Author Alex Hutchinson

The WATL Amateur Championships have announced their tournament contenders and it is an impressive bunch. Your ambitious author has received a bye into the second stage. This will be the first National that I have ever competed in. Seems crazy that out of all my years bouncing around different sports I have never taken part in anything larger than a state championship. This will be a first and I love firsts. Having dreamt about this since I was a kid you can only imagine the intricate training I had in mind to prepare for such a momentus occasion. Hear the rising Rocky music in the background as I blister away the hours killing shots and evaporating the cottonwood into splinters. I would break all my personal records and amaze my friends at League with how far I have come... well... that's not quite how it happened. All of those plans came to a screeching halt when I got sick. Sick enough to miss three days of work. Then my car needed a brake job and suspension work. Then my mother

I once attended a mountain bike race where a former Professional road cyclist showed up and blew the doors off all the mountain bikers. Since he wasn't a mountain bike racer, he technically could race at the amateur level. We all knew it was bullshit! This was a blatant crack in the rules. These things can happen in any sport. A few months ago a Pro level Axe Thrower made a comment about me that I found fascinating. He said, "Alex is too good to be an Amateur." Luckily he said this to a friend of mine who replied, "Alex has only been throwing since January so he is an Amateur. He's just a really good one." While I appreciate my friend sticking up for me, that made me wonder, what does it mean to be an Amateur in the sport of Axe throwing? With the WATL Amateur Championships coming quickly this is a legitimate question that many people will be asking. So how do we break it down? We all know someone who is really good at throwing but never made it to that next

I hesitated before I pushed the registration button. There were only a few days left to sign up for the WATL Amateur Axe Throwing Championships and for some reason I was holding back. Maybe it was the usual things that people have to deal with on a day to day basis. We all have jobs to work and bills to pay. We all have loved ones that deserve our attention and projects that require our ambition. As amateurs, this is a hobby for all of us. The logistics and emotions of everyday life can easily sideswipe our plans.  Ambivalence, maybe that was the feeling? I have spent my life chasing dreams usually in the form of athletic excellence. Many times I have fallen short but once in a while I would exceed my expectations. That feeling of accomplishment is meaningful even if most people aren't even aware of the sport. That potent combination of discipline, determination and conscientious training helps define who we are as athletes and individuals. "I throw axes!" Usually you see

 

  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