I had the chance to interview IATF Panel of Throwers member, friendly-as-hell, throwing phenom Christina at the Harry Potter Marathon League put on by Meduseld Meadery here in Lancaster, PA. Not only did I have the great pleasure of getting knocked out of the tourney by Christina, but I then had a front row seat to watch her throw so many big axes. Like, every round, almost. We talked about what she likes in axe throwing and what could be better. So here's the tiny axe thrower interview:
Where is your home axe house?
Urban Axes Baltimore.
What is your favorite thing about the sport?
The ability to travel and do something you love. If I'm in the UK I can throw axes, if I'm in Baltimore I can throw axes--I haven't been to the UK, but just the idea...
I was, for a moment there, so impressed with your traveling history.
But you know what I mean - I like the idea that you can go and do this thing that's not really your home.
What's the furthest you've traveled?
Pittsburgh. I went to a ladies only marathon league at ChillAxe. That's about 4 hours from Baltimore. Versus Choppers, which is about one and a half hours. Versus here which is about an hour. So yeah, Pittsburgh.
What do you think IATF and the sport in general can do to maintain or increase thrower numbers? Do you think the IATF is doing a good job at that, or could do a better job?
I think the IATF could do a better job. I think there needs to be a better entry point into tournament life. A lot of people stumble on it unless their home venue has a strong tournament culture.
If you don't know about tournaments, you just go to your league and then are like "well okay, I've done this, rinse and repeat." But I think tournaments keep people in this sport a little more. There's always this element of "oh, there's this great thrower in Pittsburgh, I wanna go beat them," and the only way to throw against them is to travel to this tournament that they'll be at.
It's sort of like Pokemon. You gotta travel to different zones.
Yeah. Yeah.
A note here, dear reader: that "yeah yeah" was the most "What the hell are you trying to say to me "yeah yeah" I've ever experienced. Bless Christina for not ending the interview right at that moment.
So I just think a better entry point for tournaments - I wouldn't have known about them had I not been good at social media and found axe throwing pages and Urban Axes pages. If you're not really on social media you won't see what's going on.
I guess that's my gripe with it as well: social media shouldn't be the only platform that the IATF uses to communicate with its members.
What do you like best about your throw?
I've never had to think about that before.
I've gotten a lot of feedback that my throw looks effortless. So I guess I like that because it doesn't make axe throwing look as difficult for people who are interested in trying it out.
Anything else you want to add?
Hit me up on Facebook if you want to give feedback to the IATF!
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