Sharp weapons for a peaceful sport   -   "Midsummer Throwers Meeting Pottenstein" in Iune: Exciting competitions with knives and axes

    Kühlenfels (be) - The friends of the "Flying Blades" meet this year again, the fourth time in the Pottenstein village Kühlenfels, to compete in the art and sports of axe and knife throwing.
    The "Midsummer Throwers Meeting Pottenstein" begins at Saturday, July 19th, before noon with warm up throwing, at 14 o'clock the competitions are started in Kühlenfels. Norbert Maier, who does axe and knife throwing since many years, had invited.
    Single throwing people did exist since ever, all over the world, now per internet about 40 people gathered over Europe. "Throwing is one of the mile stones in the evolution of mankind", says knife fan Norbert Maier.
    Now the group is attempting to create a rule set for this sport. The quality of the throwing shall become measurable and comparable. Type and size of the targets, distances and the different sports devices shall be clearly defined.
    Security is an explicit and important chapter, handled very consciously. The security aspects for the own health and the one of the spectators are watched exactly. The knives and axes are designated as sports devices by the throwers, to indicate the peaceful character of that sport. Each thrower develops her/his own style in the course of the years. When throwing, the whole body is wanted.
    Point-precise professionals
    Many people know knife throwers from the circus. Those throwers are absolute professionals. They perform throwing at a point precisely, especially with a spectacular thrilling show.
    Maier is registered as a collector. So he can possess even very rare knives. If someone finds a special knife, axe or throwing device under her/his roof or in the basement, she/he is always welcome with that by Norber Maier.
    He is collecting since youth. In the journal Messer-Magazin he published scientific articles about the topic. Throwing and knives are two very basic topics, the both are cultural goods in all folks of the world, developed already in the stone ages, and they can be tracked back there scientifically.

    Throwing is found in other context as well, e.g. with rope or bumerang throwing. Technique and body control determine the movement. The association is an organisation for axe and knife throwers, in the articles of association, "throwing with difficult devices" is mentioned.
    Many throwers are coming from other areas of interest, e.g. from the medival or western scenes, from far east martial arts and from the timber professions. "Primitiv" throwing or sports devices do always fascinate people. One part of the fascination is given by the fact, that by a highly developed body technique, one can achieve astonishing effectivity. In Sweden axe throwing is a national sports. The motivation to deal with such things comes from the pleasure about body control and artistics. Only with that, one can endure the long time of training.
    No violent people
    People ready for violence do not have the patience for learning an acrobatic capability longterm. "Thanks good the axe and knife thrower are exempt from such kind of people", Maier says. Composure and patience are necessary properties, which must exist in the man. Those interested in knives can contact Norbert Maier by phone (0171 4111494). His website can be found under www.axtwerfen.de. The association was found last year at August 30th near Berlin. There, 25 throwers participated in the competition and they fascinated over hundred spectators.
    Knife throwing is a family sport as well, because at the competitions mostly teams like father/son, father/daughter or married couples participated. For the training it is often not easy, to find a suited place for throwing. The people from the country side have an advantage over those from the city. If one does not own a great garden, she/he can throw indoors with small devices, e.g. with paper knives or spits on cardboard.
    At June 26th, a second throwers meeting is conducted in the Bavarian Forest in "Pullman City". A Big Throwers Meeting is planned in France.

(Picture text)   "Throwing is fun": The throwing expert and weapons collector Norbert Maier shows a selection of his rare sports devices from the world. Foto: Eva Böhm

The "Flying Blades" of Kühlenfels   -   Sharp things: European knife and axe throwers celebrate the midsummer night near Pottenstein

      Kühlenfels
      Norbert Maier from Kühlenfels is an enthusiastic knife and axe thrower. With five collegues from the south german area he already found the european throwing association "Flying Blade".
      Sincs four years now, Maier conducts the "Pottenstein Midsummer Throwers Festival" in his home village with friends from Munich, Schwangau, Fürstenfeldbruck or Ulm, which won Michael Pohl from Fürstenfeldbruck this year.

      The European Throwing Association was found in autumn last year near Berlin, by 16 foundation members from three countries, and chairman is Norbert Maier. The third chairman, by the way, comes from the island Corsika. Thus from October, 1st - 3rd near Biarritz, France, the first Big European Throwers Meeting takes place.   tw

(Picture text)   An unusual hobby: In Kühlenfels knife and axe throwers from south germany gathered, to celebrate the midsummer night. The Kühlenfels citizen Norbert Maier (left) is their chairman. Foto: pr

Flying Blades   -   Five axe and knife throwers conducted competition

    Kühlenfels (be) - The friends of the "flying blades" met this year the fourth time in Kühlenfels. Four throwing enthusiasts gathered with conductor Norbert Maier, to compete in the art and sports of axe and knife throwing.
    The "Midsummer Throwers Meeting Pottenstein" began with warm up throwing, at 14 o'clock the competitions started. Norbert Maier, who does knife and axe throwing since many years, had invited.
    The competitions were conducted in three disciplines. With knifes, the distances were 3.60 m and 5.40 m, with axes, the line was 4.20 m from the target. The evaluation was done by points. In each discipline each thrower did 10 times 3 throws on three different targets. All toghether, each thrower had 90 valid throws.
    Winner was Michael Pahl from Fürstenfeldbruck. Second was Gregor Paprocki. He is throwing since seven years and participates at the Kaltenberger Knights Games as knife thrower. Third place was local thrower Norbert Maier. Fouth was Dieter Führer, who is also a good archer and knife maker. Christian Thiel from Ulm, the youngest, was fifth winner, he is infected with the "throwing virus" since 1999.

    Now the group is attempting to create an european rule set for this sport. This shall be developed, that the sportsmen can compete and compare their results. The type and size of the target, different distances as well as the different sport devices like knives and axes shall be defined.
    First throwing tries
    After the official part followed spectators' throwing. Here also untrained could venture some throws. Then the active participants took some quite curious throwing devices like hammer, screw-driver or knitting-needles, which were stuck always with exact prediction. The fun blinked out of their eyes, when they threw e.g. on playing cards. One part of the fascination comes from the fact, that by a highly developed body technique, with primitive devices, an astonishing effectivity can be achieved.
    The next big associations meeting takes place from October 1st through 3rd in Southwest France, near Biarriz.

(Picture text)   Infected with the "throwing virus": Five enthusiastic axe and knife throwers gathered in Kühlenfels for a competition and proofed astonishing precision with the "flying blades". Foto: Eva Böhm