Maybe it's because of the music I'm listening to right now (The war is won, yet I am lost), or maybe it's because I finished out the league in 3rd place which, in my opinion, is the highest one can finish while still feeling like they didn't do very well, but whatever the reason, I have a high lonesome about axe throwing at the moment.
There is something about the coming and going of a thing. The quiet way time slips. This is one of the first leagues I've experienced where week 1 and week 7 felt like they were only a few league nights apart. Granted, I was ill for most of this league. I managed to catch the 'vid, some other coughing illness AND the rotavirus, which made league feel very disjointed. So I think, if I put my mind to it, this league was something that just happened around me, but not with me. I muscled through it. I found the time rather than celebrated the time. And that's no good, friends. It's not a good way to go about things.
The importance of getting what you give.
If anything, this league reminded me how important it is to put in some effort in order to get something back. Like, just going to a league night of axe throwing isn't an automatic joy. You've gotta involve yourself, set goals, do things that are in the periphery of axe throwing (whether that's little adventures with fellow throwers, or going to antique stores to find old axes to give new life to, or playing axe-throwing games or whatever). The sport/league is, when done in a way that expands enjoyment, a vehicle. It's not the source. Does that make any sort of sense? Put another way: I don't love axe throwing because I get to throw an axe. I love axe throwing because I get the chance to be excited about throwing a new axe, or wearing a goofy vest, or talking to people I'd never get a chance to talk to otherwise.
Axe throwing is the platform. All the good, fun stuff is what happens because that platform exists.
So with this league, the platform was there (axe throwing), but I missed out on most of the good, fun stuff the platform often brings. I didn't have the energy to seek out those funtime things (because I was a sick little fellow), and so I was verymuchso just showing up, throwing, and then going home. And man, axe throwing isn't very fun when that's all you do.
Axe throwing is fun because of everything other than axe throwing.
I guess this brings me close enough to any sort of point I could have in this whole post: if you're only throwing axes to throw axes, you're missing out on a whole lot of what makes people love throwing axes. And I think that's where we might mess up a bit when onboarding people into the sport. Getting an axe in someone's hand and letting them throw around is all well and good, but if you don't show a potential new league member how much more comes with the experience (camaraderie, hang-outs, an unhealthy obsession with stickers, etc.), they aren't going to, you know, get it.
Because, if we're being honest, if my entire experience with axe throwing was just what I experienced this last league, I woudn't really consider coming back to it. Frankly, I was indifferent to the whole thing, and sometimes really not into going to throw. Fortunately for me, all of that was due to recurring illness, but man-o-day, imagine if my very first league was that same experience? You wouldn't be reading this! I wouldn't be writing it when I should be sleeping!
And that's six paragraphs of internal monologue on a page that you may have read. Sorry. They can't all be bangers, you know?
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