You don't have be Phil Taylor or Michael Van Gerwen to be good at darts!

Hi Guys

I just wanted to touch on something that I think is important and not just in darts but any sport and life itself.

There is sometimes an unrealistic expectation in sports (and life) due to watching television and seeing the elite do their best (or the rich, what they have) and when this isn’t replicated in your own performance (and life) it’s easy to think “I’m not very good” or “I don’t have/can’t do that” however the reality is that when you watch darts on television 90% of the time you are watching the world’s elite i.e. the top players in the world.

To put this into perspective when watching a Michael Van Gerwen play, you are watching the number 1 player in the world. Now the planet currently has a population of 7.5 billion, okay fair play a HUGE majority won’t be playing darts and there is probably some little fella in some small village who can hit 1000 consecutive 180’s whilst hopping on one foot, blindfolded and juggling flaming chainsaws however it is unlikely that we’ll ever see him.

Let’s look at the combined BDO and PDC World Championships. There have been a combined 64 world Championship finals, won by only 28 different players. Now consider how many thousands of players there are worldwide??

It is therefore completely ridiculous (in my opinion) to judge the average pub standard (and your own standard) against this level and the average pub player doesn’t have a sponsor, practice 5-6-7 hours a day and earn their sole income from darts.  I’d argue that 99% of lower league pub teams aren’t sporting players with 105 averages, and who hit 10-11 dart legs, so when a player averages 40-45 this shouldn’t be considered poor or that they are not a good player!

There are plenty of players who are the Taylor’s of their pub and league who probably average 50-55 (p3d) and yet are considered ‘great’ players, and they should be (for that league level). Does it make any of their wins, performances and trophies any less important or special because they weren’t live on satellite television and winning £250,000, of course not!

Darts is there to be enjoyed by all, and if you don’t attain elite status then it shouldn’t make it any less enjoyable, as very few ever have!

So the morale of this story is that you don’t have to be Phil Taylor or Michael Van Gerwen to be considered good at darts, have a place in darts and to enjoy the sport!

Take Care

Luke