A look at the Daily Mirror Grand Slam of Darts

This Really is Unique !

Posted: 13.11.10 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

A look at the Daily Mirror Grand Slam of Darts

Daily Mirror Grand Slam of Darts

The Grand Slam starts tonight in Wolverhampton and it promises to be a fascinating tournament for a number of reasons. The first reason is because the tournament or more accurately the qualification criteria for the tournament is unique. The word unique is over worked and over used, and not usually used in the correct context. Its meaning is to describe something that there is only one of, or having no like or incomparable.

We are not just talking about darts when we describe the route the participants have taken to be part of this competition as unique. What other sport offers such a diverse range of opportunities to participate? There are of course players taking part who are the highest ranked players in the PDC Order Of Merit, and then there are a handful of players who have qualified via `the other` Governing Body of darts, the BDO. Next we have two qualifiers who have only qualified because of their sex! Well that is not strictly true, the two ladies who are taking part, Stacy Bromberg and Tricia Wright, did of course have to beat other female competitiors in a tournament run by the PDC to qualify. And they are a very welcome addition to the party.

There are also two players who qualified because of the year they were born. The arguably inflated reward which does not appear to be commensurate with the challenge put in front of Aaron Monk and Michael Van Gerwen, they both recently won the right to challenge each other for the title of Under 21 PDC Champion and a cheque for ten thousand pounds. When they opened their goody bags for winning through to the final of the under 21`s they also found, amongst other things, a couple of wild card entries for the Grand Slam lurking in there, happy days! Finally there are four players who fought their way through an ‘open to all` tournament that was played in Barnsley last Friday night.

A truly unique tournament!

Secondly is how is The Power going to react to his recent loss of form. Taylor is without equal when you compare the `mental toughness` he possesses when he faces adversity during a darts match. This is an opportunity to show exactly how strong he is, it will be fascinating to watch. A few people have already written Taylor off, hmmm, they are braver men than me.

The third reason is to discover what the tournament will do for the Women who are taking part and the two youngsters. They are arguably the most controversial set of competing players but have taken the chance presented to them, nothing wrong with that in professional sport. What impact will the tournament have on them, however? Will we be calling out for more mixed tournaments and will the female players testify that the experience has been invaluable and will carry them through to even greater achievements? What about Monk and Van Gerwen? Well, they play the top PDC players `week in and week out` in the PDC floor tournaments so maybe the experience will not be as profound as it is for Bromberg and Wright. Nevertheless it will be interesting to see how they fare and what the legacy of being thrust into this tournament is for them.

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Author: Paul Gillings ( paul@dartsperformancecentre.com )

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