The Speedy Hire UK Open

Posted: 30.05.11 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

The "FA Cup of Darts" starts on Thursday,to keep you on the ball we have prepared a blog of two halves. The first half is a review of the tournament and the second half focuses on some of the "non-league" players.

The first TV tournament since February will, as was pointed out to me recently, alert new dart fans seduced by the PDC Premier League that there are not just eight players who hurl darts for money. It will also alert long standing darts fans that there is life outside the PDC ranking events as 64 amatuer qualifiers take their place alongside the darting elite.

Thirty two of the qualifiers earned their place by winning one of a series of thirty two tournaments held in Rileys Darts Zones all over the country. These tournaments attracted over 1800 players. There was also a more singular route to qualify for this event, a route to play in a professional  event that is probably unparalleled in any other sport.      

The sponsors of the event are Speedy Hire - who I assume hire things to you that are either quick or  they pride themselves on having what you want when you want it. They turned four of their hiring emporiums into a darts zone for the day. Thirty two players qualified via this route-sixteen of which were from a competition solely for Speedy Hire employees. Perhaps MasterCard will enter a team in the Champions League next year? What is even more bizarre (arguably) is that the qualifiers via the Speedy Hire emporium route had to throw just 15 darts and the highest four scores were in! 

Anyway, how the players qualified is not as interesting as how they will fare and whether a player threw 500 darts or 15 we wish everyone of them a great tournament. This is of course where The Darts Performance Centre interest is aroused. We have set out to offer professional advice to grass roots players. In return we have "met" players of all standards that it would not be an exaggeration to say would put some pro's training regimes to shame (if you believe the limited data available in this area). However, a star of the practice board is one thing, how will the qualifiers cope with the expectation, the lights, the cameras and of course Dave and his trusty microphone?

Well we have met two qualifiers recently who live fairly close to The Darts Performance Centre HQ, they are both on the Isle of Wight. We met Tony "Little Legs" Broughton at  the recent Petersfield Open where he was runner up. Tony qualified last year for the UK Open but admitted nerves got the better of him. He is determined to do himself justice this year and has drawn Nick Fullwell in the preliminary round. "Little Legs" will also be wearing his Darts Performance Centre shirt too, so no stopping him now!

Tony "Little Legs" Broughton and Paul "Little Legs" Gillings

Darren Hawken is the other player that is the pride of "The Isle of Wight" We have chatted to Darren about his qualification and the build up for his match against William O'Connor. We will publish that along with our thoughts on how a player could possibly prepare themselves for the biggest darting night of their lives!

Finally we will be there on Thursday and Friday night! Can't wait. We will try to keep you updated on Tony and Darren's progress. You can follow our updates on Twitter and FaceBook and our tournament analysis darts blog will follow the whole tournament from a performance analysis perspective.

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