Interview with 2015 BDO World Champion Scott Mitchell

Hi Guys

It is my great honor and Privilege to bring you my interview with the 2015 BDO World Champion, Scott Mitchell:

Q1: Who were your darting inspirations when growing up and did you come up through the pub scene?

SM: My darting inspirations were and still are the 2 Bobby’s, Bobby George and Bob Anderson, both who I can now call friends having worked and spent time with them over the last couple of years. I started to play darts at the age of 16 in my local pub so yes I very much started in the local pub scene.

Q2: What were your first set of darts and how have your darts (shape, weight etc) evolved since you started?

SM: My first darts were MY darts from Woolworths, think they weighed about 16g!! My darts now aren't that much different to the MY ones, just a bit heavier at 24g and with a bit more grip on the back of them where I hold it....oh and they are now black and pink of course!! Available from all good Winmau stockists....

Q3: You broke through in around 2007. With your first BIG documented success being the 2009 England Classic. What was the catalyst that pushed you forward to the this level?

SM: The thing that pushed me forward to the first ranking title was actually losing one in Sweden in 2008! It gave me the belief that I was good enough to win the bigger tournaments.. so my first win was in Feb 2009 with the England Classic

Q4: 2014 was an incredible year for you, amassing 7 documented Open wins and capping it with the Worlds 2015 beating 3x world champion, the legend that is Martin Adams. Did you change anything to kick-start this form or was it finally everything just coming together?

SM: I sought the help of mind coach that was already working with the likes of Darryl Fitton and Tony Oshea. Stephen Mckibben was amazing, working with me on my weaknesses.. you have to be prepared to be totally honest with him about how you play and your worries etc..also you have to be prepared to put the work in to it  and listen to the recordings properly so that your mental strength improves.

Q5: The PDC vs BDO is a debate for another forum.  You have remained loyal to the BDO, other than the Worlds what’s is your favourite tournament or open? 

SM: Other than the worlds, my favourite tournament is the Dutch open in February of each year..over 3k men start in the singles comp playing of over 2 days..the Dutch people are such big darts fans! And very welcoming. I will never forget my first Dutch open, it was mind blowing and always run exceptional well!

Q6: Although still a young man, you have achieved success in darts at what is considered a comparatively older age for nowadays (e.g. over 40)  have you found age has affected any aspect of your game or practice?

SM: With age comes experience!.. Now the children are young adults there’s not so much demand my time as a dad and they understand if I'm not around as much and of course why I'm not.. I'm more able to see the bigger picture now and see the positives in games even when I lose.

Q7: Balancing a full-time job with a family and a secondary interest (darts), along with your sporting interests can’t be easy, how do you find time to fit it all in?

SM: No it’s not easy.. it helps to have a very understanding wife for a start!!, for me work starts to slow down in the winter, being self employed gives me the freedom to plan my weeks to suit the seasons, so summer is more work and winter is more darts practise, which thankfully suits the business endow the darting year.

Q8: The pink and black are distinctive colour's, is their a story behind it or is it just personal preference?

SM: Used to play and manage a local football team in Bransgore. When I had my first tv break at the uk open in 2007, Io got my first sponsor so decided to give up the footie and concentrate on the darts.my footie team bought me my first proper black and pink dart shirt as I used to wear pink cycle shorts under my footie kit!, it seemed to work!

Q9: You achieved the dream......world champion. Something only a small number will ever achieve. Obviously words wont do it justice, but what was going through your mind as you hit that final. Adams has of course won it 3x and a BDO legend!

SM: Lol..well it was something like..this is a chance of a lifetime-- don't do anything silly with the first dart-throw it high and get the range then hit it with the next one..which is what happened.. then I just couldn't believe I had done it!

Q10: Any advice for 'pub' local league players who are trying to breakout into a higher level of BDO competition?

SM: My advice would be .. take the good games with the bad, always look for a positive in each game. Don't give up on your dreams. It won't always be easy but you have to believe!

I would just like to take the opportunity to thank Scott for this interview and his lovely wife Sharon who arranged.

Luke

Mensur Suljovic: wins our hearts and Champions League of Darts

Hi Guys

I wrote in October 2016 here:

http://mydartinglife.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/mensur-suljovic-this-guy-is-one-of.html

that Mensur Suljovic is one of the reasons i still wanted to play and love playing darts, and it was never more true than last night.

Suljovic won the Cardiff hearts, with a display of heart, soul, guile and determination to lift the PDC Champions League of Darts and whats more lift everyone's hearts!

You could see how much just getting to the final meant to him and to win it, well what a celebration. It was infectious and i'd challenge it not to bring a smile to anyone's.  Hell Gary Anderson who has just missed out on £100,000 couldn't help but smile.

This is for me what darts is all about, and shows that you don't need to have Anderson scoring power, Van Gerwen high outs or Ted Hankey smoothness to win. Heart is a BIG thing and Suljovic has it in spades.

BIG WELL DONE TO THE BIG GUY. I HOPE HIS FAMILY IS PROUD. THEY SHOULD BE!

Luke

My results from 'August heat 2017'

Hi guys

I hadn't planned to play and had forgotten all about this until I got the txt reminder. I'd paid at beginning of the year so thought  "why not"

Anyway received a bye into round 2 thanks to a no show so played  guy called Dave Ainsworth who had struggled to win his  first round matxh.

It was first to 6 until the quarters

I won 6-1

It was awful. Despite hitting 5x 100 and a 125 it was bad darts.  My best leg being 25 and I averaged 41.2 p3d.

This meant I met Mark Sandford in round 3.

He is good. I lost 6-2.

He hit me with everything and was averaging about 80. He got to 5-0 and  then I hit some form to make it 5-2.

I wired 2 at d20 to make it 5-3 and he hit d4 to win 6-2.

I did play better. I hit 6 x 100,  1 x 140 and averaged 56.

I lost to a far better player. Over a long format though I think I may have fared better as I was averaging in the 80s the last 3 legs.

Not to bad for someone who doesn't play anymore

4/8/17: picked the darts up for first time in months and 180!

Hi guys

I literally haven't picked a dart up I'm months due to my problems.

Literally  in 5 minutes

100 x5
121 x 1
95 x 2

And then.....180!!!!

What the he'll is going on??

Lost the ability to Play - Reason for absence!

Hi Guys

I'm very conscious that i haven't posted in a while and for that i apologize.

Basically i have tried to actively avoid all things darts and darts related (including watching on television).

The reason for this is that i have been trying to completely purge darts from my mind, and body in an attempt to 'reset' myself.

Now this may sound mad however it is basically a necessity.

I'll set the scene. About 4 months ago i was practicing well and hitting averages near 70. I returned to my old team and everything looked good. I won my first singles match and despite playing badly i was confident about the darting year ahead.

Unfortunately the seeds of what was to come were manifesting themselves as early as that match!

A few days after my dismal but winning effort i went for a  practice and it was like i'd never thrown a dart before! Now we've all had sessions like that so rather than get frustrated i put the darts away and gave myself off, knowing i had  a few weeks until the new season.

This is usually the bets thing to do as spending 2 hours winding yourself up achieves nothing.

Anyway, i picked them up again a week later and it was even worse. It took about 6 hours to go around the board on singles, doubles and trebles! something was clearly wrong!

There was no fluidity, no consistency nothing. They were literally going all over the place. not just a small veer from T20 into the 1, were talking off  board or into 12!

I took another few days off and over the next week i tried

• stretching
• warm bath
• warming the area
• avoiding caffeine

Unfortunately things were still no better and if anything  were getting slightly worse.

I tried to change:

• Position
• Throwing speed
• Grip
• wearing glasses again
• stance

At best some would work for 6-9 darts and then back to the same. Nothing would kick-start my play!

After 3-4 weeks of this i was forced to drop out of the team (my decision) and had to do alot of soul searching.

I love playing darts and competing however i hadn't just lost confidence over the shot, i'd lost confidence that id even get near what i wanted.

The climax came in my last session where i had 100 darts at bull and hit 5!

In these situations what do you do?? there isn't a pill you can buy and i wasn't able to play my way out of it??? do you just trudge down to your darts room every night and spend an hour frustarting yourself silly???

It was at this point that i realized that something in the 'head' wasn't right!

maybe i was:

• obsessing about darts too much
• watching too much
• studying it too much

I came to the conclusion that i was maybe putting myself under too much pressure subconsciously, and because i want(ed) it so bad i'd developed a mental block?

I spoke to my wife and decided that i needed to try and completely remove darts from the equation in my life (inc this blog). I needed to completely stop thinking about it which meant no practice, watching or purchasing.

I'm hoping 6-12 months off will rid me of whatever has caused the issue and i can relearn everything from the start

Anyway just wanted to give everyone a heads up and thank everyone for their emails of concern

Keep playing and watching, its the best game in the world

Take Care

Luke

My interview with the Legend and former world champion Steve Beaton

Hi Guys

The former BDO 1993 World Master's and 1996 World Champion Steve Beaton has taken time out of his very busy schedule to do this interview with me.

I am proud to present to you below, my interview with the 'Bronze Adonis' Steve Beaton:

Q1: You made your majors debut way back in 1984 in the BDO World Masters (an incredible 33 years ago) memories of that era and making your debut in that event as a teenager amongst some very BIG characters. It must have been a daunting experience?

SB: YES IT WAS A BIT DAUNTING BUT IT WAS A GOOD TO PLAY AGAINST SOME OF THE SPORTS GREATS AND TO THIS DAY I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD STILL BE PLAYING AT THE TOP LEVEL OF THE SPORT.

Q2: Who were your darting inspirations growing up (if you had any) and were there any players who had elements of the game you tried to add to yours?

SB: ERIC WAS MY SPORTING ICON BUT I DID LOVE THE WAY JOHN LOWE THREW A DART. THERE WAS A LOT OF GOOD PLAYERS AROUND WHEN I WAS STARTING AND MANY OF THEM BECAME CLOSE FRIENDS OF MINE AND IT'S STILL NICE TO BUMP INTO EACH OTHER NOW AND AGAIN AND REMINISCE.

Q3: You are 3rd in the all-time most appearances in the world championship with 26, behind joint leaders John Lowe and Phil Taylor on 28. In this time many players have come and gone and yet you have outlasted most of your 90’s contemporaries. What do you attribute your longevity to and with Lowe retired to exhibitions and Taylor retiring in 2018 will you try and break the record?

SB: I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE SPORT AND ALSO I ENJOY THE EXHIBITION SIDE OF THE GAME WHICH I THINK HAS HELPED. I TRY TO KEEP FIT WHICH ALSO HELPS. WOULD LOVE TO KEEP PLAYING IN THE WORLDS AND BEAT PHILS RECORD WHO KNOWS!

Q4: You use a very specific set of darts and setup. What was the first set of darts you owned and what weight were they?

SB: MY FIRST SET WAS JOHN LOWES TUNGSTEN 22GM. I ALWAYS STUCK WITH THE SAME SET FOR YEARS UNTIL ONE NIGHT AT A EXHIBITION SOMEBODY STOLE MY DARTS AND THEN I HAD TO FIND A NEW SET. SINCE I MOVED TO WINMAU I HAVE HAD A FEW DIFFERENT SETS BUT THEY HAVE EVERYTHING ON SITE TO MAKE DARTS SO ITS GREAT WHEN YOU TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT AND AN HOUR LATER THERE THEY ARE BRAND NEW AND ALSO CAN BE TWEEKED TO YOUR OWN REQUIREMENTS.I STILL USE 22GM BUT NEVER GET TO ATTACHED TO A SET AND CHANGE THEM WEEKLY FOR A NEW SET AS THEY ARE MADE TO SUCH A HIGH TOLERANCE THAT THEY WOULD ONLY VARY BY 0.1 GM WHICH YOU WOULD NEVER NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE.

Q5: You have been known for your fitness routines, however many have felt working out has affected their throwing accuracy. What routine do you follow and how did you avoid it affecting your performance?

SB: I USED TO GO TO THE GYM QUITE OFTEN AND DO WEIGHTS ASWELL AS RUNNING. NOW I TEND TO LEAVE THE WEIGHTS OUT JUST INCASE I PULL A MUSCULE AND I HAVE CHANGED THE RUNNING TO SWIMMING WHICH HELPS WITH ALROUND BODY FITNESS.

Q6: An obvious one, but how often do you practice these days and has age affected your physicality to practice for a long duration or is it purely other interests?

SB: I TRY TO PRACTICE AT LEAST AN HOUR A DAY LESS IF I HAVE ALOT OF EXHIBITIONS. AS I AM GETTING OLDER WEAR AND TEAR IS A FACTOR AND HENCE IT'S NO GOOD THROWING FOR TO LONG BEFORE A MATCH AND THEN UNDER PERFORMING WHEN THE GAME STARTS. 40 YEARS OF DARTS HAS IT'S TOLL!. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I WOULD PLAY EVERYDAY AND TAKE MY DARTS EVERYWHERE JUST INCASE I GOT A CHANCE OF A GAME SO THE RIGHT PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT.

Q7: Some players obsess over a missed double or performance/loss, and will hit the practice board after a match and others chalk it up to a bad day at the office as you can’t win every match. What side of the wire do you sit on?

SB: I THINK IT CAN BE A BIT OF BOTH. I THINK IF YOUR MISSING DOUBLES THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUT A BIT MORE PRACTICE INTO THAT AREA OF YOUR GAME AND ALSO YOU CAN'T WIN THEM ALL SO YOU HAVE TO MOVE ON EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT.

Q8: Darts for some reason doesn’t tend to honour its past greats in the manner as other sports and I’m surprised that the PDC hasn’t picked up the ‘League of legends’ television concept, since there is still a very clear demand to see the legends of darts (and I imagine this will only escalate when Taylor and Barney retire). Is this something you’d be interested in if the PDC went this route?

SB: YES SOUNDS GOOD BUT HOPEFULLY I WILL KEEP COMPETING FOR A FEW MORE YEARS YET.

Q9: Outside of your 2 Majors, what is your favourite win/performance? Many people think it’s your incredible performance against a still very much on top Taylor in the 2010 Grandslam when you won 16-14?

SB: THE GRAND SLAM AGAINST PHIL WAS A GREAT NIGHT FOR ME BUT UNFORTUNATELY I LOST THE NEXT ROUND AND THE DREAM CAME TO AN END. I STILL THINK I'VE GOT A BIG WIN IN ME SO I WILL HOPEFULLY HAVE ANOTHER MAJOR TO MY NAME.

Q10: The travel schedule is lauded as gruelling at best and you still find time to do exhibitions. Is it just something you deal with or doesn’t it affect you?

SB: TRAVEL SCHEDULE IS HARD BUT EXHIBITIONS ARE MY BREAD AND BUTTER AND I NEED THESE TO HELP ME FUND ENTRIES/TRAVEL AND ALSO TO PAY THE BILLS ETC.

Q11: Who’s your best pal/ travel companion in darts?

SB: I HAVE HAD A FEW OVER THE YEARS BUT ALOT HAVE FINISHED AT THE HIGH LEVEL NOW. I TEND TO GET ON WITH MOST OF THE PLAYERS SO WILL TRAVEL WITH ANYBODY IF IT HELPS WITH PLANE JOURNEYS TAXI'S ETC.

Q12: And lastly, what is a typical day in the life of Steve Beaton these days?

SB: GET UP FAIRLY EARLY HAVE MY BREAKFAST AND TRY AND DO AN HOUR OF PRACTICE AND THEN OF FOR A SWIM. ALWAYS PLENTY TO DO AROUND THE HOUSE IF NOT.

I would just like to take the opportunity to thank Steve's wife Nanette for setting this up and to say a BIG thank you to Steve for taking time out of his busy schedule to do this, it has been an honor and a privilege.

Luke

03/04/2017: In friendly action tonight against our 'A' Team

Hi Guys

Ahead of the new season we are in friendly action tonight against Al's Bar 'A'.

This will be a MASSIVE match as this team takes their darts VERY seriously.

Check out the below for last season in League 2:

Yep that's right a 100% unbeaten record and whats more they won more legs than any other team in the 3 leagues and also dropped the least amount of legs as well.

The standard will be high as a number of these players play local tournaments and BDO events.

I'll be looking to put a good show on here!

Luke