How I Got Into Darts: Chapter 7: My Second Team!

How I Got Into Darts: Chapter 7: My Second Team!

I was keen to put my bad experiences of my first pub team behind me and though I’m sure it irked my wife, I put in a lot of time on the practice board.

I’d bought a set of Andy Fordham 23g Viking Raiders (original model) and had a very purple patch in all my practice sessions. It went so well in-fact that I decided to join another team.

Now I had realised that I couldn’t join a league 1 or top league 2 team as I wouldn’t get a match very often and I would probably end up practice fodder which at this point would do me no good! I therefore needed to join a team with mixed abilities.

I therefore elected to join the team that I should have in the beginning. The Al’s Bar 'B' team were a friendly bunch (I met them when I was with the Seagull) and though the pub was further away they seemed a more family orientated bunch.

A quick phone call to the pub later and I had the captains number and within a few days I was asked to come along for a throw as the season was now over (for the record the Seagull did get promoted undefeated),

Now it’s always hard to go somewhere you’re not familiar with to meet people you don’t know, however this has never bothered me and I turned up and instantly felt welcomed in. 

They gave me a trial match against the Captain and it just clicked for me. I hit a 140 to start and totally dominated the match, checking out whilst still leaving them on over 200. Their words after “you’re in, you’re playing next week”. 

I was then asked if I wanted to hang around and play in their pre-summer 2014 tournament they ran ahead of the new season. I hadn’t planned on staying long however sometimes impromptu is best and doesn’t give you time to think so I paid in and had a go.

My first match was against the captain and I won 2-1. It was a hard match but my doubles were the key

In my second match I was in with their no 2 player. I had watched him when he played the seagull and he was really good. I won 2-0.

In the final I played their number 1 player and incredibly got off to a scorcher taking the first 2 legs. Unfortunately I made an error, like the previous rounds I thought it was best of 3 but it was best of 5. I’d thought I’d won and got that adrenalin hit but was then told I needed one more leg. This utterly deflated me and my momentum was gone. 

I managed to get on a good finish for leg 3 however I played a percentage shot to leave 32 (think Deller vs Bristow ) with my opponent on 77 however he took it out and from then on I’d get on a finish but my finishing deserted me. I lost 2-3 however I think the pressure along with the deflation got to me.

The important thing to me though was that I had proved something to both myself and my new teammates. On the way home I was exhausted.  The mental aspect of the game is so important and yet what’s unexpectedly exhausting. I was buzzing though when I got home. Finally after the January tournament thumping and the February pub farce where I was made to feel that I wasn’t good enough and considered jacking in I had played competitive darts (not just random pub guys, family) and proved to myself that I was indeed improving as a player and had the makings of a decent (at this point) pub player.

This time it was right time and right fit!