We have the link between Leanardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and arousal levels and more of our usual rubbish! Just updated with the tips from our "sleepy tipster"!

Darts Blog 15 - BDO Lakeside World Championships -

Posted: 07.01.11 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We have the link between Leanardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and arousal levels and more of our usual rubbish! Just updated with the tips from our "sleepy tipster"!

Follow Your leader

Ross Smith was disappointed to go out of the BDO World Championship last night but he indicated that he is determined to get back to Lakeside again next year. He had been practising alone all afternoon having tried to mimic the preparation routine of Phil Taylor. Ross wistfully acknowledged that it hadn`t actually worked for him and he had been soundly beaten by Martin “Wolfie” Adams.

Let us set aside the fact that Adams is at the moment a superior dart player to Ross Smith and raise some issues for “Smudger” to reflect on. First of all Taylor`s preparation for a tournament starts months before the event, we discussed this in a previous blog and if Smith is serious about improving his preparation this is something he can research (or sign up for the Darts Performance Centre, it`s all there)! On a positive note he is doing the right thing by trying out different routines and this demonstrated that he has put a lot of thought into pre-match preparation. He needs to assess what parts he felt worked for him, keep them and tweak the rest until he hits on the winning formula.

Finally, “Wolfie” spoke very highly of “Smudger” and there appeared to be a lot of respect from Adams for what Ross Smith has achieved this week. “The Power” is the greatest dart player ever but if I was Ross Smith I would of course be interested in how Taylor goes about his business, this is only natural. However, if he wants some advice or maybe mentoring from a champion who is as professional and meticulous in his approach to winning darts matches at Taylor why not pop down the corridor of his hotel at lakeside and knock on “Wolfie’s” door for a chat?

Sunk Without Trace

Gary Robson arched his back and spread out his arms after successful throws at the dartboard last night. This pose was likened to the one adopted by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the movie Titanic by the BBC commentary team. For a split second and I am sure I am not alone, I had a mental image of “Robbo”, cast in bronze, at the pointy end (I don`t do nautical terminology) of the Titanic, leading the famous ship on its journey! As this image swept through my mind I also thought it was not really a metaphor that any sportsman would savour. We all know what happened to the Titanic, it struck an extremely cool object and sunk.

The cool and calm object “Robbo” ran into was Martin Phillips. He was calm too, very calm! This emotionless state was also picked up on last night. The commentators wished Phillips showed more emotion, at least look like he cared, perhaps I could suggest a few back flips across the stage so as not to be outdone by Gary “Leonardo” Robson whenever Martin popped a dart into the double would do the trick?

I am joking of course. To excel in darts you need to be in the right “state” or to put it another way to have the correct arousal levels. It is vital that the performer has the appropriate levels of arousal in order to promote effective concentration, attention and decision making levels in order to produce optimum performance.

Martin Phillips has got this down to a fine art. Winning or losing, treble 20 or treble 1 it appears his heartbeat stays at the same rate. It is a similar scenario to Ross finding his perfect pre-match routine - the Welsh refuse collector has worked out the best “state” for him to play in. It may be considered by some as "rubbish" TV but at least he has not been "dumped£ out of the tournament.

Anthony`s Tips

Anthony has texted in his tips from the quarter final again after another sleepless night looking after the baby! But as I said to him today practice sessions in between entertaining the little darts fan at two, three and four in the morning are as good as anytime of the day!

He has gone for his pal Steve Bunting and the experience of Gary Thompson to get through tonight...

Author: Paul Gillings ( paul@dartsperformancecentre.com )

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