Thinking well outside the box for a unique first date
It’s a bold choice. But hey, who wants to take in a movie when you can wield sharp objects on a first date? The floors inside the black box arena that is Civil Axe Throwing are dusted with shards of splintered wood.
Armed with a one-and-a-half pound hatchet, Morgan Hancock steps to the throwing line of one of the five lanes divided by chain link fencing much like batting cages.
Fourteen feet separates her from the target. The blade descends beneath her brow and with wrists locked, her hands let the steel fly. The axe somersaults before cutting a healthy slice into the bullseye. Turning to her date with an expression that’s equal parts shock and surprise, she says, “Shut. Up.”
Forget about the five points she’s just racked up for her team. Hancock, who’s never thrown an axe before, is now strutting like a woman who has just gone to battle and returned victorious. “I’m all smiles,” she says. “That felt good. It was cool...I’m definitely doing this again.”
Civil Axe Throwing is one of a host of similar venues finding their way into cities throughout the US and around the globe as the popularity of this somewhat quirky recreation catches fire. Owned by the husband-wife team of Jorge and Erin Lima, they opened their flagship operation in Huntsville, Alabama in September of 2017. The company expanded to Chattanooga this past June with an additional location under construction in Birmingham.
“There’s something about throwing an axe and having it stick into wood,” says Hunter Harden, Civil Axe Throwing instructor and coach who guided Hancock to her bullseye.
“There’s something primitive, primal that everybody relates to. Everybody. I’m not just talking about a gender. I get women in here chucking axes and they feel that same sort of satisfaction. You’re creating this motion and you’re seeing the results.”
Played with an instinctive dose of lumberjack swagger, axe throwing has a scoring system that corresponds to varying sizes of circled targets mounted on 2” x 10” boards following the standard rules and specifications laid out by the National Axe Throwing Federation (NATF).
Established in 2016, this organization, which Civil Axe Throwing is a member of, represents a sport that boasts 4,000 league members in over 50 cities and five countries. A bullseye is worth five points and the outer red and blue rings are worth three and one points, respectively.
“It’s sort of like darts and bowling combined,” Harden says. “Once you have your motion down then it’s just muscle memory.” Adding spice to the mix, at the top corners of the board are two green dots called “Clutch” which are worth seven points.
First dates, bachelorette parties, or throwing solo to let off some steam, $20 per person gets you an hour’s worth of blade tossing with tutorial led by Harden and other Civil Axe team members.
“We give you a little bit of technique, enough to get you a little more consistent with how often you are sticking it,” says Harden. “It’s much, much more form then it is force. There’s no need to be a Viking.”
For more information, visit: civilaxethrowing.com/chattanooga. Just remember to aim at the target. Please.