Howdy, Aussie Badger back with the second interview in our series shining a light on the top throwers from the Pacific region. This time Dale DaCosta (DOZER), at the time of this interview, DOZER was number 3 in the region, and #8 in the world.
Name
Dale DaCosta
Throwing name
DOZER
Story behind throwing name
DOZER was actually just a random nickname given to me by some work colleagues and it stuck, followed me for a good 8 years or so, now. But I like to think its because I bulldoze my way through the competition ha-ha!
Where you throw
I currently throw big axe and Premier league at Valhalla Brunswick and standard league at Maniax Knox (Victoria)
How long have you been throwing
About 3 years. My first year in team leagues at Lumber Punks South Melbourne and 2 years throwing IATF at Maniax and Valhalla.
Ooo, what’s “team leagues” about?
That was before Lumber Punks were officially IATF. It was teams of 3 v 3, each player would pick out a number (1,2, or 3) for the night, then each number 1 vs number 1’s and so on. The Lumber Punks games were decided by total score from 5 rounds (25 throws). You would have 4 of these games a night.
What axes do you throw
I throw with the trusty standard flying fox for my bullseyes and a king of clubs for the clutches.
Proudest axe-chievements
My proudest achievement would be ranking 3rd in Australia and 7th in the globe. Also my collection of trophies and medals!
Personal goals
To become number 1 in Australia and to make it to Canada for the championship sometime.
Training regime
I am currently throwing 3 nights a week. You will always find me there an hour early practicing and again at the end of the night. I also have built my own target at home so I can have a throw whenever.
Tournament prep
Preparing for tournaments I put a lot of focus on clean bullseyes and accuracy with the clutches. Being confident with the big axe is always needed for finals too!
Keys to success
Practice, practice, practice! Build up muscle memory and tweak the technique.
Advice for the hungry
My advice is to not give up, don’t get disheartened by not getting that perfect score or having a bad day. Keep throwing, keep practicing, tap axes and go for those clutches!!
Events you’re registered for at APATC
At APATC you will find me in the skills, big axe and the main event championship tournaments.
Can you talk to us about your rise through the ranks, the journey and to what you attribute your success?
My rise through the ranks certainly wasn’t a quick one. It took a lot of dedication, throwing in multiple leagues a week and building a target at home so I could practice often. It helped being surrounded by supportive throwers and having everyone push and encourage each other to become better.
It helped me to reach a decent ranking and high point in my axe throwing career, I was doing well and winning often in leagues and tournaments... until I decided to drop to one night a week, I stopped practicing and thus began the decline. I started losing more, I starting placing 2nd more and occasionally not getting a spot on the podium.
Having a high rank took the fun out of the game for me. I didn’t want to lose rounds to lower level players and got upset when I did. The pressure I put on myself to be good and succeed all the time wasn’t realistic.
Honestly I started to lose interest.
To see my rankings take a plummet was difficult. I’m super competitive and want to succeed in what I do.
I made the decision to stop looking at the stats and started to have fun again. I started to focus on what I needed to improve on and having a goal to aim for.
One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how the best players deal with having a bad run, especially at tournaments. Have you faced this scenario, can you talk about it and how (hopefully) you overcame it?
Having a bad run in finals is definitely a shitty feeling, especially if you have had such a productive season, but it helped me to see what part of my game resulted in the loss. Was it my big axe, my clutches or my consistency on the bullseye? Then I worked on it and made my weaknesses stronger. There is always room for improvement and it’s difficult to be super consistent with every aspect of the game. You never know how you will go on the night So you can’t be too hard on yourself. I don’t try to out throw the opposition I just try to play my best game and be as accurate and consistent as I can be.
How close to finished do you consider your technique, are you just working on small things or is there room for big changes?
I am happy with my throw and my technique. It still needs work and I put time into improving it every week. I am also exploring with different axes and handles and trying to find the ultimate fit for me.
In your opinion, between extra practice or extra nights of competition, which do you think is the most useful for driving improvement? And does the answer change for different stages of development?
I’d say practicing an extra night or two in the early stages is really helpful for developing that muscle memory and stamina, but sometimes you can get into a habit of just throwing and chatting and not really observing what you are doing and that’s where taking on an extra league night is great as you can go in early or stay late and really put some work in and focus. Plus nothing beats the real thing and having some actual competitive and practice games and getting advice from veteran throwers. If you’re fine tuning your technique it’s probably best to be throwing somewhere that has the most accurate target dimensions and lane measurements.
Do you travel to tournaments often, are you able to get interstate regularly for them?
I go to as many of the Melbourne tournaments as I can but I would love to travel more around Australia for axe throwing tournaments in the future. This will be my second time at APATC as I loved my first time! I love the community and the people in it. Everyone is super supportive and encouraging.
Given Dale is in Melbourne and I’m in Sydney we’ve again gone for a chat based interview style. Over the course of which the subject of Theo, Dale’s son came up, leading to this exchange:
My 7 year old son is a big part of my axe throwing…he comes and helps with Axescores and does the scoring for a few games…having my boy involved has helped me strive to be better and to win, having him tell me to practice, and to bring home first place medals. He always asks me if I got that 81! He inspires me to be a better thrower.
Thanks for your time and responses Dale, best of luck at APATC, I’m looking forward to actually meeting you, and watching you throw.
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