With the exception of the very few people for whom playing darts is a business, most of us play darts because we enjoy the game. However, there comes a point in the game where some of us become serious about getting better. Self-improvement can be part of the enjoyment, and let's face it, winning is fun.
I notice that it is easy to stray from the path at this point. In the rush to get better and win more, the enjoyment of the game can easily be lost. Practices become a chore. Dart events become obligations instead of something to look forward to. We criticize ourselves overly much for an off-form night, and burnout soon follows. Somewhere in the rush to get better, we forgot that the reason we play is to enjoy the game. Ironically, a player's dart game usually suffers at that point because they lost their main motivating factor - their enjoyment of the game.
I have found a lot of renewal of enjoyment in playing darts lately. Instead of just practicing and going to tournaments, I have gone to some charity dart events that raise money for good causes. My son is interested in playing and I love showing him how to throw. Playing last season in the Elizabeth league introduced me to a whole new group of friends. I enjoy working with new players on improving their game. Obviously, I love to write about darts. All of these things keep me interested in the game. Without them I would probably have burned out a long time ago.
I would enjoy hearing from some of you dart players out there in the comment section below. What keeps you motivated and enjoying darts?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Notes On Improving Your Mental Game For Tournaments
When I was going to a lot of tournaments back in 2002-2003, I kept a journal with observations of things which worked for me on improving my mental game. Here you go:
It is difficult to over-stress the importance of the ability to detach the mind from its surroundings and situational concerns when throwing in competition. Total, relaxed, but intense concentration is necessary. This is difficult to achieve if one is watching an opponent's throw or obsessing with the consequences of a shot. That can only lead to distraction. The mind is then divided in its work. The attention that was devoted to the accuracy of the throw is now being spent on other matters that have no positive influence on the outcome of the shot. This lessens the potential for playing high level darts consistently.
Missed shots and bounce outs occur, no matter how good you are. Throw enough darts and it will happen. Given that it is a certainty, there is only one oyher factor to consider: The dart player's reaction. A dart player's reaction to these circumstances can be critical. Reactions occur on two levels. One is emotional. The tendency to react negatively to misfortune creates distraction. In the process of saying (or even thinking) "I can't believe that triple 20 bounced out" all attention has been diverted from the target. This is a negative influence on the consistency and accuracy of future shots. Verbal complaints also have the unfortunate effect of boosting your opponent's confidence. Avoiding such emotional reactions is a matter of choice. Nobody makes you complain but yourself. Discipline and practice can rid a person of this liability.
The second reaction is physical. When the dart bounces out of the board, do you follow it with your eyes, or jump to the side ? When you miss, do your eyes stray from the target more than necessary? Is the natural rhythm of your throw changed ? If so, then you are altering the routine of your normal throw and allowing distraction to enter the picture. This can only diminish your consistency and accuracy. Train yourself to maintain your normal rhythm and concentration when such things occur. Act as if nothing happened. This will unsettle your opponent much more than any other reaction.
Physical illness can cause distraction. Avoid food that makes your stomach upset. Bring eye drops if excessive smoke bothers you. Bring aspirin in case you get a headache. If you have a cold, bring whatever medicine you can function best on. Do your legs or your back get sore from playing darts more than an hour ? Bring whatever you need to relieve the symptoms. Plan this in advance and you will not be caught off guard.
One important consideration is how to keep focus and concentration between turns at the oche. In other words, what do you do while you are waiting for the opponent to take his shot ? How do you avoid distraction when you are not throwing ? Some distraction will be unavoidable, but it can be minimized. For instance, it would be unwise not to check where your opponent's darts land, and that the scorekeeper correctly recorded and calculated the score. This is especially true in situations where there is no reliable scorekeeper, and the players are marking their own score. This necessarily divides your attention.
The goal is then to minimize the distraction of accomplishing these necessary tasks. You have ten to fifteen seconds when your opponent is actually throwing the darts. I have found that it is not helpful to watch the opponent or the board during that time. It will only further distract you. I use the time to relax my mind and to mentally review my next shot. This cannot be done well if I am distracted by watching darts hit the board or the other player. Once I hear the third "thunk" of the dart hitting the board, I conclude my thoughts, look up at the board, and verify the score. You then have a variable length of time between five and ten seconds during which your opponent retrieves his darts and returns past the oche (more time in a pairs match). This is an excellent opportunity to mentally review your next shot again, so when you go to the board it will be with confidence. Have it worked out in your mind what to do no matter where the first two darts land, before you go to the oche. Then you will never have to stop between darts, which not only distracts you but also throws off your rhythm.
Potential for distraction exists in the variable amount of time people take to retrieve their darts and return past the oche. Some players do so quickly and predictably. Some are slow. Others purposefully try to vary the retrieval time to throw off the opponent's rhythm. This can be particularly effective against a player who moves forward to the oche immediately after the opponent throws their third dart. The player who sets up to throw before the opponent has returned is vulnerable. The opponent can legitimately stop and turn to ask the scorekeeper a question, or verify their score. This leaves the player lined up, with dart in throwing position, having to wait several extra seconds before throwing. This can easily blow the player's concentration and throw off rhythm. Fortunately, these ploys are easy to avoid. You will be invulnerable to this tactic if you train yourself to wait until your opponent has retrieved his darts and passed the oche before you walk up to throw. Do this in your practice games and it will feel natural during tournaments.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that you should not pull your darts from the board until after the scorekeeper has fully marked your score. Otherwise, you will not win any disputes. Even if it is correctable later, you do not want to discover a mistake in the middle of your opponents next throw. Having to deal with it then can ruin your concentration and preparation for your next throw.
It is difficult to over-stress the importance of the ability to detach the mind from its surroundings and situational concerns when throwing in competition. Total, relaxed, but intense concentration is necessary. This is difficult to achieve if one is watching an opponent's throw or obsessing with the consequences of a shot. That can only lead to distraction. The mind is then divided in its work. The attention that was devoted to the accuracy of the throw is now being spent on other matters that have no positive influence on the outcome of the shot. This lessens the potential for playing high level darts consistently.
Missed shots and bounce outs occur, no matter how good you are. Throw enough darts and it will happen. Given that it is a certainty, there is only one oyher factor to consider: The dart player's reaction. A dart player's reaction to these circumstances can be critical. Reactions occur on two levels. One is emotional. The tendency to react negatively to misfortune creates distraction. In the process of saying (or even thinking) "I can't believe that triple 20 bounced out" all attention has been diverted from the target. This is a negative influence on the consistency and accuracy of future shots. Verbal complaints also have the unfortunate effect of boosting your opponent's confidence. Avoiding such emotional reactions is a matter of choice. Nobody makes you complain but yourself. Discipline and practice can rid a person of this liability.
The second reaction is physical. When the dart bounces out of the board, do you follow it with your eyes, or jump to the side ? When you miss, do your eyes stray from the target more than necessary? Is the natural rhythm of your throw changed ? If so, then you are altering the routine of your normal throw and allowing distraction to enter the picture. This can only diminish your consistency and accuracy. Train yourself to maintain your normal rhythm and concentration when such things occur. Act as if nothing happened. This will unsettle your opponent much more than any other reaction.
Physical illness can cause distraction. Avoid food that makes your stomach upset. Bring eye drops if excessive smoke bothers you. Bring aspirin in case you get a headache. If you have a cold, bring whatever medicine you can function best on. Do your legs or your back get sore from playing darts more than an hour ? Bring whatever you need to relieve the symptoms. Plan this in advance and you will not be caught off guard.
One important consideration is how to keep focus and concentration between turns at the oche. In other words, what do you do while you are waiting for the opponent to take his shot ? How do you avoid distraction when you are not throwing ? Some distraction will be unavoidable, but it can be minimized. For instance, it would be unwise not to check where your opponent's darts land, and that the scorekeeper correctly recorded and calculated the score. This is especially true in situations where there is no reliable scorekeeper, and the players are marking their own score. This necessarily divides your attention.
The goal is then to minimize the distraction of accomplishing these necessary tasks. You have ten to fifteen seconds when your opponent is actually throwing the darts. I have found that it is not helpful to watch the opponent or the board during that time. It will only further distract you. I use the time to relax my mind and to mentally review my next shot. This cannot be done well if I am distracted by watching darts hit the board or the other player. Once I hear the third "thunk" of the dart hitting the board, I conclude my thoughts, look up at the board, and verify the score. You then have a variable length of time between five and ten seconds during which your opponent retrieves his darts and returns past the oche (more time in a pairs match). This is an excellent opportunity to mentally review your next shot again, so when you go to the board it will be with confidence. Have it worked out in your mind what to do no matter where the first two darts land, before you go to the oche. Then you will never have to stop between darts, which not only distracts you but also throws off your rhythm.
Potential for distraction exists in the variable amount of time people take to retrieve their darts and return past the oche. Some players do so quickly and predictably. Some are slow. Others purposefully try to vary the retrieval time to throw off the opponent's rhythm. This can be particularly effective against a player who moves forward to the oche immediately after the opponent throws their third dart. The player who sets up to throw before the opponent has returned is vulnerable. The opponent can legitimately stop and turn to ask the scorekeeper a question, or verify their score. This leaves the player lined up, with dart in throwing position, having to wait several extra seconds before throwing. This can easily blow the player's concentration and throw off rhythm. Fortunately, these ploys are easy to avoid. You will be invulnerable to this tactic if you train yourself to wait until your opponent has retrieved his darts and passed the oche before you walk up to throw. Do this in your practice games and it will feel natural during tournaments.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that you should not pull your darts from the board until after the scorekeeper has fully marked your score. Otherwise, you will not win any disputes. Even if it is correctable later, you do not want to discover a mistake in the middle of your opponents next throw. Having to deal with it then can ruin your concentration and preparation for your next throw.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Notes From The Past
I am busy at work with a major publishing deadline day after tomorrow, so I had little time for darts this week! However, I have been publishing weekly articles here for almost 40 weeks now, and I am not about to ruin a streak like that.
As you know, I love to write. I have written somewhat of a diary of my dart experiences on and off for about 5 years. I am passing on an article I wrote, never published before, about form based dart practice routines. This may be useful to the beginning or intermediate player, and maybe even some of you old pros out there.
When I started darts I was BAD! I was on the bottom team in a big league, and I only won about 25% of my games. I watched, learned, and gradually improved. There was a point in my development where I had to learn reasonably proper form. The practice routine and ideas below really helped. When I wrote this, I was at my best, probably averaging in the upper 70's or low 80's on a good day (probably double my average from when I started), and ended up in the Top 25 in the ADO. Most of this is common sense, but hey, that makes it no less helpful.
Form-Based Darts Practice Routines for Beginning and Intermediate Throwers
Outline:
What is the goal of a form based approach ?
Designed to create a consistent, good, easily reproduceable throwing technique.
Instill good techniques from the start, or correct existing bad techniques.
Provides a simple and easy to follow supplemental practice routine to steadily improve your technique, and your accuracy.
Not designed totally replace other "score based" practice drills: rather it supplements them.
If you do only "score based" practice drills, and are not paying specific attention to your form in practice, you may just be reinforcing bad techniques ! Ex. "Stuck in a rut" "Practicing 5 days a week for hours a day and not getting any better !"
How and why does it work ?
Muscle memory: Consciously repeating an action correctly many times allows you to perform it unconsciously (without thought).
Allows players to throw consistently well in competition because they don't need to worry about technique.
Need to perform the basic form techniques without conscious thought.
Most professional athletes agree: diligent practice and mastery of basic skills of your sport is essential to consistent good performance.
Form based approach isolates the basic techniques and stresses throwing with good technique (form) instead of what you are hitting in practice, to provide muscle memory for good form that can be used without conscious thought.
Step One: Understanding the good form basics of a dart throw.
Get a picture in your mind of what good form is. Watch someone who is really good!
Do everything the same when you throw, if you want to be consistent ("eliminate the variable" theory)for each of the following:
Stand still when you throw.
Only your throwing arm moves in the throw, to the extent possible.
Look only at the target.
Smooth throwing motion ("stroke") with your arm.
Full extension of your arm to the target with follow through.
Remember: The key for each of these basic form techniques is that you must do them the same every time ! The more simple your technique, the easier it is to reproduce.
Step Two: Practice Routines:
You will choose one area of form to work on at a time, i.e. stand still when throwing, only move your arm, look only at target, follow through, etc. The simple practice routine is as follows: Each day you practice, you will throw thirty darts (ten sets of three) where the only thing you pay attention to, or concentrate on, is performing that one certain area of form perfectly and consistently. You will have someone watch you to make sure that you are doing that aspect of form exactly right. Alternatively, you can videotape your exercise. You must have feedback to be effective ! Critique your performance of that technique. After each round, think about how it "feels" subjectively to you to perform the technique correctly, and then get up and do it again.
At this point:
Pick a target, but don't even pay attention to where your darts are landing.
Remember: your goal at this point is only to get muscle memory for the correct technique. For these thirty darts, you will pay attention to only that. The new motion or technique is likely to feel akward at first. That is natural and to be expected. You are planting the seeds for greater accuracy. Harvest time will only come after you have repeated the correct form enough to where it is no longer akward and you can do it automatically without thinking.
Step Three: Improvement and Maintenance:
Reasonable expectations. You WILL NOT master form and see very noticeable and consistent improvement in one day, two days or even ten days. Don't expect it, and don't be disappointed.
The theory of 1000. I have noticed in many sports that you have to repeat motions many times correctly before they become automatic. 1000 is a nice round number. Does that sound difficult? It's not. Throw thirty darts a day for 34 days using the same motion and you are there.
What you should notice "after 1000". The motion should be fluid, smooth and automatic. You no longer have to think about it. It just happens.
Watch good players throw and pay attention to their form to reinforce your mental image of what good form is.
Competition: Not the time to think about it. Go with what you've got.
Remember: this only supplements score based practice routines, and does not replace them. Even a good player can benefit by reviewing and reinforcing the basics.
As you know, I love to write. I have written somewhat of a diary of my dart experiences on and off for about 5 years. I am passing on an article I wrote, never published before, about form based dart practice routines. This may be useful to the beginning or intermediate player, and maybe even some of you old pros out there.
When I started darts I was BAD! I was on the bottom team in a big league, and I only won about 25% of my games. I watched, learned, and gradually improved. There was a point in my development where I had to learn reasonably proper form. The practice routine and ideas below really helped. When I wrote this, I was at my best, probably averaging in the upper 70's or low 80's on a good day (probably double my average from when I started), and ended up in the Top 25 in the ADO. Most of this is common sense, but hey, that makes it no less helpful.
Form-Based Darts Practice Routines for Beginning and Intermediate Throwers
Outline:
What is the goal of a form based approach ?
Designed to create a consistent, good, easily reproduceable throwing technique.
Instill good techniques from the start, or correct existing bad techniques.
Provides a simple and easy to follow supplemental practice routine to steadily improve your technique, and your accuracy.
Not designed totally replace other "score based" practice drills: rather it supplements them.
If you do only "score based" practice drills, and are not paying specific attention to your form in practice, you may just be reinforcing bad techniques ! Ex. "Stuck in a rut" "Practicing 5 days a week for hours a day and not getting any better !"
How and why does it work ?
Muscle memory: Consciously repeating an action correctly many times allows you to perform it unconsciously (without thought).
Allows players to throw consistently well in competition because they don't need to worry about technique.
Need to perform the basic form techniques without conscious thought.
Most professional athletes agree: diligent practice and mastery of basic skills of your sport is essential to consistent good performance.
Form based approach isolates the basic techniques and stresses throwing with good technique (form) instead of what you are hitting in practice, to provide muscle memory for good form that can be used without conscious thought.
Step One: Understanding the good form basics of a dart throw.
Get a picture in your mind of what good form is. Watch someone who is really good!
Do everything the same when you throw, if you want to be consistent ("eliminate the variable" theory)for each of the following:
Stand still when you throw.
Only your throwing arm moves in the throw, to the extent possible.
Look only at the target.
Smooth throwing motion ("stroke") with your arm.
Full extension of your arm to the target with follow through.
Remember: The key for each of these basic form techniques is that you must do them the same every time ! The more simple your technique, the easier it is to reproduce.
Step Two: Practice Routines:
You will choose one area of form to work on at a time, i.e. stand still when throwing, only move your arm, look only at target, follow through, etc. The simple practice routine is as follows: Each day you practice, you will throw thirty darts (ten sets of three) where the only thing you pay attention to, or concentrate on, is performing that one certain area of form perfectly and consistently. You will have someone watch you to make sure that you are doing that aspect of form exactly right. Alternatively, you can videotape your exercise. You must have feedback to be effective ! Critique your performance of that technique. After each round, think about how it "feels" subjectively to you to perform the technique correctly, and then get up and do it again.
At this point:
Pick a target, but don't even pay attention to where your darts are landing.
Remember: your goal at this point is only to get muscle memory for the correct technique. For these thirty darts, you will pay attention to only that. The new motion or technique is likely to feel akward at first. That is natural and to be expected. You are planting the seeds for greater accuracy. Harvest time will only come after you have repeated the correct form enough to where it is no longer akward and you can do it automatically without thinking.
Step Three: Improvement and Maintenance:
Reasonable expectations. You WILL NOT master form and see very noticeable and consistent improvement in one day, two days or even ten days. Don't expect it, and don't be disappointed.
The theory of 1000. I have noticed in many sports that you have to repeat motions many times correctly before they become automatic. 1000 is a nice round number. Does that sound difficult? It's not. Throw thirty darts a day for 34 days using the same motion and you are there.
What you should notice "after 1000". The motion should be fluid, smooth and automatic. You no longer have to think about it. It just happens.
Watch good players throw and pay attention to their form to reinforce your mental image of what good form is.
Competition: Not the time to think about it. Go with what you've got.
Remember: this only supplements score based practice routines, and does not replace them. Even a good player can benefit by reviewing and reinforcing the basics.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
ADO Allstar Regional Winners
Dave send me the results of the Allstar Regionals. Three men qualified for nationals, including Jim Widmayer, Bill Davis, and Tom Waterman. It will be nice to see the Corner Bar team represented! Jim won the whole thing with an incredible 36-0 record on legs! One woman qualified for nationals, and it was Doreen Berry. As I mentioned earlier, she was hitting big shots before I left. Congratulations to everyone and good luck at Nationals in August!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
ADO Allstar Regionals and Mother-In-Laws
Sometimes you just have to compromise to make things work. I had to miss the Charity Tournament on Saturday for my mother-in-law's birthday party. There was a good dart-related rationale for that, though. I wouldn't be rested enough to throw at the ADO Allstars on Sunday if I had to spend Saturday night in the doghouse!
The ADO Allstars Regional had a decent turnout at the Irish American Club, though a bit less than in other years. There were enough people to send 3 men and 1 woman to the Nationals. Dave from Corner Bar was running it, and Tom Waterman and I were there competing from the Corner Bar team. They split us into 3 groups of 7 or 8 men, and we played each person in our group 3 games of 501, in round-robin fashion. 2 from each group advance to a final round-robin group. 3 men from the final group advance to the Nationals.
There was some entertainment before the match started. I was warming up on a Board next to Phil Fried. Poor Phil had a dart bounce out of the board and roll into a small crack between the floor and the molding, sending his dart plummeting down into the basement. What bad luck! Luckily for Phil they managed to fish his dart out of there before play began. He told me he was shooting better with two darts anyway!
In my bracket I had some solid dart players, including Bill Davis, Jim Newman, Buddy Lessig, and some other decent shots. I found myself doing what I call the hot/cold thing...a few good games and then a few poor ones. I managed to hit a 180 and some decent scoring in some of my better games, but it was not enough to advance out of my round-robin bracket. On the bright side, that will save me about $500 in travel, since I would have had to make an extra roundtrip from San Antonio if I won!
When I had good games, my opponents often had better ones. For example, in one leg Buddy Lessig and I each opened 140, 100. I hit an 85, while Buddy hit another 100, followed by a huge 161 out for a 12 darter. Ouch! I can see how Buddy took a set of Michael Van Gerwen at the U.S. Open. Another guy hit a 150 out on me. Otherwise, I managed a leg here and there, but I would have needed several more to get out of the bracket. Bill Davis and guy I hadn't seen before got through our group to the final bracket.
Tom's group included Bill Bell and Jim Widmayer. Tom was banging the 180's, having hit three by the time I left. In one leg I scored, Tom just missed a nice 11 darter, and then Bill Bell stole the leg from him when he missed the out. Great darts. Jim and Tom went through from that group. The other bracket had Tim O'Gorman and some others. I did not stick around for the final bracket, as I was already tired and headed home.
The ladies had a lively competition going, with 11 women fighting for 1 spot. That means 30 games each, considering the round-robin format. When I left, Doreen Berry was shooting very well, but you know darts. Anything can and often does happen.
A special hi to all my friends there including Joe Hogan, Nikki, Heather, Tom, Tim, Jim, Bill, Buddy, everyone else, and to Dave for running the show. As soon as I get word from Dave who ended up winning, I will pass the word. Until then, good darts!
The ADO Allstars Regional had a decent turnout at the Irish American Club, though a bit less than in other years. There were enough people to send 3 men and 1 woman to the Nationals. Dave from Corner Bar was running it, and Tom Waterman and I were there competing from the Corner Bar team. They split us into 3 groups of 7 or 8 men, and we played each person in our group 3 games of 501, in round-robin fashion. 2 from each group advance to a final round-robin group. 3 men from the final group advance to the Nationals.
There was some entertainment before the match started. I was warming up on a Board next to Phil Fried. Poor Phil had a dart bounce out of the board and roll into a small crack between the floor and the molding, sending his dart plummeting down into the basement. What bad luck! Luckily for Phil they managed to fish his dart out of there before play began. He told me he was shooting better with two darts anyway!
In my bracket I had some solid dart players, including Bill Davis, Jim Newman, Buddy Lessig, and some other decent shots. I found myself doing what I call the hot/cold thing...a few good games and then a few poor ones. I managed to hit a 180 and some decent scoring in some of my better games, but it was not enough to advance out of my round-robin bracket. On the bright side, that will save me about $500 in travel, since I would have had to make an extra roundtrip from San Antonio if I won!
When I had good games, my opponents often had better ones. For example, in one leg Buddy Lessig and I each opened 140, 100. I hit an 85, while Buddy hit another 100, followed by a huge 161 out for a 12 darter. Ouch! I can see how Buddy took a set of Michael Van Gerwen at the U.S. Open. Another guy hit a 150 out on me. Otherwise, I managed a leg here and there, but I would have needed several more to get out of the bracket. Bill Davis and guy I hadn't seen before got through our group to the final bracket.
Tom's group included Bill Bell and Jim Widmayer. Tom was banging the 180's, having hit three by the time I left. In one leg I scored, Tom just missed a nice 11 darter, and then Bill Bell stole the leg from him when he missed the out. Great darts. Jim and Tom went through from that group. The other bracket had Tim O'Gorman and some others. I did not stick around for the final bracket, as I was already tired and headed home.
The ladies had a lively competition going, with 11 women fighting for 1 spot. That means 30 games each, considering the round-robin format. When I left, Doreen Berry was shooting very well, but you know darts. Anything can and often does happen.
A special hi to all my friends there including Joe Hogan, Nikki, Heather, Tom, Tim, Jim, Bill, Buddy, everyone else, and to Dave for running the show. As soon as I get word from Dave who ended up winning, I will pass the word. Until then, good darts!
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