Who?
The International Axe Throwing Federation (or IATF) is a massive network of axe throwers and venues constantly pushing each other, and the sport further. The IATF is present in a recorded 85 cities across 6 countries. Across all the different IATF supported venues, there’s 161 different competitive leagues with over 10,000 league members. Through the IATF, immense axe throwing tournaments with immense prizes have become a fairly regular thing within the sport. All the way from Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, to Cherry Hill in New Jersey, in the States, major prize pools are becoming the norm. So, naturally, we wanted to get our throwers into the mix, and make this option available to them.
How do IATF Leagues work?
The rules are different than what Total Axe leagues have offered in the past. With that being said, here’s a brief description of how an IATF match works.
- Three rounds
- Five throws per round
- Highest points per round wins
- Must win two out of three rounds to win the match
- A win, a loss, and a tie will send the match to sudden death.
- Sudden death is a big axe tiebreaker, and it’s intense.
For a full description of the rules, click here. You’ll want to be familiar with them before the first night of league!
What about the old leagues?
They’ll still be around! The Total Axe style league format isn’t going anywhere. We’ve built a community around our style of league, and we aren’t just going to up and abandon them. We love what we do here. Joining the IATF isn’t so much about the “out with the old,” and has everything to do with the “in with the new.” As always, the community comes first. So, we wanted to give an opportunity to the community to try something new. And this is it!
What league should I join?
Whichever your heart desires! Aside from the actual format of the matches, the only difference between league styles is who you’re competing with. In the Total Axe league format you’ll only be competing with other people in your league. In the IATF format, you’ll effectively be competing with the aforementioned 10,000+ throwers. The IATF comes with an international ranking system, qualifiers, and eventually, the National Axe Throwing Championship (or NATC), where the champion will be crowned. Last year someone from Scottsdale, Arizona won. Next year, it might be someone from Clinton Township, Michigan. We’ll see you at the beginning of each season!
In summary…
We’re very excited to be a part of the International Axe Throwing Federation, among some of the top venues across the world. We can’t wait to be involved in pushing the sport, the talent, and hopefully the prize-pools even further. The day we see our throwers competing for the giant checks at tournaments like the Urban Open, The Choptober Challenge, and the IATC will be a good day for us. Maybe we’ll even host a tournament of our own.