I did a lot of unnecessary work to get three "P" words in a line there that made even a little bit of sense, so be patient with me as I try to make them work in the context of this post.
Wait. Should I have gone with patient instead of planning? Maybe. Shoot. I'll leave it as planning because otherwise the beginning of all this won't make a lick of sense.
Anyway - I was traveling back from Urban Axes Baltimore recently with my road dawwwg Otter Guy (aka The Appalachian Gentleman) and we got to talking, as we oft do. In particular, we got on the subject of lane etiquette. For those of you who can't quite figure out what I'm talking about: Lane etiquette is the effort to be respectful to your fellow axe thrower whilst throwing a match (or really whenever another person is throwing next to you). The conclusion we came to was three-fold:
It is worth it to learn how to adjust when throwing against someone with poor lane courtesy.
It's kind of a gray area as to whether influencing your fellow thrower is bad lane courtesy or just good planning.
Some axe throwers in our sport have really miserable lane courtesy, and it has nothing to do with a sound strategy, regardless.
Getting used to variables is valuable. Especially throwing alongside someone else.
I feel like this lesson comes only when someone visibly gets thrown off by another thrower (to be clear, not necessarily because that other thrower is trying to throw anyone off). I remember when I first started throwing, there were some folk who would throw much slower than me. AAAAAnd there were people who would complete their throw much faster. And that used to throw me of A LOT. Espesh if I felt like I had to rush to meet the pace of my fellow thrower.
Fortunately, other axe throwers at Meduseld reminded me to go at my own pace - that I didn't have to meet the speed that any other thrower had.
Now, that's a hella obvious thing to point out. BUT when you're getting into that sweet, sweet groove of throwing, it's very typical to find yourself syncing up to your fellow thrower. And therein lies the issue: if the pace that's being set isn't your actual pace, it can throw off yer whole dingdang game.
A big, shared ability of all the great throwers I've seen out there is the ability to ignore their competitors. Now, I don't mean, like, not chit chat if they're up for it or be friendly or whatever. I mean really strong throwers don't let the actions of their competitor change their setup/throw/process.
To that end, it's also important to have at least some flexibility when it comes down to adjusting out of courtesy to your fellow thrower. Maybe you're a chatty thrower. Nothing wrong with that, Cathy, but if your fellow thrower really needs to tunnel-vision their way through a throw, maybe don't keep jabbering on about how your boards are different back home. (It's me. I'm Cathy, in this instance).
And here comes the sneaky/gray area, my babies.
So you're being courteous. You know your opponent has a slowish throw and kinda depends on you getting your axe down the lane faster as part of their typical process. And that's fine.
...until you turn to hhheeeeeaaaavilllll.
See, it's possible to...and I'm not saying whether it's good or bad...but it's possible to get into that braincase of your fellow thrower. Sometimes when you're not even really trying to do so.
Taking that previous example, it's possible that you'll throw off your competitor by actually slowing down. Force them to throw first. Mess up their "typical" game. It's also possible to "rush" a thrower by throwing quickly off the line, etc. etc.
Now, I wanna be hella clear - I don't really endorse this, but I've seen in happen and, I'll admit, when I was a newer thrower, I would often find myself slowing down/speeding up depending on what my competitor was doing. Why, you ask? Well, because I wasn't a very good thrower and didn't have any confidence that my skillset could get me the win.
So, basically, this is a poopeh way to throw off the mental game of opponents. Really, you should just throw better.
But it happens, and I know it, and now we both know it.
Together.
And isn't that what this whole, big world is about?
Knowing things?
Together?
And now the jackalopes.
But they were, all of them, deceived. For there was a completely different kind of thrower. And that kind of thrower is a real piece of work.
These folk are just...like...I don't wanna talk bad about anybody, but I don't get it.
You ever throw against someone who screamed when they didn't get the clutch/bull like they thought they would? Or moved around a lot after their throw? Or tried to talk to you AS you were throwing. Not, like, when you were lining up to throw but while you were actively in motion to throw?
You ever deal with another, living human being who did that kinda stuff? Well, friend, that's just about the worst thing you can do, as far as lane etiquette goes.
I don't know what to say about this kinda person, other than I'm ashamed of their axe houses. Realistically, if you have someone in your leagues who is indifferent/bordering on abusive with how much courtesy they extend to fellow throwers, it's your job to tell them to knock it off. In the humble opinion of this badger, anyone who travels to a tourney and has bad lane etiquette is just...well...I don't like it one bit.
Sorry for the strong language.
If you encounter someone like this in your axe throwing journey, don't feel out of place bringing it up with an official or the person themselves. People are, I've found, very unaware of themselves - and typically they'll recognize that screaming OH YEAH BULL FOR DAAAAAYYYZ ZANDER YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN! during every match-throw isn't good form.
After all, lane etiquette isn't just about what you do for your fellow thrower, but also what you do for yourself.
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