Axe throwing is a lot of things. It's finding the right axe for you, it's learning how to throw well (consistently). It's getting your first axe name and figuring out where your line happens to be between drinking and still throwing well enough not to embarrass yourself (or figuring out if you even care about that sort of thing).
But after figuring out at least a few answers to the questions above, I realized there's another big thing to solve: the mental game.
Now, this certainly isn't a novel idea. There are hundreds of books and programs focused on the mental game of sporting. An Axe League Of Their Own touched on their holiday episode (when talking about goals for 2024). I'm admittedly late to the party, but hey, what's new in that?
THE "BEST" MENTAL SPACE DOESN'T JUST MEAN GETTING RID OF NERVES. IT MEANS GETTING RID OF THINKING.
Nerves is nerves - just like shrimps is bugs. But there's a significant difference between being anxious about a match and not being in the right head space.
Me, personally? Oh who, me? You're asking? Oh. I don't get anxious about throwing against anyone - that is to say I don't get nervous. What can happen to me is my "headspace" getting wonky. Or, to put it in a more concise way - I can't focus on the effort at hand, and instead think about how I'm doing at that effort.
If you're thinking about how you're doing rather than, you know, just doing, you're more likely to not perform at the highest level you're capable of. Think that sounds like absolute garbage science? Well buzz off. I got the receipts:
Dr. Stan Beecham, a sports psychologist and author of Elite Minds: How Winners Think Differently to Create a Competitive Edge and Maximize Success, has said that top athletes don't think differently when competing. Typically, in fact, they don't think at all.
This kind of clear-headedness might be thought of, in our little humdinger of a sport, as muscle memory or I had just the right amount to drink tonight or [[adventure time theme song playing on repeat while throwing]].
What does all this mean? Well, maybe, if you want to get past overthinking while throwing or move past "jitters," you should consider working on clearing that fuggin teenager's bedroom level of mess going on your braincase.
THE MENTAL GAME ISN'T A 3 MATCH COMPETITION
Okay. Okay, listen. I'm not here to tell you how to live your life. You wanna put maple syrup in your hair and try to befriend a bear, that's your business. All I can offer you is what I have found to be true in my life, and in the 10-seconds of research I've done on this topic via Google.
Having the right mental space to perform to your tippy-toppiest tier doesn't just happen at the clink of an axe. It takes convincing yourself long before league night/tourney time. Having the right mindset and an achievable, measurable and flexible set of goals can do wonders for keeping yourself positive and far from pass/failure framing. What does that mean, exactly? Well I'll tell you, dear reader, because you asked so nice.
Thinking "If I win this match, I will have achieved everything I wanted. If I lose, I've lost everything," is some top notch bullshit to put on yourself. That measurement of success isn't really success, it's just failure-avoidance. Instead, set goals that are dynamic and not so binary.
Instead, consider doing the thing - in this case, axe throwing - as well as you can. And I know that sounds like a cop-out. But I mean you should look at a match as an opportunity to strengthen your throw - to really make an effort to nail foot placement, your throw, your aim. Break down the successes that are possible and achievable in the match.
What you'll find, typically, is that you throw better, and you are less hyper-focused on winning. And when you don't focus on winning, and instead focus on throwing axes as well as you can, you win more. That's science, baby. I got a whole bunch of sports brain thinky doctors backing me up on this.
And they'll back me up on the streets, too. So you watch your tone.
But as I wrote earlier, this doesn't just happen during the match itself. Having a mindset that doesn't emphasize the "win" over "the well-executed effort" should start well before league night/tourney time.
Now, I'm not suggesting you go out onto a mountain and meditate as part of a 3 month training montage, but I am saying it's valuable to, perhaps the day of your league or a day before your tourney, to check in with yourself and where your mind is. Are you worried about how you'll throw? Are you feeling like you are gonna do poorly?
Consider, during that check-in, deciding what success really looks like. Is success just the win, or is it executing your throw smoothly and consistently. Is it maintaining a certain average for the event? Or is it, shit I don't know, having fun? Because none of us are making a living via axe-throwing sports sponsorship as far as I know, so having fun SEEMS like a pretty good goal to have.
Let me finish off this post with this: I tend to do a lot better in a match when I'm either having fun, or when I'm not thinking about anything at all and just throwing. Overthinking how I'm doing, feeling upset with my performance, or generally just thinking of a match as only a win/loss scenario doesn't help in any way, and I'd rather enjoy myself for as long as I can throw.
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