We look at the key elements of succesful doubles play and suggest Finland may be a
good example!

There is no I in Taylor and Wade (or team)

Posted: 03.12.10 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We look at the key elements of succesful doubles play and suggest Finland may be a good example!

It’s a Team Game

I had the pleasure of chatting with Mikko Laiho today. Until a recent injury he played to a high standard of darts in his native Finland as well as at many BDO tournaments. He is currently living in the UK, has an interest in sports psychology and is writing a book on darts. In his spare time he is renovating his partner’s house!

We discussed Finland’s chances in the World Cup and Mikko made immediate reference to the fact that the two players were a ‘great team’. Here at the Darts Performance Centre, we alluded to the necessity of team work yesterday and after being inspired by Mikko we delved a little deeper today to try to understand what may help the teams of nations taking part in the World Cup.

We used tennis doubles as our main topic and have adapted the findings to darts. One of the key areas that cropped up in the work [1] we looked at was communication; it should start before the match when discussing strategy and tactics. Also, speaking too much rather than too little during a match when the team is under pressure is also a key factor for successful pairs.

Another study [2]backs up the importance of communication and demonstrates that successful partners exchange more messages more frequently than losing partners. Interestingly, winning pairs convey their concerns more often to each other thus displaying the importance of problem solving under pressure. A natural progression of problem solving is better planning and better co-ordination which further increases the chances of a team being successful.

Body language is also a key area. Players need to be aware of giving off negative feedback to their partner. Look on the outside how you want your partner to feel on the inside appears to be good advice. [3] Nobody misses a double on purpose so no outward signs of frustration. If your partner is showing signs of anxiety, act relaxed, if they are quiet and withdrawn make them smile.

You can also unsettle your opponents with the correct body language or non-verbal behaviour as it is also known. A study of table tennis doubles players [4] proved that opponents wearing sport specific clothing and demonstrating positive body language lowered the confidence of their opponents.

So let’s look out for the team that talks to each other, encourages, `compliments `each other in technique as well as personality and displays positive body language and remembers the golden rule of all successful teams. You win together and you lose together but whatever the outcome you display great pride in your team.

1 Blaskower,P

2 Lausic, D

3 Dr J. Loehr

4 Greenlees and colleagues

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Author: Paul Gillings ( paul@dartsperformancecentre.com )

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