Champions Choice Product Review

Posted: 19.03.11 in Darts Product Reviews category

"The Practice Board" is put through its paces by us and "Team Kasbah, a pub team from Bournemouth.

Champions Choice Board

The Darts Performance Centre sells the Champions Choice board. It is only fair to point that out. However, we do believe that if it is utilised in the right way it can be a great addition to your practice regime. There is a video introduction to the board here and at the bottom of this review

This is why we believe it can be a great addition to your practice regime:

Training Aids

Training aids are a valuable asset for players and coaches. In football there is the “mannequin wall” on a trolley so free kicks can be practised without having five or six team mates standing redundant in the line of fire whilst footballs whistle over their head or worse! In rugby there is the contraption that allows two men to replicate the weight of a whole scrum. Darts has the board with half size doubles and trebles.

How can it Help?

Practice

The most obvious area is of course as part of your practice regime. The board can be used to hone your technique and accuracy on the trebles and doubles. We advise players to totally focus in on the target they are going for whatever size board they are on. We advise that it should not even be as vague as say just the 60 bed, but maybe a hole left by a previous dart or perhaps a tiny chalk mark in the sixty bed.

Our practice board will certainly help in building the level of focus and concentration needed providing you take it with you when you go back to a full size board (more of that later).

Adapt Your Sessions

The Darts Performance Centre truly believes that practice with a partner and with a competitive edge can be as beneficial as solitary deliberate practice. But what if you practise against a player or a group of players with varying degrees of skill? Adapting your sessions is the answer.

During a session we were involved in we put the two best players on the practice board and the rest of the squad on full size boards. This put pressure on the “better players” because they still wanted the kudos of wining despite the disadvantage they had .The remaining players also had the real pressure of thinking they should really win but... It made for a fun and exciting session. This session was very quiet, to me this means focus and concentration and just as importantly players engaging with the practice session.

Pre-Match Build Up

We have one player who always tries to have a short session on the practice board before any of his competitive games. He says it gives him the confidence to go on a full size board and the doubles and trebles seem massive. This was exactly the reaction we had from the first person to try out the practice board at The Darts Experiment – This is Kevin - he should work for the shopping channel!

Confidence

Players did report feeling more confident after using the practice board (see video 3 below), a bit too confident. In some cases they scored better on the smaller board! Why? Was it complacency maybe, having the desired level of focus on the mini board but then not transferring that intensity to the full size board? However, what if you could train yourself to replicate that intensity; you would definitely start to play better darts if you did!

The Practice Board is available (UK delivery only) from the Darts Performance Centre eBay shop

Video 1 - An Introduction to "The Practice Board"

Video 2 - One Player`s Opinion of "The Practice Board"

Video 3 - Team Kasbah Give Their Opinion of "The Practice Board"