How a Pa. teen became one of the best ax throwers in the world
It is ever-so-tempting to call Tyler Seidel a hatchet man, but he has a business career in mind, and a sobriquet like that might frighten his future employees.
It's accurate, though, in the literal sense. Casting about for a job during the idle times of the early pandemic, the DeSales University sophomore signed on at one of those recreational ax-throwing venues that migrated to the U.S. after originating in Canada some years ago and shot to popularity, much like escape rooms and other oddball diversions.
Throwing axes at a target, it turns out, is as effective a way of venting frustration as screaming into a pillow and healthier than banging your head against a wall. And who doesn't need that sort of release these days?
Seidel, an accounting and finance major whose athletic gifts have served him well as a soccer player over the years, turned out to be a natural at throwing axes — and hatchets, too, which are a step down in size.
He became so good, in fact, that he quickly went professional and is already one of the top throwers in the world, winner of multiple tournaments and the first thrower to score more than 1,700 points in the World Axe Throwing League.
Not bad for someone who, invited to take part in a family ax-throwing outing a couple of years ago, didn't think much of the idea.
“I said ‘Mom, this is stupid,' ” he recalled, sitting in the Dorothy Day student center at the Upper Saucon Township school with a backpack full of the axes and hatchets he has accumulated in the past year, mostly with tournament prize money.
Seidel said he learned how to throw so well by watching other throwers in action, asking questions, reviewing videotapes.
“It's definitely satisfying,” he said, explaining the allure of a pastime that was perhaps the exclusive pursuit of lumberjacks until recently. “Especially when you hit the little red dot in the center.”
Seidel, who is from Barto in Berks County, went to his first regional tournament last February and placed second. He went professional shortly after that, signing a sixmonth contract with the Valkyrian Steel Axe Throwing Club. He recently signed with another pro team, the Widowmakers in Philadelphia.
His expertise was hard-won, and he has the scars to prove it — a couple of small ones behind his right ear, inflicted as he developed a hair-raising style of holding the blade as close to his head as possible before firing it at the target 12 feet away.
“A lot of the Texas throwers throw from right under their chin,” he said. “I'm not going to do that.”
Axes and hatchets vary in size. A big ax has a 25-inch handle. A hatchet has a 17-inch one, but they can be as short as 13 inches. They are surprisingly light, just 3 or so pounds at most. Seidel sharpens his own blades to a wicked edge and, as everyone should, has the utmost respect for proper ax handling. It should be noted here that ax-throwing venues require guests to sign liability waivers.
The rules of the game, as codified by the World Axe Throwing League and the International Axe Throwing Federation, are somewhat complex. Players can make one-handed throws or two-handed throws. The ax has to rotate at least once before hitting the target. The scoring part of the blade consists of “the axe head, blade and cheek up to the front of the eye but not past it.” And so on.
Tournaments, held all over the country, can draw a couple of hundred players, who hone their skills at ax-throwing venues named with groaning puns: Kick Axe, Bad Axe, Back that Axe Up, Splinters, Stumpy's Hatchet House, Bury the Hatchet. Among the popular Lehigh Valley spots are Skeggy's Axe House in Easton and Angry Jack's Axe Throwing Club in Bethlehem.
“I've done some serious traveling,” Seidel said, rattling off states where he has competed: Ohio, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. He is scheduled to go to Iowa and Colorado this year.
Philadelphia, though, is one of the most popular spots for the sport.
“That's why I joined [the Widowmakers],” Seidel said. “You play with the best, you learn from the best.”