Practice and pressure

Some say darts is a mind game. You can be great one minute, appalling the next and no matter how good you feel sometimes the darts just won't go for you.

I've been having some bad runs of form of late. Losing 4 games then I'd get a win, another run of 4 defeats then a win. As comfortable as I feel when on the oche, I just have no confidence in where the darts will go which is obviously a problem. Seems a far cry from the beginning of the season where I won 3-0 with a 73 average. It got to a stage where I suggested to the captain to drop me for a game. He declined. I won 2-0 that night.

My problem has always been my consistency. 1 match summed it up perfectly; 1 st leg it was 60's, 50's all the way down and took about 7 darts to hit the double. Next leg went 96, 100, 125, 100, 80c/o for a 15 darter.

Last night was just all about the throw. Wasn't bothered about winning or losing, just getting confidence back into my game. 1st 3 legs were fairly scrappy but 4th leg missed D20 for 120 c/o & 15 darter (eventually taking it in 17) What pleased me though was that everytime he hit a big score, I didn't panic and when he didn't I seemed to step in and hit a big score myself.

It was just nice to get a win under my belt but I'm more happy with the that I had some confidence my game. "Take your time, relax and aim about an inch above the treble" was the advice I kept getting and it did work. I am due at a tournament next week but I think I may give it a miss until I feel fully confident in my game again.

Lack of practice has played a major part in my loss of form I think. I'm so busy now that even though I play twice a week, I haven't been practicing that much (certainly nothing like I used to) and you just can't expect to win or even play well without practice. Its probably no co-incidence that between Monday and Thursday I got about 3 hours practice in plus another 2 before the game and the darts were going a lot better.

The team results have probably had an impact on my game aswell. Monday nights we have been suffering some heavy defeats (9-0, 8-1) and this was either side of an 8-1 loss at SuperLeague. Monday nights I do feel under more pressure because I know the team look to me to get some points and regard me as one of the best players. Now there are a couple of good players in our side but only 2 of them are being consistent. Myself and the other are just below par at the moment.

I take the game more seriously than anyone in my team as I have probably mentioned in previous blogs. The pressure of fighting for my place I can handle now but the pressure of the team looking to me for points and the fact the team is losing is getting to me. Probably why I get more rattled on a Monday than a Thursday. It just seems selfish to simply play for myself but maybe that's what I need to do. Play for myself and if the team lose, nothing I can do. Maximum number of points I can get is 2 (1 singles, 1 pairs) but only 1 of those do I have full control over, the pairs are a lottery.

So what does all this actually mean for my game? Well I think its all experience. Anyone can ride a wave of good form and enjoy the game when on that run. But its what you do when its not going so well that counts. For me, I've learnt that no amount of practice can guarantee a good game but no practice will guarantee a poor one. I've also learned that I need to ignore expectation, including my own and just throw the dart. The rest takes care of itself