Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target. Knife throwing, whether in a martial or sport application, involves the same basic principles of mechanics. The objective in each case is for the point to stick into the target with a sufficient amount of force. For this to be successful, accuracy, distance, number of rotations and placement of the body all must be taken into account unless a no-spin technique is employed by the thrower. If the thrower uses a spin technique, the knife will rotate during flight. This means that the thrower, assuming he is throwing the same way every time, must either choose a specific distance for each type of throw or, more practically, make slight adjustments to placement of the knife in the hand as well as angle of release and rotation of the wrist. Variations in throw technique can allow great accuracy and range. Throwers may also need to adjust for throwing off-center, around corners, and while running. Another adjustment that can be made is the way the knife is held. If it is held at the blade when it is thrown, this makes it spin half, whereas if it is held by the handle, this makes a full spin. So if you estimate you need one and a half spins for the point to hit the target, you would hold the knife from the blade when it is thrown. If you feel you need two full spins for it to hit the target point-first, then it would be held by the handle.In the USA and in Europe, there are communities of people pursuing knife throwing as a sport, similar to archery. Groups such as IKTHOF (International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame, USA), AKTA (American Knife Throwers Alliance, USA) and Euro throwers sponsor events, demonstrations and competitions. Those are an opportunity for the throwers to exchange knowledge, compare their performances, and enjoy the amiable atmosphere common to those events. The competition itself consists, in the most common form, of a series of straight throws aimed at a set of standard wooden targets or in some cases foam. Similar to an archery target, competition knife throwing targets have a bullseye surrounded by one or more rings. A sticking knife scores points. The thrower must be standing at least a set distance away from the target, with higher distances for more challenging events. IKTHOF keeps a ranking of its members based on their performance during these sponsored competitions. The scores achieved at Euro throwers events can be examined at the meetings' reports.