Too Good to be an Amateur?

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 level which is reserved for Pros. We all know that there is a rating system that judges skills based on which targets you hit with consistency. We also know people who suffer during league play but rock the house at tournaments.

Part of the reason this is so confusing is that WATL is going through an evolution as a sport that has required rule changes. Each time the rules change some throwers find benefit and some fall short. It is currently possible to find a thrower who has more than a thousand games and yet never reached pro status. It is also possible to meet a thrower who only has 200 matches and yet can challenge Pros at open tournaments. 

What is the determining factor? Is it time? Is it the number of matches? Is it tournament success? Is it the rating system? We ask these questions for the sake of fairness. One of the reasons we separate Pros from Amateurs is to avoid lopsided matches, to stop people with crazy skills from crushing newbie opponents. However, sometimes the rule changes allow for people to slip through the cracks.

Before you get angry and accuse me of stirring the pot, I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I have seen this type of confusion happen in other sports. I once showed up to a mountain bike event in a full bike shop uniform on a brand new bike looking like a pro and got accused of being in the wrong class. It was all about perception because at the time I was a beginner who proceeded to get my butt kicked at that event. You can't judge a book by its cover.

Luckily WATL is building a new sport and appears to be very receptive to the opinions of its athletes and venue owners. The process they used to reach the current rule changes appears to have been very reasonable, open and considerate. Now it is our turn to be open minded and reasonable.

At the upcoming Amateur Championships some people are going to rock and some people are going to suck. It's part of competing at a big event. If anyone took the time to read my stats they would see that I am clearly an Amateur and not worthy of accusation. We shouldn't be pointing fingers at each other. We should be cheering each other on. 

When someone does cheat the system it is usually pretty obvious. Remember that former Professional road cyclist? When he won the mountain bike event 20 minutes ahead of second place, no one cheered for him. No one congratulated him. He stood on the podium to the awkward sound of silence.