No products in the cart.
After the 2019 Choptober Challenge
A Postmortem
After getting some rest and actually eating something other than 1 slice of pizza a day, I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to make the 2019 Choptober Challenge such a great weekend. Wow! The first ever 256 player double elimination axe throwing tournament is in the books!
I didn’t get to meet a lot of new people or enjoy myself in the same way as everyone else, but I got to experience a joy you didn’t and I wanted to thank everyone for it. Putting together and executing events is something that has been a daily part of my life for almost a quarter of a century. The amount of planning and preparation that goes into it cant be understood until you have done it. The reward to seeing everyone else enjoying themselves as you planned is something that can’t be described. It can give you goose bumps. I defiantly had them a couple of time this weekend.
Thank You
The amount of compliments I received this weekend for hosting the event was overwhelming. I don’t do well with compliments because I know what goes into things. The truth is, it takes an lot of work from many unsung heros. I couldn’t pull anything off without my business partner Greg Foster or the management team Jesus Cruz Dana Scioli and Kate O’Connor Josh Kurtz and support team and great friends like Mike Grill Bryan Fousty and Larry Miracola who put in countless hours, sometimes without proper thanks. Also a big thanks to IATF for the support and the countless hours in software development from Chris Collins.
At Choppers, I became the “face” to most of you even though I hate even being known…. Mainly because I am not a people person. Somehow, all of you, ARE my people though. I don’t understand how a passion for axes make people “my people”, but it does. It is an amazing community and I am so glad to be a part of it.
The Takeaway from this tournament
We learned a lot from the 2019 Choptober Challenge, and all of you are to thank for allowing us to learn. It was not an easy decision to have so many rounds go best of 3 rather than best of 5, but it was one we felt we had to do to account for any hiccups along the way. They say hind sight is 20/20 and there are definitely things we know now that we erred on the side of caution with. Things we pushed that maybe we should pull back on. But at the end of the day, our failures, no matter how big or small, are what we learn from. As we begin our postmortem meetings, I am already looking forward to next year’s Choptober Challenge and making it bigger and better than this year! Also can’t wait to pay deeper into the brackets in 2020!
Congrats to
Mike Kump for the repeat win. Just an amazing display of skill… again!. And congrats to all of you, no matter where you placed. You are all winners in your own ways
Co-Owner of Choppers Hatchet House