If You Can't Stand the Heat get Off the Oche!

Posted: 17.07.11 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We take a look back at night two of the Matchplay event. We have a player who couldn't wait to get off the oche (no not Jabba) and an entry for the sporting mishaps list.

We didn’t see much of the darting action on night one of the Matchplay despite actually being in Blackpool. The Darts Performance Centre had been situated at The Norbreck Hotel on the north side of Blackpool for the EDO tournament over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday we set up our video analysis zone and studied the throwing actions of players of all different standards. It was a fascinating experience. We did make a “half hearted” attempt to find a venue to watch the action in the evening but decided on twitter updates for the Matchplay and a review and some reflection of our day of darts coaching instead.

If You Can’t stand the heat Get Off the Oche 

On Sunday at the EDO tournament we met Derek. He had come away with his wife for a weekend in Blackpool and had stumbled across the tournament that was taking place in the hotel. Derek has a board at home but had never played in a competitive match in his life, save a brief appearance in a “News of the World” qualifier twenty odd years ago. 

On the spur of the moment he decided to enter the Open and hasn’t stopped grinning since, such was his pleasure in taking part before and after his game! You will have noted “before and after”-during the game he was a trembling bag of nerves struggling to do himself justice! He admitted to me afterwards that he was praying his opponent would hit a 9 darter to get the game over with such was the anxiety and stress that had hit him the moment he stepped on the oche. He was dispatched 3:0, in quick time. 

As I was watching Bomber, Chizzy and in particular Jabba last night I wondered if any of them had the same thought chiming in their heads that Derek had a few hours earlier- “let’s get this over with, now!"

Many a Slip Twixt Home and Darting Venue

Come on we have all done it. We have all carried heavy bags to the car only to have left the car keys back in the house (or hotel as I did yesterday). Who hasn’t set off to deliver an important letter and arrived at the post box with the correspondence still sitting on the table at home? Also, the amount of times I have arrived at a major professional darts sporting event and left my darts with my practice partner in a different country- all easy mistakes to make!

Poor Barney, but he had the last laugh and looked fit and healthy (and dare I say happy?) and beat Steve Brown fairly comfortably in the end. 

A sporting mishap for sure and here are a few more that you may remember  - Top 10 Sporting Mishaps. 

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