Craving the Win

Story by Senna James, Shadow Ridge High School Journalism student

With a deep breath, everything is gone. Only a strip leading up to an angled, wooden board with a hole towards the top. All the chattering is replaced with concentration. The gnawing, nerve-wracking feeling disappears as the weighted, small, colorful bean bag begins to become more noticeable in hand. After gaining exactly 21 points, adrenaline pumps through Junior Caden Mason as the craving to win hooks him in.

Growing up, Mason observed his father and father’s friend constantly participating in cornhole tournaments. After a while, Mason decided to finally have a taste of what it was like to actually play the game. “I wanted to try it out. So I went to a tournament with my dad and we ended up getting second place. I had a lot of fun and I got super competitive. I was hooked and wanting to keep getting better,” said Mason. At age 14, Mason’s career in cornhole began and the future was looking bright. It wasn’t until a year of practicing in his backyard with his dad and competing in tournaments here and there that he would take his career to a more competitive level. “I started to win and grow the ranks through the different divisions. I did really well in my first ever singles tournament in a division above what I usually played. That’s when I really started making a name for myself,” said Mason.

Quickly, Mason progressed to higher divisions and even traveled. Recently, Mason won the AZ State Championship in the high school division, helping him gain more of a name and experiencing new opponents. “Winning tournaments like that is why a lot of the cornhole community usually calls me my nickname, ‘Money Mason.’ ” Outside of traveling for tournaments Mason also competes in professional and advanced divisions, meaning at national cornhole tournaments.

In order to find himself on such a high playing field, Mason had to win a vast amount of singles tournaments as well as East v.s. West, a very important singles tournament that would help him advance. “When they tracked my stats in that tournament I placed top three in the advance/professional division,” said Mason. Not only does progressing up through the ranks change the playing field but also the atmosphere and mental game. Unlike most sports, cornhole is not a physically draining game but rather a mental battle. “It’s very mentally straining because you have to remain calm in order to perform best,” said Mason. Even during a game, Mason has had to compete against both his opponent and thoughts. “If you miss and give up a large amount of points you will be mad, but you have to have a short memory and just keep going. It’s a long game and staying calm and mentally in check is a necessity to win.” So the shift of playing to nationals was considerably large. Mason would find himself inside casino ballrooms and sports complexes with hundreds of people and boards filling the rest of the space. “Knowing that everyone there was a good player and seeing the different club jerseys was intimidating at first but then made me want to go up against the challenge more,” said Mason.

Nothing could make Mason back down, his passion for cornhole burned too brightly. In fact, there were many reasons for Mason to love the game. One being the lack of injuries presented in tossing the beanbag. “I’ve been playing football for as long as I can remember and something I’ve always dreaded is getting injured. With cornhole I don’t have to worry about that,” said Mason. Even the community surrounding cornhole has a huge impact on Mason’s passion.

“The cornhole community is filled with lots of amazing people that I’ve grown close to over the past few years,” said Mason. However, the best part of the game comes from the sensation of winning tournaments. From that first game of cornhole Mason was hooked. Nothing could stop him. With a deep breath and a toss, Mason gains 21 points and once more the desire to win takes hold.