neighbors to the north, Cuba in Torreón. The Jamaicans did, winning the group based off their head to head with Canada. 

 The biggest rivalry in Yakball was renued with team America beating Canada in Guadalajara in a great game. The US was already qualified for the tournament, but the win means they would've gotten in anyway. The Canadians would play the loser of game 2 in the bronze game to make the WYC. The Jamaican's run at destiny continued with a 9 point victory in Moterrey, advancing them to the finals against the US, and the championship in the US. The Canadians flexed their mussels with the help of David Abercrombie of Centre Toronto scoring 20 enroute to the victory over Belize, and qualification in the WYC. The USA beat their Jamaican rivals earning them a victory of the first continent championship. 

 Results

Qualified teams

WYC: United States

The host of the tournament, composed totally of players in the US league. I wanted to do something like Davidson's eagle logo originally, but started messing with some ideas. I wanted to use the USMNT colors, because the navy and gold look great together, and I put more red in the red. I thought hoops would look cool, and I wanted to try to use a ball in a logo for the first time. I did a circle, and put US Yakball on it because it was short and sweet. Instead of 13 stars going around on the bottom, I put E Pluribus Unum from the US seal to make it more US orientated. The field is interchangeable with any city name that hosts a national game. 

I really wanted to use red and white hoops, so I did. The shorts are navy, and the socks match the jerseys. The clash is navy with sublimated darker navy in an attempt to separate from the primary.

World Yakball Cup

So the year is 2020, and the sport is growing rapidly. Enough interest from many countries has allowed there to be a competitive world tournament with the best national teams in the world. The qualifying will be similar to that of the world cup, being broken down by continent and competition skill. The following is the breakdown for the 16 team tournament by continent. 6 European teams 3 North American teams 3 Asian teams 2 South American teams 1 African team 1 Oceania team

 Here is the top 40 in the Yakball world rankings

The first tournament is fittingly in the US, the country of origin. The United States automatically qualifies for the tournament, with the rest coming down to qualification. The host cities are

I will be dropping in with match results for continental tournaments to qualify for the championship. Here are the continental groupings.

Smiling birds

Laying in my brother's Brooklyn apartment at 2 AM with a 5 AM wake up call for a flight at 730, I thought of what everyone would in that situation, "What would the Blue Jays and Cardinals look like if they used the Orioles' smiling bird logo?". So i took screenshot of each logo on the mothership's pages, then when I got to Philly(The flight from NYC to Philly was literally 20 minutes), I sketched up these in like 5 minutes. I got back to Indiana and made them on inkscape. 

 So look, look with your special eyes.