Differences between NDA and Medalist

By Sheila Dill

Now that I have had the opportunity to play in leagues other than what The BAR offered, I would like to offer up my “woman’s perspective” on the differences between the two biggest local competitors for dart leagues.

Keeping in mind I am a mere female that is a less than average dart thrower, these are only my observations and might not be true; however, since perception is everything, that should be a good indicator to these companies. (Yes, I am one of the players that most of the “big shot” players cringe about when they draw me; although James Parten said it the best, “If I am that good, it doesn’t matter who my partner is.”)

Let me start by admitting my biases. Tobin, at Troy Vending, despite his loving, caring demeanor and wonderful taste in music, knows his stuff and has been my right hand man for darts throughout my entire bar career.

Although I thoroughly enjoy the game of darts as a fun, competitive hobby, it is not my passion in life nor do I base any benchmarks or life altering goals upon it. I have a lot of admiration for those talented players who have taken the game of darts (or any passion, really) to the next level through tons of hard work, practice and dedication. With that said, this is what I see as the differences between the two leagues.

I love the concept of Medalist. I really think it helps to even out a game and make different levels competitive against each other. Just because you are given a chance to throw so many darts before an opponent gets a chance, as such with NDA, does not level a playing field.

For example, since I am typically a 1.5 shooter, my first round I should hit 1 to 2 marks. My opponent being a 2.5 shooter would have to forfeit his or her first round, but after that should average 2 to 3 marks for the round. So unless I actually close a number and point within the first two rounds, the handicap no longer affects the rest of the game.

Whereas in Medalist, I would be given 2 marks on the 17 and 2 marks on 16, thus enabling my 1 to 2 marks to close numbers and possibly score points. Then if my opponent shoots his or her true average of 2 to 3 marks per round, and I continue to hit my average, the game should stay even and competitive, at least in marks. This form of handicapping also allows strategy to become a determining factor in the outcome of the game.

Both systems lack in the determining of an average. With Medalist, you shoot three games with someone official watching what you hit and they guess-a-mate what your rating should be. Finally, after a whole league, Medalist officially gives you a rating. I am not sure what happens if you do not throw for a while and start back a little rusty.

With NDA, you play a team straight-up for the first week, and then based on your average compared to the number of players in the league, you are assigned a handicap rating. Both, but more so NDA, allow for extreme sandbagging. I am not sure of the thrill in doing this for NDA, because it is only your local league that it counts for. If you really feel that you need to cheat against fellow dart players and drinkers, at least do it in a league that monetarily it makes a difference.

Your stats are turned in for any major tournaments and you can only shoot within a certain margin of your average or you are disqualified. In my mind, if you have this kind of skill and time, you might as well practice, play your best and actually be proud of yourself.

Now, for the part that threw me back 15 years (uhm wait, I can’t be that old!) Being completely new to Medalist, I had no idea of procedure; and of course being the female on the team, I was assigned procedural duties. I have not had to call in a score since my beginning days of darts! WOW… and then to realize that none of the names are stored in the boards, or even kept on a card that could just be inserted and all the information come up.

What happened to scores and stats being uploaded from the board and then downloaded into a Medalist database that could easily take care of all of this for us? This is where I think that a major difference between the two starts.

Medalist is a national company that keeps control over the league from one location and has area “Directors” that merely act as middlemen. NDA uses information given by individual operators that run their leagues locally and the control is kept local with safeguards for larger tournaments. Trying to find league standings or stats for Medalist is impossible. There is no way to look up how the team you are about to play just shot the week before. The dissemination of information just does not happen.

For example, the only reason I am playing Medalist is because I want to go to Las Vegas and play in the World Tournament. This event is usually held in September. September is a very busy month for me (No! I still do not know who I am going to cheer for) and up until the beginning of February; Medalist had no idea when this tournament would be held (much less where)! I was very upset at the idea that I would be wasting my time playing to qualify for a tournament I would not be able to attend.

Another change we were just informed of, and only because someone called again to ask, is that you must play in 60 games during the second half of this 20-week long season in order to qualify to play. This question was asked at the beginning of the season, not only to our league director, but also to Medalist directly, and we were told no, just 120 games total were needed.

I understand why they changed their mind, but it is unethical to change mid-stream, as well as to not make it well known to all those playing in the league. Again, this just shows the lack of dissemination of information, and I am sorry but you cannot run a quality league that will entice people to want to play again with this type of management.

I think both of these leagues could learn a lot from each other. They both have definite advantages and disadvantages and I am grateful that they exist and give me something to do during the week.

I also want to say thank you to my teams that let me play with them and for the bars that sponsor us! Go Iguana Macks FQU II and (wherever this week) Team Yea Pete!