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

The Als Bar 'B'' Team

Hi Guys

The team:

I'm on the far right!

30/1/2017: First league match in 18 months against the 'Jolly Miller'! Alot of positives to be had!

Hi Guys

It was my first night back for Al's Bar 'B' last night against the 'Jolly Miller'.

Firstly i must say my old team mates were very welcoming back which was great and there has been abit of a change in the last 18 months with some new players added who are of better standard which is good.

Before the match we had the usual warm-up games and i won both my doubles (taking out D10) and singles taking out the Captain with D4.

Then it was onto the League matches itself. I was in mixed doubles and on reflection this was a good thing to ease back.

We lost the first leg in a close affair when they took out D20, before i hit some good scores and my partner took out D2 to take the second leg. It was then the decider. I won the bull and again hit some decent scores however i wired 3 at d16 and they took out d5.

Unfortunately the team lost a close affair 5-4 in total which i'm told is the same scoreline its been the last 8.

I must admit that i felt disappointed on the way home however on reflection what did i expect?? I had only practiced darts for a couple of hours a week for the last few weeks as i try and recover from major shoulder issues and here i was jumping into competitive league play after 18 months!

There were alot of positives here:

1. I won 2 'inter-pub' matches prior to the League match.
2. I hit 2 100 + scores (100 and 123)
3. I hit some other high scores of 60,75,85 and 95
4. Despite being out of darts for 18 months i had darts at the double to win (against players playing regularly)
5. I only hit a couple of sub 45 scores.

For the standard of League 3, my performance wasn't bad at all considering doubles isn't my forte. I hit some good scores and  had darts to win the match, if this was my first match when i started i'd have been thrilled.

This is where perspective is needed. This wasn't a PDC or BDO match on television, between players in the top 16! At this level no one is hitting 9 darters, hitting 11 and 12 dart legs and averaging 105! This is pub darts and the standard should be judged in its own right, and it was a good performance by our team with score good scores!

Anyway it felt good to be back, and i am only going to improve with regular competitive play.

Take Care

Luke

30/01/2017: Have rejoined old darts team and in action tonight against the Jolly Miller!

Hi Guys

I have taken the plunge and decided to return to pub league play.

I have re-joined my old team Al's bar 'B'

I will be diving straight back in and will be in action tonight (30/1/17) against the 'Jolly Miller' whom i don't think i've played before.

My shoulder rehab has been going well and i'm confident that i'm going to make some noise!

The season is already midway through and Al's Bar 'B' find themselves 3rd with Jolly Miller second so there's everything to play for.

It will be good to be back playing in the Fareham Darts League again!

I look forward to reporting how we get on

Luke

Darts: Don't worry about how it looks!............Hit the target!

Hi Guys

A lot gets made of having the ‘perfect’ throw and throwing fundamentals however for me the important thing is to be natural and effective.

Watching Glen Durrant win the worlds is another example. There is a lot of movement before release on Glen’s throw as he moves the dart down from eye line and yet he is a heavy scorer and has cleaned up in the BDO in 2016.
 
Mensur Suljovic has become number 9 in the world at the PDC and he leans, snatches and almost hops on his throw.

Richie Burnett won the BDO Masters and Worlds as well as being a top PDC player with a snatch.
The Legendary

Jocky Wilson defied all laws of physics and yet won the World title twice.

The list is endless, and proves that you don’t have to have a John Lowe’esque technique to succeed.
For me the most important thing is to get it where you want it to go. If that means standing on one foot whilst waving your other hand, then so be it.

I think it’s more important to hone your natural throw regardless of how it is, than change to something completely unnatural just for aesthetics!  Really as long as you get it in the Treble and double does it matter?

Now I’m not saying don’t correct faults, just don’t try and change everything about everything. Minor tweaks are all that’s needed!

I for one lost a lot of time trying to be perfect by doing something that didn’t feel right. The best I ever played was after a few drinks when it just came natural and flowed. No imitation, no thinking about it, just throwing at the target.

Practice is the most important thing. If you practice 3-4x a week for 1 hour + your game at pub level is going to be in pretty good shape.

You will probably never see more examples of ‘interesting’ techniques than on Monday pub night in the lower leagues, and this is why I love this type of darts. This is darts at the grass roots level. In effect where it all began.  There is no razzmatazz, players aren’t worried about their averages, very few enter other comps other than the leagues own, and most don’t watch it on television.

For a lot of the ‘old’ guard they play because it because they always have. It’s a game they play with their friends over a pint (and formerly a cigarette) and is part of the tradition. It is a beautiful thing and one of the last great pub institutions.

It is a game for everyone. This can range from 85 year old Grandma’s, to chronically obese giants in bad t-shirts throwing what looks like brass javelins, with everything in between!

One character that sticks out for me was a little fellow (who shall remain nameless), who looked like Danny DeVito, complete with badly receding hair, ponytail, draped in gold and sporting a beer stained Bullseye shirt probably from the 80’s

At least 60 and clutching a pint of which he’d clearly had several already, in many ways he was everything a non darts fan pictured a darts player to look like, and in many ways he did look like he had just stepped out of 1981.

Curious I watched ‘Danny’ (as I’ll call him) pull 3 darts from his pocket and boy oh boy what a sight. These looked like 1950 brass tank shells complete with turkey feather flights (of which there was only 1 left on each dart). I would hazard a guess that these were different weights, and probably in the 30g+ range.

Clearly the guy hadn’t changed his setup, ever!

Considering that the majority were throwing some form of ‘tungsten’ it would have been easy to dismiss ‘Danny’ however what unfolded was a different story.

The style was unbelievable!!!

Standing face on and bolt upright, and with a technique that could only be described as a wound up jerky lob, with a five fingered grip (like he was holding a knife) complete with last minute hop on release the guy defied aerodynamics and the laws of physics and yet his darts consistently hit the T20 and he was checking out in the 80’s!!!

I watched him whitewash a player with a far classier throw and setup as he ran out a 2-0 winner and his fallen foe duly shook his hand and trudged off.

My interest peaked I enquired about ‘Danny’ and was told that he’d been using the same darts since the 60’s and has always played that way!!

So if you don’t have a perfect looking throw, don’t worry, as long as you train it to be effective it’s all good.

How my work out to rehab my shoulder is going!

Hi Guys

I just wanted to give an update on my shoulder issues and how my workout routine is going from my blog post below:

http://mydartinglife.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/my-new-workout-routine-for-darts-2017.html

Well i haven't thrown a dart properly in 2017 yet however i do feel that my exercises and workouts are going well and i have dropped some body mass which had really taken the pressure off my back, and hips.

My shoulder is actually starting to give me less daily grief and my overall movement and flexibility is much improved.

I have added 2 more exercises after exercise 8 so my routine now looks like this:

1. Light deadlifts: 180lbs
2. Squats: 180 lbs
3. Bench Press: 120 lbs
4. Lat Pulldowns 120 lbs
5. Standing Good Mornings 60 lbs
6. Barbell Curl 60 lbs
7. Tricep pushdown 60 lbs
8. Behind Neck Barbell press 60 lbs
9. Front dumbell Raise 8 - 10lbs
10. Side Dumbell Raise 8 - 10lbs
11. Lunges 30 lbs
12. Incline crunches (work way up to 100)
13. Side bends (with dumbbell) 60 lbs
14. Laying bench side leg raises

Im hoping that in the next few days i'll be able to pick a dart up and throw without issue!

I'll keep you posted

Luke

A fantastic BDO 2017 World Championship comes to an end! Channel 4 and everyone involved has alot to be proud of!

Hi Guys

I thought the BDO World Championship 2017 has been fantastic this year.

The event had it all, the BDO veterans doing well, shock upsets, a first time Lakesider getting to the final, epic comebacks and a deserving winner!

You couldn't ask for more and whilst i did enjoy the PDC world championship this year, especially the epic Barney vs MVG and the final with MVG vs Gary Anderson, i found myself more into the BDO final, maybe because of the different players on show, the new coverage by Channel 4 and also the respectfulness of the crowd (when 9 darters are narrowly missed the BDO crowd applaud the attempt, the PDC crowd boo!)

I think all involved have alot to be proud of and despite a few technical issues Channel 4's coverage in my opinion was excellent, and i hope the ratings reflect this as i think darts SHOULD be on terrestrial television.

It was great to see Wolfie, despite his recent health issues make the Quarter Finals and engage in an absolute thriller with Jamie Hughes and has Fitton ever played better at the Worlds??

Im also pleased that long-time BDO loyalist (from virtually day 1) Bobby George has still been given his rightful place on BDO coverage as it wouldn't be the same without him!

So lets look forward to BDO darts in 2017 and i hope Channel 4 pick up some other BDO events!

Take care

Luke