Author Alex Hutchinson

Over the past four years I have been updating my personal biography . This journey of remembrance has been filled with realizations about pivotal years that changed the direction of my ambitions. Often a combination of conscious choice and unforeseen circumstances these years are always a wild ride. They tend to be a crash course in learning new things about the world and my place in it. 2024 was one of those years. Allow me to recap, hang on tight! One year can be a very long time in a busy life so I wrote this summary with article links included that allow people to read further if they desire to do so. The links open up a separate page so you won't lose your place. Winter - This was my first winter back after living in Florida for the past 15 years. The cold and dark reminded me of why I left. Battling Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) while also grappling with the demons of my recent martial separation was not an easy task. Luckily I had three things to distract me - Martial A...

With the 2025 season only weeks away Longhouse Axe in Plymouth, MA decided to give the new rules a try by hosting a recreational mini-marathon/tournament. Members of the Longhouse league battled through 4 matches to create a seeding order and then proceeded into a double elimination tournament with two out of three wins per match. There was also a side hustle to see who would be the first to reach 60+ points. If you read my last article then you know that I love the new rules. Here I figured that I would let Longhouse throwers speak for themselves. "I think the 2025 rules make the game more accessible to a wider range of players. I’m sure you will get mixed opinions on whether or not that’s a good thing. Personally as an amateur player I think it’s a positive change. It’s forcing me out of my comfort zone which will only help me grow as a thrower. Yes the board is easier than the 2024 board but it’s easier for everyone all around." - Jenna Judge "I think that there was ...

  On December 10th, 2024 Crazy Axes in Hanover, Massachusetts hosted a Recreational 2025 Rules Marathon/Tournament. The goal was for everyone to test out the new targets in real competition without the pressure of scoring averages or points expectations. 17 throwers from two states and all skill levels participated in this event. The outcome was a breath of fresh hope for the future of the sport. It would be easy and lazy for me to write about the reactions using vague terms but that's not my style. I will be giving actual examples from the event to demonstrate what I and others witnessed and experienced. 2025 is way more competitive! Example: Jon Gratzer is a new player who has only competed in two leagues but he had a solid match against myself (A Top Amateur) and I had a bad match so he won 37-27. Then a couple matches later I had a solid match against Sean Hout (A Professional Thrower) and he had a bad match so I beat him 51-47. That was a Rec thrower beating a Top Amateur who ...

  Eighteen hours of driving can take a toll. The car ride from Massachusetts to Georgia was brutal with melting sun the first day and endless rain on the second. Had I not been sick the whole way down, it might have been more tolerable but that was my choice. I was going to compete no matter what! Atlanta, Georgia has become an amazing city since I last visited 30 years ago. The skyline is striking, the food is remarkable and the streets are reasonable to navigate. The Works Upper Westside neighborhood where American Axes is located was particularly appealing. Full of eateries and small parks this area was a fun stop for getting drinks or to watch my girl Iris throw down at the Hatchet Marathon. The Hatchet Marathon was just one of a number of side events to keep throwers busy and amused. There was also a cash tournament, a women's tournament and a throw with the Pro's clinic. That last one was kinda redundant because to throw with a pro all you had to do was show up at almost ...

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...