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World Axe Throwing League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World Axe Throwing League (WATL)
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 WATL season
SportAxe throwing
FoundedJanuary 2017 (7 years ago) (2017-01)
First seasonSpring 2017
CommissionerSarah Sed
Countries24
Most recent
champion(s)
Dylan Teets
Official websiteworldaxethrowingleague.com

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

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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

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2017

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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

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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

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Representatives from four countries joined the WATL: South Africa, Australia, Belgium and China.

The first annual Canadian Open tournament was held.

2020

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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

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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

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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

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A standard axe throwing target design to compete in the World Axe Throwing League in 2024

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

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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.

US Open results
Year Champion Location 2nd place
2018 United States John Bradley United States Chicago, Illinois United States Eric Enriquez
2019 United States Mike Kump United States Des Moins, Iowa United States Sam Carter
2020 Canceled Canceled Canceled
2021 United States Mike Philabaum United States Atlanta, Georgia United States Michael Theadorou
2022 United States Mark Tishko United States Minneapolis, Minnesota United States 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.

Pro-Am results
Year Pro Hatchet Champion Amateur Hatchet Champion Location
2023 United States Brett Jariabek United States Erik Rimblas United States Appleton, Wisconsin

World Axe Throwing Hatchet Championship

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World Axe Throwing Championship trophy, 2017-2021

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]

Axe Throwing World Champions
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

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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

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The Commissioner of WATL heads the World Axe Throwing League.

WATL Commissioners
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

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Current WATL members by number of affiliate companies:
  10+ members
  5 - 10 members
  2 - 5 members
  1 member
  No membership
Country Region Admitted No. of locations
United States United States North America 2017 157
Canada Canada North America 2017 20
Finland Finland Europe 2020 1
Republic of Ireland Ireland Europe 2017 2
Brazil Brazil South America 2017 2
Denmark Denmark Europe 2017 1
United Kingdom United Kingdom Europe 2018 3
Turkey Turkey Europe 2018 1
Russia Russia Asia 2018 1
Spain Spain Europe 2018 2
Netherlands Netherlands Europe 2018 2
Hungary Hungary Europe 2018 1
Poland Poland Europe 2018 1
New Zealand New Zealand Oceania 2018 1
Slovenia Slovenia Europe 2018 1
Indonesia Indonesia Asia 2018 1
South Africa South Africa Africa 2019 1
Australia Australia Oceania 2019 1
Belgium Belgium Europe 2019 4
China China Asia 2019 1
India India Asia 2021 1

References

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  1. ^ Kirsch, Jesse (September 25, 2017). "Global Axe Throwing Showdown". ABC.
  2. ^ "World Axe Throwing League, founded by Burlington's Bad Axe Throwing, searching for champion". Burlington Post. Sep 30, 2017.
  3. ^ Miller, Ben (Jun 7, 2017). "Like throwing axes? Canadian axe-throwing chain to open in Denver". Denver Business Journal.
  4. ^ "The First World Axe Throwing League Championship is Set to Kick Off This Year". Global News. Oct 13, 2017.
  5. ^ "Celebrating International Axe Throwing Day". WDTV. Jun 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "Quarantine Axe Throwing League connecting throwers worldwide". 6 May 2020.
  7. ^ Manns, Sarah. "Compete for the Axe Throwing Championship Belt". Arnold Sports Festival. Archived from the original on 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  8. ^ Lacy, Eric (October 31, 2018). "World Axe Throwing League Championship secures ESPN deal, invites Lansing axe throwing business". USA Today Network.
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