World Axe Throwing League
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 WATL season | |
 | |
| Sport | Axe throwing |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 2017 |
| First season | Spring 2017 |
| Commissioner | Sarah Sed |
| Countries | 24 |
| Most recent champion(s) | Dylan Teets |
| Official website | worldaxethrowingleague |
The World Axe Throwing League (WATL) is a global governing body of urban axe throwing.[1][2]
WATL was founded in 2017 by representatives from Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Ireland. It has 19 axe throwing nations with membership. Members include over 175 member companies (affiliates). It organizes international tournament events such as the U.S. Open, Canadian Open, European Open, the North American Arnold Open, South American Arnold Open, and most notably the World Axe Throwing Championship.[3][4]
It appoints judges who officiate at all sanctioned leagues and tournaments. It promulgates the WATL Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for urban axe throwing.
International Axe Throwing Day
This day (13 June) was created by the World Axe Throwing League to celebrate, raise awareness and unify the sport of urban axe throwing. Though primarily celebrated with affiliates in the WATL, it is also celebrated by anyone with a passion for the sport around the world.[5]
History
2017
WATL was founded.
International Axe Throwing Day (June 13) was founded.
Representatives from five countries joined the WATL: the United States, Canada, Ireland, Brazil and Denmark.
The first annual World Axe Throwing Championship was held.
2018
Evan Walters was announced as the Commissioner of WATL.
Representatives from 10 countries joined the WATL: the United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, New Zealand, Slovenia, and Indonesia.
The first annual U.S. Open tournament was held.
The second annual World Axe Throwing Championship was held, and was the first urban axe throwing production to be featured on ESPN.
2019
Representatives from four countries joined the WATL: South Africa, Australia, Belgium and China.
The first annual Canadian Open tournament was held.
2020
The spring and summer leagues for 2020 were cancelled as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic and many locations around the world enforcing a quarantine, the WATL helped establish the Quarantine Axe Throwing League with co-founders Gavin Caissie , Mike Morton and Tristan Ledbury. This made headway continuing the sport from the homes of players, so they might continue axe throwing despite the mandatory restrictions on social contact.[6]
WATL implemented a new style of playing online with WATL Live.
Mario Zelaya was the new Commissioner of the World Axe Throwing League, and Evan Walters became Head of Development for the World Knife Throwing League.
2021
With Covid-19 restrictions lessened around the world, Axe Throwing League seasons reopened for standard League play.
The first affiliated location in India started.
The World Axe Throwing League announced the formation of a new sister league, the World Knife Throwing League.
At the 2021 World Axe Throwing Championship, Mario Zelaya announced he would be stepping down as Commissioner with QATL founder, with Mike Morton to be his replacement.
2023
Mike Morton announced he would be stepping down as Commissioner with Sarah Sed to be his replacement starting in January of 2024.
In 2023 it was announced that the World Axe Throwing League and World Knife Throwing League were replacing the annual U.S. Open tournament with a Pro-Am tournament .
Sarah Sed was announced as the Commissioner starting in 2024.
Scoring
Scoring is a match system where ten axes are thrown per match. The player with the highest points of their ten thrown axes wins the match. In case of a tie, a "sudden death" throw is made for the highest score. Sudden death throws are done until one thrower scores higher than the other. Scoring is determined by where the axe strikes into the target. The WATL targets have a red bullseye ring, followed by five empty rings, and then a blue ring. The scoring is 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. Additionally, there are blue dots in the 1 point ring, known as "kill-shot," which can only be used when called, twice per match for 8 points. Point designation is based on the highest point value the axe touches when it lands and sticks.
WATL tournaments
In 2018, WATL started working on a tournament format to help include any throwers who could not regularly participate in the WATL axe throwing seasons. This started off by working with Columbus Axe Throwing, to bring urban axe throwing to Columbus, Ohio, for the Arnold Sports Festival (also known as the Arnold Classic or just "the Arnold", and named after Arnold Schwarzenegger).[7] There are plans for tournaments in more locations, but only three annual tournaments have been announced: the Arnold, the U.S. Open, and the Canadian Open.
| Year | Champion | Location | 2nd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 |  John Bradley |
Chicago, Illinois
|
Eric Enriquez
|
| 2019 | Mike Kump |
Des Moins, Iowa
|
Sam Carter
|
| 2020 | Canceled | Canceled | Canceled |
| 2021 | Mike Philabaum |
Atlanta, Georgia
|
Michael Theadorou
|
| 2022 | Mark Tishko |
Minneapolis, Minnesota
|
Lucas Johnson
|
In 2023 the World Axe Throwing League discontinued the U.S Open in favor of re-branding it as the Pro-Am Championship. This tournament was made to highlight professional throwers as well as amateur ones, in addition to introducing many new styles of gameplay for axe and knife throwing, known as the Skills Challenges.
| Year | Pro Hatchet Champion | Amateur Hatchet Champion | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Brett Jariabek |
Erik Rimblas |
Appleton, Wisconsin
|
World Axe Throwing Hatchet Championship
The World Axe Throwing Championship takes place once a year in December. The format has slight changes from year to year, to be announced before the beginning of the yearly competition. 2018 marked the first time that an axe throwing championship was presented on ESPN.[8]
| Year | World Champion | Location represented | Country | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Chris Morning | Far Shot Recreation |  Canada
|
Jon Miller | Michael Moore |
| 2018 | Benjamin Edgington | Bad Axe Throwing Denver |  United States
|
David Cycon | Paul Gammon |
| 2019 | Sam Carter | Tap That Axe Throwing | United States
|
David Cycon | Straun Riley |
| 2020 | Ryan Smit | Tribal Axe | United States
|
Mike Kump | Nick Rich |
| 2021 | Mike Philabaum | Mountain Man Axe Throwing | United States
|
Garrett Gneiting | Robert Young |
| 2022 | Dylan Teets | Axe On Axe Off | United States
|
Colby Dean | Lucas Johnson/Mike Philabaum |
| 2023 | Garrett Gneiting | Social Axe Throwing | United States
|
Neil Rust | Dave Alviso/Lucas Johnson |
Axe Throwing Duals World Champions
The World Axe Throwing Championship added duals as a discipline in 2019. Duals is where two throwers are working together to throw a combined score.
| Year | World Champions | Venues represented | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Uncle Kump - Mike Kump and Will Gelatko | Chopper's Hatchet House | Team Basura - Julio Romero and Rander Marquez | Stjep Daddy - Stjepan Rihtaric and Gavin Caissie |
| 2020 | Brown Johnson - Lucas Johnson and Hayden Brown | Murfreesboro Axe | Trigger Happy - John Hout and Shane Sheppard | Valkyrian Steel |
| 2021 | Brown Johnson - Lucas Johnson and Hayden Brown | Murfreesboro Axe | Kingsmen - Michael Theodorou and Colby Dean | Axe Mafia |
| 2022 | Brown Johnson - Lucas Johnson and Hayden Brown | Murfreesboro Axe | Vinnit to Win it - Vin Crescenzo and Kyle Durrant | Sloth Ghost / Fancy but Loose |
| 2023 | Flo Bros - John Doepke and Tyler Flynn | Blades & Boards / Timberbeast | Kill Shot Crew - Tyler Hunt and Brett Jariabek | Brown Johnson / Team Jacob |
Commissioners of the World Axe Throwing League
The Commissioner of WATL heads the World Axe Throwing League.
| Years active | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 – 2020 | Evan Walters | United States
|
| 2020 – 2021 | Mario Zelaya | Canada
|
| 2022 – 2023 | Mike Morton | Canada
|
| 2024 – present | Sarah Sed | United States
|
WATL members around the world
10+ members
5 - 10 members
2 - 5 members
1 member
No membership
| Country | Region | Admitted | No. of locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States
|
North America | 2017 | 157 |
| Canada
|
North America | 2017 | 20 |
 Finland
|
Europe | 2020 | 1 |
 Ireland
|
Europe | 2017 | 2 |
 Brazil
|
South America | 2017 | 2 |
 Denmark
|
Europe | 2017 | 1 |
 United Kingdom
|
Europe | 2018 | 3 |
 Turkey
|
Europe | 2018 | 1 |
 Russia
|
Asia | 2018 | 1 |
 Spain
|
Europe | 2018 | 2 |
 Netherlands
|
Europe | 2018 | 2 |
 Hungary
|
Europe | 2018 | 1 |
 Poland
|
Europe | 2018 | 1 |
 New Zealand
|
Oceania | 2018 | 1 |
 Slovenia
|
Europe | 2018 | 1 |
 Indonesia
|
Asia | 2018 | 1 |
 South Africa
|
Africa | 2019 | 1 |
 Australia
|
Oceania | 2019 | 1 |
 Belgium
|
Europe | 2019 | 4 |
 China
|
Asia | 2019 | 1 |
 India
|
Asia | 2021 | 1 |
References
- ^ Kirsch, Jesse (September 25, 2017). "Global Axe Throwing Showdown". ABC.
- ^ "World Axe Throwing League, founded by Burlington's Bad Axe Throwing, searching for champion". Burlington Post. Sep 30, 2017.
- ^ Miller, Ben (Jun 7, 2017). "Like throwing axes? Canadian axe-throwing chain to open in Denver". Denver Business Journal.
- ^ "The First World Axe Throwing League Championship is Set to Kick Off This Year". Global News. Oct 13, 2017.
- ^ "Celebrating International Axe Throwing Day". WDTV. Jun 13, 2019.
- ^ "Quarantine Axe Throwing League connecting throwers worldwide". 6 May 2020.
- ^ Manns, Sarah. "Compete for the Axe Throwing Championship Belt". Arnold Sports Festival.
- ^ Lacy, Eric (October 31, 2018). "World Axe Throwing League Championship secures ESPN deal, invites Lansing axe throwing business". USA Today Network.