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A year ago, Joshua Simon was just learning the ropes of the Pokemon strategy card game. Last week, he came back from the Pokemon World Championships with a 10th-place ranking in the world and memories that will last a lifetime.

Joshua, a 10-year-old from Onalaska, made it to the top 16, playing a boy from Malaysia who placed third in the world last year. He also played kids from Norway, Italy and Japan, which was a little intimidating considering Pokemon originated there and the top players get training at Pokemon University.

“We had such an incredible time. It was awesome,” said Cheryl Kidd, Joshua’s mother.

The world championship tournament was held in the Hilton at Walt Disney World in Florida. Joshua qualified for the tournament based on his ranking and placing in the top eight at the national tournament. His 12-year-old sister, Danyelle, who plays in the even more competitive senior division, did well all year but didn’t quite qualify for the world championship competition.

There is a last-chance qualifying contest known as the Grinder that allows the top 16 from each division to play at worlds. This year the top 21 were allowed due to empty spots left by players who did not make it to Florida.

The Grinder is held the day before the championships begin. Danyelle brought her “A” game and finished 17th out of 178 in her division in the Grinder, which meant both she and her brother were in the world championships.

Kidd said the opening ceremony was so intense and inspiring with tropical drums and flag-bearers running around with flags from the 25 countries represented at the event.

Danyelle didn’t make it through to the second day of competition, but Joshua was among the top 32 players in his division who did. He beat his first opponent two out of three games, making it to the top 16 round on the second day of the competition. He then lost to his opponent in the top 16, the boy from Malaysia.

One incident that will stick out in Joshua’s memory happened while he was poolside while his sister was playing in the Grinder. He was suddenly swamped by a Japanese TV news crew.

Joshua was a little stunned by the surprise interview, unable to understand the reporter without the interpreter. Still, the reporter did an on-camera Pokemon card trade with him where he ended up with a card that is very rare in Japan and not even released in the United States.

In addition to the rare card, Joshua also came away from the world championships with a $1,000 scholarship, a full box (36 packs) of the next edition of Pokemon cards, an embroidered Pokemon World Championships top 16 hat and, best of all, a custom orange Nintendo DS Lite handheld game system embossed with Pokemon World Championships 2008.

If Joshua would have made it into the next round, he would have won at least a $2,500 scholarship and a Nintendo Wii game system, with the potential for a lot more if he was successful.

Still, Kidd could hardly be happier with the outcome, considering the caliber of the competition. “You go into it not expecting that he’ll make it to the second day,” she said. “For their first year, it’s awesome.”

And the Simons got some sponsorship help from Kwik Trip and Children’s Miracle Network, for which Kidd was very grateful.

Now the Simons have to get ready for the Autumn Battleroads series of competitions that start later in September, creating a new deck using the newly issued cards.

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or 786-6812.