He Was A Wise Man Who Invented Beer, said Plato!

Posted: 09.06.11 in Darts Performance Centre Blog category

Who says Greek philosophy is boring? Not us, Plato must of liked a pint or two! We have a darts player who loses concentration half way through a match-The Darts Performance Centre philosophy may be able to help!

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Greek Philosophy and Beer

Earlier this week we managed to slip Jane Austen into our darts blog. Encouraged by the reaction (well Twitter pal Lenny Boyle loved it anyway)  we will now turn our attention to philosophy. Plato is a famous Greek philosopher who once said “He was a wise man who invented beer”.  So as you can see it is well worth giving him our attention. There will be more from Plato later.

The Darts Performance Centre offers anyone who registers( and agrees to receive our newsletter) on our site a free Darts Philosophy poster. We have had many people register and I do hope these posters are up next to dartboards all over the world. If you want one please register here.

Losing Concentration

I was reminded of our poster when I received an email from a member of The Darts Performance Centre who was seeking some advice. There were several parts to this particular player’s perceived woes but we will focus on the first part, I think a lot of dart players will relate to his concerns:

“I play 4 or 5 really good legs; I'll then struggle for 2 or 3. During these bad legs no matter what I try I just can’t hit any target I aim for, and then I get even more frustrated until I hit that important treble/double”.

This is an area we get asked about a lot; players losing concentration or focus, then missing “easy” shots and then more doubles and trebles as the frustration grows and then, hopefully, finding focus again a few legs later. 

The Solution

We do have a theory to underpin our philosophy on this particular area of darts. We believe that all darts matches (with very few exceptions) have an ebb and flow to them. Players will win a few legs (or perhaps many) in a row before their opponent does the same. You may hear it referred to as one player in particular has the “momentum”. We don’t agree with that. The scoring and “ups and downs” of the score is just a natural consequence of two players playing darts.

Our argument is why shouldn’t players get a few “dodgy legs” whatever the reasons behind it? No player has ever absolutely mastered darts, not “The Power,” Eric Bristow or “The Machine”-if they had they would win every leg with 9 darts!  So why would any player feel they should throw the perfect dart each and every throw?

Our suggestion is not focused on achieving perfection, which is impossible, but is a far more realistic philosophy and one borrowed from a “hero” of The Darts Performance Centre, psychologist Rotella:

“You can separate yourself from the opposition not by striving for absolute perfection but by constantly striving to improve and reacting well to mistakes. If there is one thing to be proud of during a darts game it is how well you react to mistakes. You will never have complete control of the dart but you do have complete control of your attitude”.

So our Advice was:

“Try and stay calm, focused and relaxed and work through the sudden dip in form. I think you would really benefit from reflecting on that and try and bring a more pragmatic or "that's life"attitude to your game”

It sounds simple doesn’t it and some people may argue that this “attitude” is just a tiny part of playing better darts.  Perhaps? The correct technique and having mastered all the skills needed to win darts matches are of course the main aspects needed, aren’t they?  But, we will let Plato have the last word:

“As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser”. 

Paul Gillings- The Darts Performance Centre is a resource to assist dart players of all standards play better darts. We are also committed to researching all aspects of darts to provide players with information and solutions that most other sports take for granted. Please support us by joining today. Membership is £25.00 per annum.

You can register to receive our monthly newsletters and download our Darts Philosophy poster here. You will also be able to get more information on becoming a full member.