Axe throwing practice/game tip: modified 7s.

This past Sunday, after a session of Old Gods of Appalachia with friends, Chapman and I trotted off to the Meadery for some throwing practice. It's a typical thing for us, both: Sunday practice. When they make a biopic about Chapman's rise as one of the defining artists of our time, they'll include these Sunday practices as a nice break between his own struggles and defining moments.

I'll be played by a computer-generated Paul Giamatti. If not that, then by a trained, overweight hedgehog. Either will be fine.

OUR TYPICAL AXE PRACTICE

Generally, Chapman and I do about 15 minutes of just throwing around, then we move to 7s, a great game I first heard about from OtterGuy, and then learned more about from Tim Stivers.

Sevens, for those who aren't familiar, is a pretty straightforward game:

Sevens

• Any number of players

• All throws are aiming for the clutch

• If a player hits a clutch, they gain 1 point

• Once a player hits 7 clutches, all other players must hit a clutch in a "redemption" throw. If they hit the clutch, they continue to play. If they miss, they are out.

• "redemption throw" players keep their points. The player who first hit 7 goes down to 6.

It's a fun way to lock in clutch throwing, and we often modify it so a premier clutch counts as 2 points, adding a lil' something extra.

BUT LET'S BUMP IT UP JUUUUST A LITTLE

Yesterday, however, we decided to modify the typical 7s game just a bit:

When one of us hit 7 clutches, the other had to go big axe bull to stay in the game.

Now, a few things to note: we don't get much opportunity to practice big axe at the Meadery (we can only do it on one set of lanes, and generally the management of the place aren't stoked on us chomping up boards), so the challenge of getting a big axe bull was good enough to make the challenge interesting.

I reckon if we kept at it, we may have evolved further in to making it a big axe clutch to stay in the game, or a premier big axe bull. But for the sake of Sunday, we stuck with just a big axe bull for the "redemption" throw, and that was plenty fun.

...I also accidentally sheared Chapman's big axe head off of its handle. Unrelated.

So if you're familiar with 7s or you just want to jump directly into a modified version of it, give this little game a try. It's honestly a lot of fun, removes some of the repetitiveness of practice, and can be played by as few as 2 and as many as whatever.