Sometimes I like to whip it out in public. People can see it sticking through the hole in my zipper. In a sport full of little ones, it's pretty impressive. When normies see you handling it they cannot help but stop and stare. Even the ladies like it. After a year of throwing nothing but hatchets I have finally entered the macho, testosterone driven, lumberjack world of Big Axe. Oh yes! Now I'm one of those players! I was lucky enough to win a WATL Colossus Big Axe while competing in the Hatchet in Hand Winter League Championships . I always had a little interest but mostly I'm trying to be careful in maintaining my shoulder health ( I turned 52yrs on April 12th). I would love to have a long career as an axe thrower. My solution is to throw two-handed overhead. This takes the pressure off one individual shoulder and allows for the use of multiple muscles. I cut an inch and a half off the handle and started practicing in my backyard. After getting a feel for the momentum I w...

   Many people don't know this about me but I never wanted to be a writer. Growing up I dreamed of trying so many things and they were all physical, athletic, exciting! As a little kid I sucked at sports but that didn't stop my imagination. I wanted to be an action movie star and a professional wrestler and a soldier and a martial artist. A middle school teacher snickered at my pronouncements and told me that I would have to pick only one. Even as a kid I vehemently disagreed. That teacher was the first of many naysayers who would try to lower my expectations. Other adults, fellow students and even friends mocked my ambitions. Granted I would often brag about all the things I was going to do and people don't like that. The best advice I ever got on the subject came from my Uncle David who said, "Do something first, then come tell me about it." Challenge accepted! Over the years I watched heartbroken as friends gave up on their dreams. My friend Mark took acting le...

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 ...

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...

  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....

For 25 years I was an adventure writer who constantly dipped his heels in controversy. From one sport to the next I succeeded in making modest positive changes through activist outreach but failed in making the upper levels of any sport. After my father died in 2017, I no longer felt the need to prove myself and retired as a writer. The chip was off my shoulder or so I thought. When I entered the sport of Axe Throwing I thought that this is my chance to make that upper level. I'm working diligently to get there. However, old habits die hard. That resilient spark of non-conformity drove me back into controversy with my article about "League Loopholes." While the discussion that followed did teach me a great deal about the rules of sport, it also made me realize that I had gone off course, again. I DO NOT want to be an activist. Been there, done that. I want to be an Elite Axe Thrower. From now on that is where I will be focusing my energy. I might still write articles goin...

When I was a little kid I was obsessed with martial arts. As early as 10 years old I was reading Iron Fist comic books and watching Kung-fu theatre. I would stand up wooden posts in my backyard as if they were opponents and then kick them over with a loud kiya! My next step up was martial arts movies. Thanks to my insistence the films of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris filled my parents video rental history. That's when I started to bug them to sign me up for karate lessons. A few years later the acclaimed film The Karate Kid changed it all. When I was 13 years old my family rented the movie and we all watched it together. I looked just like Daniel Larusso, black feathered hair, skinny physique and I already had my share of bullies. This movie was largely responsible for karate becoming a popular pursuit in America. After years of begging for lessons, my parents finally gave in and signed me up.  My first karate school was in Brockton, Massachusetts, the city I grew up around for the fi...

It might sound like a lazy sales pitch but truth be told you can actually learn to throw axes fairly well in a short amount of time. My name is Alex Hutchinson and I'm what you might you call a Taskmaster. I dive into a new sport every couple years and get fairly good at them rather quickly. Why should you listen to me? I started as a kid doing team sports like soccer, baseball and basketball. As a teenager I dove into wrestling, boxing and martial arts. By my thirties I was driving hard in BMX racing and running. I spent several years mountain biking with some cyclocross on the side and even gave the Highland Games a try in my forties. Now at 50 years old I'm shoulder deep in my 12th sport. Alex and his track mates at Charlotte BMX As an adventure writer this type of immersion training was sort of my job and it taught me how to learn just about anything in a short period of time. Don't get me wrong I've never been a National or World Champion but I have earned enough t...

  The great people at Legion M sent out a gift to the financial supporters of the new William Shatner movie 'You can Call Me Bill.' The letter contained a simple thank you note with the promotional logo plus a small packet of seeds. The seeds are from a Redwood tree. William Shatner was once asked what he would like to be if he was reincarnated. His answer was a tree. In 2018 he voiced a character called Phil The Plant in the sci-fi comedy 'Aliens Ate My Homework.' Ever since he has taken a deep interest in botany but especially the life force and communication between trees. He has been quoted as saying that he believes trees are intelligent beings. This thinking led to him writing a song entitled, 'I want to be a tree.' Legion M, who is working with Shatner on his documentary, took his lyrics to heart. Mr. Shatner is now 92 years old and with his movie coming out later this year they deemed it a fitting time to send out hundreds of Redwood seeds to be planted...