In installment three of his practice column Canadian darts
star John Part concentrates on the ABC's of practice.
You
have your darts and your board so you are ready to play
darts.
Now
what? You need to establish some guidelines to maximize the
benefits of practice and to keep yourself interested enough
to keep at it.
If you
were to just start throwing at the board without a game plan
there would be no focus or concentration. You need to have
goals to work towards, both short and long term.
These
goals can be entirely related to your practice as you learn
to measure yourself against the board. This will help you
greatly when you are in a real match against a tough
opponent and the old darts cliché comes into effect: play
the board, not your opponent.
There
are three key points when developing your practice regime:
-
Avoid distractions - Blueprint your routine - Calculate your averages
Avoid distractions:
This
seems obvious, but it might be the most difficult aspect of
your practice session.
Once
you have an idea of how long you wish to practice, you then
must decide when to practice. Some people have more options
than others, but the goal should be to pick a time when you
are least likely to be called away, or a time when you can
turn your telephone off.
Let
the people around you know that you do not wish to be
disturbed (for what it's worth). Play some music that you
enjoy in order to mask any other sounds that might otherwise
distract you, such as children or noisy neighbors.
Don't
start practicing if something else needs to be done that
will preoccupy your thoughts. A half hour of dedicated
practice is far more effective than a hours worth of
distracted throwing.
Blueprint your routine:
Once
you decide how long your routine is going to last you then
need to structure it. This structure should be based on the
minimum amount of time you are likely to have to practice.
This way you will repeat the same routine every time you
practice, which is very helpful in determining if you are
improving or not.
If you
find yourself with extra time in a given session you can
repeat the session or just do some supplementary drills (see
future articles).
The
first part of your routine should be a warm-up drill. You
will want to loosen your arm, align your mechanics, and gain
your focus.
The
first thing to do is to go around the board on the big
single segments (from 1 to 20), then the small single
segments (between the treble and the bull) and then the 25
segment.
By
then your arm will be nice and loose and you can move on to
the doubles, the bull, and finally the trebles.
After
hitting all those doubles and trebles you're ready to test
yourself seriously.
The
second and main portion of the routine should challenge your
limits. This will maintain your interest in practicing. I
try to simulate potential match conditions. For instance, if
my next competition is double-in 501, that is what I play.
If the format is best of 3 or 5 legs per set, that is what I
play.
I play
against an imaginary opponent who is very consistent (30
points per dart). If I have the start I know I have 18 darts
in which to win the leg, or I lose. Against the throw I have
only 15 darts.
You
can tailor these numbers to your skill level, but if you are
winning more than you are losing you should make it more
difficult.
A good
method of simulating throwing for the bull is to designate a
50 as a win, a 25 as a tie, and anything else as a loss.
Calculate your averages:
The
only way to rate your performance is to chart your progress.
I always use pen and paper to keep my scores while
practicing.
If you
play 20 legs of 501, multiply 501 x 20 and then subtract any
remaining scores. Then add up how many darts you threw and
divide it into your point total. This will give you your
points per dart (p.p.d) average.
Divide
the number of games you won by the total you played and
multiply by 100. This will give you your win percentage.
For
practice purposes the p.p.d. average is more important than
the win percentage, but they are both good measuring sticks.
At the end of your session enter the date and your averages
into a practice log. If your average does not gradually
increase you will be alerted that there is a problem. In
most cases, I think you will be very pleased with the
results.
