Amateur axes were flying in Albany, New York as Generation Axe hosted its very first WATL Tier 3 tournament with the epic name Capitol City Chaos. That's right folks it is important to have an epic name for your tournament to heighten the bragging rights. With 21 throwers in the Amateur brackets and exciting battles throughout the morning, Capitol City Chaos did not disappoint! "People signed up so fast! I could tell we were going to have a big crowd." Joe Handy wanted to test the waters to see how much enthusiasm there would be for a WATL tournament in upstate New York. Competitive throwers from all disciplines eagerly traveled from Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire to answer the call. The level of competition was at its peak for an amateur tournament. The top three seeds Gary "Dragon" Dayter, Don Barnes and your author Alex "TaskMaster" Hutchinson battled their way into the top five positions. I have nev...

  Anyone who has been competing in the World Axe Throwing League during 2024 knows that the new rules have, in some ways, created a bit of a mess. Recently WATL put out a survey asking what we did and did not like in order to make new new rules moving forward. They appear to be starting a process that will test these changes meant to make the sport more fun and less disruptive. This is great and I applaud their efforts. My intention here is to put forward my story as a thrower who started with the 2024 rule changes and explain how they affected my experience. My opinions do not fit in a survey box. As a writer I'm a bit long winded but stories can be cathartic so here we go... "Holy crap I'm winning!" My first experience with the 2024 rules happened during the Winter League. I started off way better than I imagined. My record was 26 wins and only 2 losses! You can imagine my elation. It's too bad it was mostly delusional. You see, in my league there are at least h...

 

  On a visit to Long Island your author Alex and his daring partner Irisrose visited NY Axe. NY Axe is a chain of throwing venues spread across the Island but this location was at 325 Main Street in Huntington. This beautiful town in the north central part of the Island has a very popular nightlife and it showed with a thriving crowd of enthusiastic customers. Almost every lane was full including a bachelor party who was enjoying food and drinks at the bar. Upon entering we were greeted by Danny Simone, one of the owners who was thrilled to meet throwers who were more than "Casual." Wearing my Longhouse Axe shirt and carrying a backpack of Axes he was fascinated to hear about our experiences in throwing competitions and our participation in the World Axe Throwing League. We were more than happy to indulge and gave as much information as he wanted. NY Axe has weekly recreational leagues but they are definitely interested in joining the larger world of competitive throwing....

  Despite the cloudy gloom of New England weather it was a bright and shiny day for throwers from LongHouse Axe as they took on all competitors at the ThroWell Amateur Tournament in Lowell, MA. This WATL Tier 2 tournament was one of the few that allowed for a fully Amateur Hatchet competition. This rare designation brought in athletes from as far away as North Carolina to see if they had what it takes to call themselves Champion. The LongHouse Four - Alex Hutchinson, Catherine Dowie, Jeff Coulton and Dan Middendorf together accumulated a total of 15 wins. Catherine, Jeff and Dan all took wins in A bracket before being knocked down to B but again they climbed back through the fray to take prominent positions. Catherine's run was the most impressive of the day being the only person to battle through 8 matches with 6 wins and scoring over 900 points. Her 2 losses were against fellow LongHouse throwers Jeff & Alex, both were epic matches. On the next day of competition Jeff would g...