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PKT Mission Statement
The Pacific Knife Throwers (PKT) club
is a not-for-profit club that promotes the ancient art of knife throwing in a
safe, defined, nationally sanctioned tournament format. We teach,
write, practice and compete with the intention of establishing knife throwing
as a fun, safe, target sport. The PKT is dedicated to providing an environment
in California and the Western States that is open to all novice and experienced
throwers that wish to learn, compete and enjoy the many benefits of the myriad
of skills involved. Any throwers that share these goals are able to
join. |
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PKT History
Rick Lemberg, President of the
PKT, started the club in 1996. Encouraged by Bobby Branton, Director of the
AKTA, Rick organized the PKT as the Western states regional tournament host for
the AKTA and as an independent club, dedicated to preserving and organizing the
sport of knife throwing in that region. The PKT has hosted the AKTA Western
States Regional Championships twice now (as of 13dec97, ed.) and is looking
ahead to the 3rd Annual Event in 1998. The PKT is sanctioned by the AKTA. Rick
is an AKTA Certified Knife Throwing Instructor and a life member of the Wild
West Arts Club in Las Vegas. The PKT is based in Cupertino California,
and has club practice once a month. |
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PKT Technicals
Contact: Rick Lemberg,
President
Located at: c/o Pacific Knife Throwers
- PO Box 371450 - Montara, CA 94037-1450 (650) 563-9450 or Email to:
knifethrwr@aol.com
Yearly membership fee: $20.00.
Includes: Color Rules Guide, PKT sticker, a full color quarterly newsletter the
"KNIFE THROWER NEWS" plus annual tournament photo issue, liminated ID
card, official PKT score sheets, free first time tournament entry fee, and
discounts from authorized knife resources.
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PKT Newsletter
The Knife Thrower News, included with
membership fee, is a quarterly issue.
The following is an example article
from the... issue, Volume 1, Issue 1 (reprinted with PKT
permission). "Sticking Point" will post
new articles on occasion in this section. [ed.]
Knife Throwing for Kids and
Beginners One of the things that
concerns me most in our sport is the possibility that novice throwers may just
pick up a knife and start throwing knives at trees in the yard without a review
of range awareness and safety. It has always been my belief that any sport that
can cause injury must have a defined process to illustrate and review safety
concerns. My children are 9, 8 and 4. Our boys (9 and 8) started
throwing knives three years ago. I'll describe our routine we used to initiate
them (and their 'parentally approved' friends) to the sport. I require
significant practice in knife handling and range awareness before kids ever get
to throw. Our lessons go like this: 1) The student is given a hard
rubber ball to throw at a standard log round from 10-12 feet. They get to throw
the ball 100 consecutive times at the target. The throws should be hard and
straight as possible. This activity develops the motion of throwing at a
bulls-eye but more importantly, my students must try to move out of the way of
all 100 rebounds of the ball. If they get hit by one, they should repeat the
exercise from the beginning. The focus practiced while throwing these balls
builds the continual awareness of the unlikely but possible event of a sudden
rebound. It is crucial in the early training for any thrower that is not used
to this sort of thing. The worst rebounds usually come from hitting
off the edge of a target in a way that sends the knife winging away at an
unanticipated angle. If the throw was hard enough, it can head back towards the
thrower. The vast majority of such rebounds slide harmlessly on the ground.
Bounced knives rarely come back above the knee, but 1/4000 or so do when I
throw, so I'm ALWAYS AWARE. 2) We then have a lesson about
general knife safety. This includes: How to hand knives to others (handle
first). How to pick up knives from the ground. How to correctly pull them from
the targets (firm grip, slide with the direction of the blade... don't yank!).
3) These session can be completed in a day or a month depending on the
age, confidence and coordination of the student. When completed, a novice
student will be able to: A) throw a ball 100 time against a target
without a rebound striking any part of their self. B) Safely pick up 5
knives strewn across the range and hand them off properly to others. C)
Pull a series of knives from targets with the proper control. D) Hold the
knives in an appropriate grip, and be able to move from hand to hand with ease.
Of course the less sharp the knife edges are, the less likely an
injury can occur. Throwing knives vary greatly in size and design. Our contests
require a minimum length of 12 inches and a maximum width of 3 inches. The
smaller knives carry, in my experience, a much greater risk from errant
rebounds. They are more often sharpended on the edged and less likely to be
balanced optimally for target throwing. I do not allow my kids to
throw without 100% adult supervision. Combining these methods with
proper targets and range safety will create the best environment for kids and
other beginners to learn knife throwing with the appropriate focus and
rountine. |
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Official PKT
competition rules.
The PKT hosts the AKTA Western States
Regional Championships each year. We follow in these events, and
winners are encouraged to travel to South Carolina to compete in the US
Nationals (three PKT members competed in 97). All participants in PKT
events must be PKT members. The PKT also holds its own contest for
distance. These distance contests are not official AKTA events, although the
same safety and range rules are applied. The distance contest rules
are as follows: 1) Each thrower must hit a standard 16 inch target
with a minimum of one of three attempts, to qualify, from beyond a 19 foot
line. 2) There is no warm up period. 3) The qualifying throwers then
alternate throwing 5 more throws each. 4) The throwers may throw from any
distance they wish. 5) The single furthest throw to hit in the target wins.
The PKT publishes its own safety guide that is an authorized reprint
of the AKTA rules with additional notes and guidelines directed to novice and
younger throwers. |
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PKT Member discounts, deals and special offers on
throwing products.
Bobby Branton, Pro-Flyte, Inc. offers
a 10% discount to PKT members. Contact
him at
profly001@aol.com
or write to 4976 Seewee Rd Awendaw, SC 29429
Lee Fugatt offers a
10% discount to PKT members. Contact
him at
tonkasila@aol.com
or write to c/o PKT PO Box 2126 Cupertino, CA 95015-2126 or phone
(650) 965-8257
Tru-Balance Knife Company offers10% discount to PKT members. write to
Tru-Balance Knife Company PO Box 140555 Grand Rapids, MI
49514-0555
Bob Karp, the "Master of the Blade"
offers a $10.00 discount to PKT members.
Contact him at: 1-(800) THE-BLADE
Beaver Bill Forging Works offers a 10% discount to PKT members send copy of
membership card (front and back) with order. Bill Keeler P.O. Box
788 Oxford, Ohio 45056 513-756-1983 or bbfwhawks@aol.com Sunshine Knife Outlet offers a
10% discount to AKT and PKT members,
on purchases of three (3) or more knives. Winter
Springs, FL 32708 or SITE:
throwingknives.com
We are currently verifying other
discount sources... stay tuned as we update this section. [ed.] |
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