 If you have a technique that works for you, send it to me ... I'll post it.
To play darts effectively you need to be consistent. That's easy enough to say, but not so easy to put into practice. And of course practice, the hours you spend throwing dart after dart at the board, is an important part of the exercise. The desire to win is also essential. But, is it enough? The general consensus is No!
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you need to change the focus of your darts game. Your darts technique may be excellent. It's your mental approach to the game of darts that you're probably struggling with. Probably you're not focussed on the game of darts. You're letting the music in the bar, the chatter around you, the TV in the corner put you off. Look at the following darts tips: Darts Tip 1: Don't over practice. Throwing bad dart after bad dart is demoralizing. If it starts to look that way to you it means that you need to hone your darts thinking. Darts Tip 2: Focus on each darts game as a separate thing. Each dart opponent is different. Try to keep your darts game the same while respecting your opponent's darts quirks. Darts Tips 3: Relax. Being confident in your darts will allow you to relax. To become confident you need to get in THE ZONE. Don't worry if one of your darts (or even if a lot of your darts) goes astray. Keep to your game plan. Darts Tips 4: Expect to lose the odd game. Striving for perfection is unrealistic. Darts Tips 5: Don't move after you've thrown a dart. Even if you think your target is blocked by another dart, stay in the same spot. As you can see, the problems with darts are mental. Concentration techniques will help you to be confident when you step up to throw a dart. Stay focused. Use the edge that you should believe you have. If you don't believe it, you won't have it! TENSION Dart players often complain that they have been very tensed at crucial points of a match and have therefore been unable to take what after all seemed to be a big opportunity for a win or a good chance to fight back. You all know these ugly situations of being on this nice double 16 in the deciding leg, three darts in your hand, but it simply must be in 'cause you are down and out if you fail. Nerves are coming in. Your hand is shaking, your knees feel like melted butter in the sun, and you praise God or Buddha for just this dart to go in - but God is out for dinner at the moment, Buddha is having a meditation on his own, and so you blunder. Your opponent goes on with a smile on his face and kills his dirty 60 points left with two straight darts. Later you think what was going on with you. If you would have been up with two legs you would have hit that double 16 nearly blind. Bloody nerves you say, and you are right. It's all a matter of thinking. If you go there with the thought on your mind that you HAVE TO HIT 'cause else you will be lost, the chance is big that you will miss. It's that simple and that hard: Don't think of winning or losing. Simply think of PLAYING. When I got to such an important point in a match I quietly said to myself: simply play. Don't waste one single thought in the whole match on losing. Strike out this word in your mental dictionary, you won't need it in play. Learn to control your thinking. Whenever you get aware of such a *negative* thought during a game give yourself a short mental rest and say "Stop!". Raise your shoulders, take a breath and stand up the ochy in full concentration with only one thing on your mind: Play. That's enough for most situations where you feel tensed. But sometimes your hand won't stop shaking and you can't find a focus on the board. If the situation is that hard I want to introduce you to a simple relaxation exercise which only requires a little practice. It is called "The Quiet Place". Take yourself ten minutes of time, as often as you can. The best would be each day, at least once a week. Sit down and relax. Now with one hand press the thumb of the other hand. Think about a quiet place you like. This can be a tropical island where you lay down in the sun, that confortable chair in your living room or anything else you find quiet and relaxing. Keep this thought for about five or ten minutes, and keep your thumb pressed during this time. If you repeat this exercise regularly you will later only need to press the thumb of your hand at these nerve - shaking moments in a match and all tension will be gone. LOOK LIKE A WINNER: CONFIDENCE In some games you are behind, in some games you are in the lead - a dartplayer's usual business. Both situations have their own typical mental consequences. The most common situation is that the (supposed to be!) better player is in front. That's a normal situation which both players are "used to". In most cases the weaker player resigns at some point of the match, and then it's all over. It usually is easy to see who is behind only by looking at the players' behavior. The behind player will lower his head and shoulders, usually shake his head or even nag or grumble. Well, only a mentally weak player would do so. In such situations where you are a way behind it is important to think about what your look is like. Check yourself for what I mentioned above. Do you look like a loser? Then you normally are a loser. The player who is in front is expecting this. Raise your shoulders, raise your head and step to the oche in full confidence. Don't care about the standings in the match. Just look like a winner. Your opponent will recognize your confident look and maybe (if he is mentally weak) begin to think about why you look as if you were in the lead. And this is your chance. Once you get your opponent to think a little more than usual, he may lose his balance. Of course you will have to throw some good darts to close up, but if you look strong and confident (even if you actually don't feel strong and confident) real strength and confidence are often coming to you. If you look like the boss on the board it's not unusual that you in fact will become the boss! Of course this needs practice. So take care of your behavior during
dart matches. Ask a friend to watch your play. After the match he can tell
you which impression he had of your behaviour. After a while it won't be
difficult for you to recognize yourself what effect your look has to your
opponent, and then you will be able to control it properly.
Today's topic will be an "unexpected lead" situation. Imagine you play against an opponent much better than you, but up to some reason he throws really bad darts or maybe you play the game of your life and sneak in front of him. In many cases something pretty strange happens: The weaker player who actually is in front starts to get nervous and often blunders the match away. What's happening is this: Everybody goes in a match with special thoughts on how the match will be. That's okay, it is important to be prepared for what will go on on the board within the next minutes. If one plays against a strong opponent one expects to struggle, and normally this is true. But sometimes things are easier than we expect, and if this situation occurs, we are surprised, and when we are surprised, we start to think. "Wow, what's up now! I'm in the lead! I have a chance now! I'll HAVE TO DO IT NOW!!" Then you are in this "I have to - it's now or never!" - mood, and by thinking that way you put yourself under pressure. But putting yourself under pressure will allow tension to come in. We all know that tension is a bad feeling, and we normally recognize when we are tensed. And this is the tricky effect of the unexpected lead situation - you are that happy and surprised about being in front you don't notice the rise of tension, and exactly this is the reason why so many players fail then. The solution is: expect the unexpected. Always remember before a match that it can be easier than you might think. I painfully noticed that myself. I was playing in the World Masters event in London, and I was up to John Lowe. The situation was pretty clear to me - I'll be up in a struggle. But what actually happened was that John was playing rubbish, and I mean complete rubbish; 45s, 41s, and so on. I was faced with a 200 points lead in the first leg! I had nine(!) darts on the double for that leg, but I couldn't close it. Needless to say I was confused, and the match was an easy 2-0 2-0 win for John afterwards. If only I had known about this phenomenon at this time... it was one of the situations where I first started to notice how important the mental side of the game is (sigh!). Especially unexperienced players get confused by this situation. Usually they play better when they are behind than when they are in the lead - just because an unexperienced player is more used to being behind. Just watch the talented young lads in a tournament - I'm sure you'll find it true. And at last remember this: Don't care much about a player's name. Now I know that even John Lowe sometimes plays like John Smith... 
|
