The list of competitors currently qualified for Round 1 of the IATC is now available on our website. More details, and the list itself, can be found here.
The list includes:
• The winners of the 2022 Regional tournaments
• Players who finished in the Top 8 of any Premier League season (ranked by Champs Points)
• Players who recorded three non-concurrent seasons with an average of 70 or better in either Premier or Standard league play with one IATF Member Organization
• Players who finished in the Top 4 of any Standard League season (ranked by Champs Points)
Round 1 will be held at participating venues from April 8th to 10th.
Not on the list? Don’t worry, Wild Cards are happening this weekend and will give you one final chance to get into Round 1.
Ian Christensen has been a key player in the growth of the sport of axe throwing and the IATF for the last 10 years. It is no exaggeration to say that the sport would not be where it is without his 110% effort, insight, energy, and heart.
So it is a bittersweet moment for everyone at the IATF to wish him well as he moves on from his role in the IATF today to take on an exciting new opportunity in his career.
Ian, thank you for putting your heart and soul into every day with the IATF, and congratulations on this well-earned, new opportunity. We love you buddy.
This isn't goodbye though, you may see Ian helping out at future IATF events.
As we shed a tear wishing Ian well, we also have the joy of announcing that Tom Black will be returning to the IATF in the Senior Manager role on March 21st.
Chris and Matt are managing things for the IATF and Ian will be supporting Tom’s onboarding process later this month.
This tournament will use a Pool Play format rather than a Double Elimination. The tournament starts with a Group Stage, where players are divided into groups of 4 and play everyone in their Group once, totaling three matches within their Group in a best 3 rounds out of 5 match format before any elimination takes place. Once all Group Stage matches are complete the top 2 from each Group move onto a single elimination tournament bracket. That means that every competitor will have a minimum of 3 matches with their registration fee.
The Close but No Cigar tournament is open to anyone that DID NOT make it into Round 2 of the IATC. If you qualified for Round 1 but did not make it to the final stage of IATC, or if you did not qualify for Round 1 of the IATC but want to compete against some of the best in the world in Toronto, this tournament is for you! Players that made it into Round 2 of the IATC are NOT eligible.
Up to 32 players will compete for a prize pool of $1600 using the IATF Standard Ruleset (“majority-in” bullseyes and “break-paint” clutches) and Pool Play format at BATL Port Lands. The tournament will take place on June 10th with registration at 1:00 pm, the tournament starting at 2:00 pm and then finishing at 5:00 pm.
Registration cost: $80.00 + taxes and fees per person.
Doubles Tournament Details
Hosted at BATL Port Lands
1:00 pm registration and practice.
2:00 pm Tournament start
5:00 pm finish.
$1600 prize pool.
Prize Pool
The Close but No Cigar tournament will have a prize pool of $1600 for the event.
This tournament will use a Pool Play format rather than a Double Elimination. The tournament starts with a Group Stage, where players are divided into groups of 4 and play everyone in their Group once, totaling three matches within their Group in a best 3 rounds out of 5 match format before any elimination takes place. Once all Group Stage matches are complete the top 2 from each Group move onto a single elimination tournament bracket. That means that every competitor will have a minimum of 3 matches with their registration fee.
This tournament is open to anyone who’s 12-month average as listed on AxeScores.com is 65 or below at the time of registration.
Up to 32 players will compete for a prize pool of $1600 using the IATF Standard Ruleset (“majority-in” bullseyes and “break-paint” clutches) and Pool Play format at BATL Port Lands. The tournament will take place on June 10th with registration at 9:00 am, the tournament starting at 10:00 am and then finishing at 1:00 pm.
Registration cost: $80.00 + taxes and fees per team.
Tournament Details
Hosted at BATL Port Lands
9:00 am registration and practice.
10:00 am Tournament start
1:00 pm finish.
$1600 prize pool.
Spectators are free (up to capacity.)
Prize Pool
The Double tournament will have a prize pool of $1600 for the event.
This tournament will use a Pool Play format rather than a Double Elimination. The tournament starts with a Group Stage, where players are divided into groups of 4 and play everyone in their Group once, totaling three matches within their Group in a best 3 rounds out of 5 match format before any elimination takes place. Once all Group Stage matches are complete the top 2 from each Group move onto a single elimination tournament bracket. That means that every competitor will have a minimum of 3 matches with their registration fee.
Up to 64 teams will compete for a prize pool of $3000 using the IATF Standard Ruleset (“majority-in” bullseyes and “break-paint” clutches) at BATL Port Lands. The tournament will take place on June 9th with registration at 9:00 am, the tournament starting at 10:00 am and then finishing at 4:00 pm. Spectators for the event are free up to capacity limits.
Registration cost: $100.00 + taxes and fees per team.
Tournament Details
Hosted at BATL Port Lands
9:00 am registration and practice.
10:00 am Tournament start
4:00 pm finish.
$3000 prize pool.
Spectators are free (up to capacity.)
Prize Pool
The Double tournament will have a prize pool of $3000 for the event. This means you have a 1 in 8 chance of winning a cut of the cash!
The IATF would like to officially announce a clarification to our definition of league sanctioned target designs.
While flatboard construction is the recommended standard, we are happy to include end-board constructed targets, stumps, or targets created via projector, only so long as these targets strictly conform to the IATF guidelines regarding the placement and measurements of the target rings and Clutches, as well as being positioned the appropriate distances and heights from our sanctioned throwing and safety lines.
We felt this clarification appropriate given the strains certain clubs have been under to meet the letter of our league standards while simultaneously confronting supply chain issues and rising material cost over the past two years.
If any organization or thrower has further questions, please consult the official IATF rulebook here.
Since the debut of our Premier Ruleset we’ve paid close attention to the feedback from our Premier League players as well as the rest of the axe throwing community. While Premier Leagues have accomplished several of the key goals we identified when constructing the ruleset, we believe that no ruleset is free from the ability to grow and improve.
The move from majority scoring to ‘no bleed’ scoring for standard throws was a logical progression for our more advanced throwers competing in Premier Leagues, and the shrinking of the clutch to 2 inches on all targets was shown to be necessary in both Standard and Premier streams where ‘going for clutch’ was beginning to lose its sense of challenge.
While our clutch requirements for Premier have had the desired effect in regards to bringing successful clutch attempts made by high level players down, making them harder to hit and, therefore, more exciting to achieve, measuring these clutches has taken away a sense of spectacle and immediacy from the final throw of each round and affected the pace and flow of premier rules matches.
With that said, we are happy to announce an amendment to this rule and an addition to our clutch design to alleviate this issue moving forward. A 1 inch wide, 1.5 inch tall vertical rectangle will be drawn inside the center of each clutch. To achieve a Premier Clutch, a player’s axe must now come to rest with the blade breaking the top and bottom of this rectangle on the surface of the target.
Best practices for drawing these stripes, recommended equipment, and stencil offerings can be found here and this information has been relayed to all IATF member organizations. This rule will go into effect officially at the beginning of the 2022-2023 Season in March, however, clubs may institute these changes early for their Premier Leagues competing this year if they so wish.
We are happy to announce an amendment to the Premier clutch rule and an addition to our clutch design to alleviate the issue of easy clutch measurements moving forward.
A 1 inch wide, 1.5 inch tall vertical rectangle will be drawn inside the center of each clutch. To achieve a Premier Clutch, a player’s axe must come to rest with the blade breaking the top and bottom plane of this rectangle on the surface of the target.
While this rule will come into effect as of the beginning of the 2022-2023 IATF League Year in early March, 2022, clubs are welcome to implement it earlier for their 2022 Premier Leagues.
CLUTCH BOX MEASUREMENTS DIAGRAM
HOW TOS AND BEST PRACTICES
First, while venues are welcome to create their own stencils in the interim, it’s important to note that we will be partnering with Warriors Axe Throwing to provide updated stencils for purchase prior to our March kick-off date. These stencils will be available through both IATF.com and the Warriors shop and are available to ship worldwide.
To Draw the Clutch Box
Employ either your own, hand-made stencil or one purchased directly from the IATF or Warriors (stencils being the fastest and most accurate way to draw the clutch box on the fly).
Use white (or light colored), oil-based paint markers instead of standard acrylic (oil based paints show up more clearly on painted clutches and won’t run).
Place the stencil firmly on a dry clutch so that it won’t shift while painting (do not attempt to draw a clutch box on a wet or damp clutch, whether from being recently painted or recently sprayed with water).
Solidly trace the edges of the stencil with the marker before filling in the center (do not squeeze too much paint from the marker nib when tracing the edges as that paint may bleed underneath the stencil).
Remove the stencil and check your work (should a minor divot or bend be present, use either the clutch box marker or the clutch marker to touch up these issues).
Adjudicating New Premier Clutches
Gauge whether the axe blade has ‘broken’ (ie; is protruding above and below) both the top and bottom horizontal planes of the clutch box as observed from the surface of the target (see diagram above with the planes marked ‘a.’ and ‘b.’)
If the axe has broken both these planes, this clutch attempt succeeds and the player scores 7 points.
If the axe has broken one plane but fallen short of the other, this clutch attempt fails and the player scores 0 points for that throw.
If the axe has broken neither plane, this clutch attempt fails and the player scores 0 points for that throw.
League staff or match officials are encouraged to use phone camera zooms or flashlights to provide clarity if a clutch is difficult to judge.
If the axe has landed to the left or right of the clutch box and seems to run parallel to the edge of the box but players are unsure if the axe has broken either plane, league staff or match officials may remove the axe to ascertain if the axe has ‘folded in’ white from clutch box itself.
If white paint is visible in the cut the axe made as the staff or official is removing the axe at both the top and bottom plane of the box, this clutch is successful and the player scores 7 points.
If there is no white paint visible or only white paint visible at either the top or the bottom plan of the box (but not both planes) this clutch attempt fails and the player scores 0 points.
FAQs
What prompted the change?
We spent the months following our announcement of the official rulebook changes in April, 2021 compiling data from Axescores, speaking to venue operators, and listening to our community of throwers. While the majority of the original rule changes we implemented accomplished the goals we prioritized last year, this specific rule had both pros and cons which we felt necessitated revisiting.
What were some of the reasons behind the original clutch rule change?
A majority of players and member organizations polled prior to the change agreed that any advanced ruleset needed to be more difficult in all facets of the game, not just for regular throws but also for clutch attempts.
With that in mind, we wanted to introduce a rule that wouldn’t require venues to have multiple clutch designs (ie; not a separate target design for Standard and one for Premier), that would be robust enough to withstand several rounds of competition (ie; not a tiny or intricate clutch that could be destroyed immediately after a few throws), and require a high level of skill to achieve (ie; difficult enough to inject excitement and uncertainty into the final throw of a round while not instantaneously becoming easy for the community after a few months of practice).
Why is this better than the original rule?
While the original Premier clutch rule accomplished the goals outlined above there were still some minor issues in this mechanic uncovered over the past few seasons, those being;
a) the lack of a visible marker to aim for when attempting a Premier clutch,
b) the loss of an instant, visual indicator of success, and
c) the necessity for time consuming measurements during the most high stakes portion of the game.
While individually these issues were small, together they were contributing factors for us to decide to make this new adjustment. We believe this new rule change addresses all of these concerns in a simple and concise fashion which also does not require a complicated management process to implement.
Looking at the dimensions of the box, does that make it harder or easier than the original Premier clutch rule?
When designing a scoring feature like the Premier scoring box, we look at scorable area. Based on a direct comparison of the original proposed Premier clutch (ie; the “1.75 inches of blade” rule), this new feature has an almost equitable amount of scorable area. Therefore neither game mechanic is easier or harder, one is simply clearer and less time consuming.
If the axe has landed to the left or right of the clutch box and seems to run parallel to the edge of the box but players are unsure if the axe has broken either plane, league staff or match officials may remove the axe to ascertain if the axe has ‘folded in’ white from clutch box itself.
If white paint is visible in the cut the axe made as the staff or official is removing the axe at both the top and bottom plane of the box, this clutch is successful and the player scores 7 points.
If there is no white paint visible or only white paint visible at either the top or the bottom plan of the box (but not both planes) this clutch attempt fails and the player scores 0 points.
FAQs
What prompted the change?
We spent the months following our announcement of the official rulebook changes in April, 2021 compiling data from Axescores, speaking to venue operators, and listening to our community of throwers. While the majority of the original rule changes we implemented accomplished the goals we prioritized last year, this specific rule had both pros and cons which we felt necessitated revisiting.
What were some of the reasons behind the original clutch rule change?
A majority of players and member organizations polled prior to the change agreed that any advanced ruleset needed to be more difficult in all facets of the game, not just for regular throws but also for clutch attempts.
With that in mind, we wanted to introduce a rule that wouldn’t require venues to have multiple clutch designs (ie; not a separate target design for Standard and one for Premier), that would be robust enough to withstand several rounds of competition (ie; not a tiny or intricate clutch that could be destroyed immediately after a few throws), and require a high level of skill to achieve (ie; difficult enough to inject excitement and uncertainty into the final throw of a round while not instantaneously becoming easy for the community after a few months of practice).
Why is this better than the original rule?
While the original Premier clutch rule accomplished the goals outlined above there were still some minor issues in this mechanic uncovered over the past few seasons, those being;
a) the lack of a visible marker to aim for when attempting a Premier clutch,
b) the loss of an instant, visual indicator of success, and
c) the necessity for time consuming measurements during the most high stakes portion of the game.
While individually these issues were small, together they were contributing factors for us to decide to make this new adjustment. We believe this new rule change addresses all of these concerns in a simple and concise fashion which also does not require a complicated management process to implement.
Looking at the dimensions of the box, does that make it harder or easier than the original Premier clutch rule?
When designing a scoring feature like the Premier scoring box, we look at scorable area. Based on a direct comparison of the original proposed Premier clutch (ie; the “1.75 inches of blade” rule), this new feature has an almost equitable amount of scorable area. Therefore neither game mechanic is easier or harder, one is simply clearer and less time consuming.
With the new year comes change to the IATF; our Director, Heidi Rich, is stepping down from her role to take on an exciting opportunity outside of our organization. We wish her the best in her new endeavor and want to express our appreciation for her guidance and support over the past two years.
Our Commissioner, Matt Wilson, will be taking on the additional role of Interim Director over the next few months to guide the IATF into the new year.
With that in mind, Ian, Matt and Chris are working hard on some new and exciting developments. So keep your eyes and ears peeled for some exciting announcements coming this Winter and Spring. Stay tuned to our social channels for news and updates!
The IATF is happy to announce several key dates in 2022 for the Road to the IATC and the long-awaited culmination of the 2020-2021 season.
This season will officially end on March 11th, 2022, paving the way for successive IATF seasons to run from early March to early March each year, with the IATC held in Toronto moving to June, a welcome change from our traditional, cold February tournament.
The IATF will also be adjusting certain regional borders to better reflect our league populations. More importantly, we will be redrawing these regions for this season to minimize travel across borders in certain areas and to support league members wishing to travel for regional competitions by limiting additional costs for COVID testing, etc.
A map of the newly drawn Regions for the 2020-2021 Season can be found below.
On February 27th, 2022 the IATF will be partnering with 9 of our member organizations to host Regional competitions for any league participants who took part in sanctioned league play in either a Standard or Premier league during the 2020 or 2021 seasons, even partial seasons or seasons at clubs that have since closed. Regional winners are automatically entered into Round 1 of the IATC.
Regional hosts for the 2020-2021 Season are:
West: True North, Red Deer, AB
Southwest: LA Ax, Los Angeles, CA
South: Urban Axes, Austin, TX
Central: Detroit Axe, Detroit, MI
East: Ace Axe, Pittsburgh, PA
Southeast: BATL LoSo, Charlotte, NC
Northeast: BATL Portlands, Toronto, ON
Pacific: Maniax CBD, Melbourne, VIC
European: Skeeters, London, UK
Registration information will be available in the new year so stay tuned.
The weekend of March 18th, 19th and 20th, 2022 IATF members who have hosted a sanctioned Standard or Premier league during the 2020-2021 Season may choose to host a Wild Card tournament (Premier Rules.) This tournament is open to any player who has participated in a sanctioned league in either stream (Premier or Standard) but has not qualified for Round 1 of the 2022 IATC at that point in time (see qualification path here.) Look for announcements from your local club closer to the date for details.
Round 1 of the 2022 IATC will be hosted on April 8th, 9th, and 10th at all participating IATF member locations who held sanctioned leagues in either stream (Premier or Standard) from January 2020 until March 11th, 2022. The full list of those eligible for participation in Round 1 will be available shortly after completion of the 2020-2021 league year in March once we collect the data from each sanctioned league.
Should a location have closed in the interim, their players will be allowed to compete for that club’s vacant spot(s) at their nearest IATF location.
We are as excited as all of you to reach the end of this COVID extended season and we are counting the days until we kick off this year’s International Axe Throwing Championship with Round 1 at your home venues in April 2022. We cannot wait to see you all there.
*dates may be subject to change based on evolving global COVID landscape
