The 2023 Pokémon World Championships in Yokohama, Japan saw hundreds of players from around the globe compete to win big money and fantastic prizes, but two of those players were unlike any that had ever come before. Diane Schemanske and her son Alex were the first-ever mother-son duo to compete in the Pokémon TCG World Championships together.
“I feel amazing. I was so excited to qualify,” Diane told IGN at the tournament.
Diane works as a Head of Corporate Services and lives in Brighton, MI. She first became a Poké-Mom when her son Alex, then age nine, said he wanted to play in Pokémon card tournaments, so she decided to learn to play and compete alongside him. Her other son Christopher also got into competitive Pokémon with them. Alex went on to become a multi-time Pokémon Champion while Christopher earned some impressive tournament results himself and then became a Pokémon tournament judge. Now after 13 years of competing, Diane finally earned an invite to play in the World Championships alongside her son, Alex.
Around the Pokémon TCG community, Diane has become known as “The Best Schemanske.”
In order to qualify to play in Worlds, a player must compete all year round in tournaments and earn Championship Points (CP) by making high placements. Masters (adult) players from North America needed 500 CP to earn an invitation this year. Diane said she was 68 points shy of an invite just weeks before the end of the season, so she attended as many tournaments as possible, including flying to one in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was able to reach the required amount just in time.
Diane piloted the popular Fusion Mew VMAX deck and finished the tournament with four wins and four losses at the end of Day 1, just short of the six wins needed to move on to Day 2. Her deck choice ended up being a good call, as it was the same deck that player Vance Kelley used to eventually win the tournament. But being knocked out of the tournament didn’t dampen her spirit.
“It didn’t matter,” she said with a laugh. “I can honestly say that I was so excited to get this invite and compete in the World Championships. Sure, I’d like to move on, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that I made it here. It didn’t matter if I won or lost. I did my best. That’s all I can ask of myself. I had fun with my opponents. I had a great time regardless of how I finished.”
Meanwhile, Alex finished 11th place in the tournament and took home $2,500 among other prizes.
Diane said that she and her sons were able to travel around the world and compete together by using their prize money to pay for travel. They go to every tournament they can, including all four major international tournaments, located in North America, Latin America, Europe and Oceania.
If you want to compete in the Pokémon World Championships one day, as well, Diane offers this advice: “Just keep trying. In 13 years, I didn’t give up. Some years are better than others. If you’re a parent, play with your kids. You learn a lot from them and they learn a lot from you. There are so many people here to meet who will help you and teach you ways to be better. I get a lot of advice from people and it’s made me a better player.”
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