PDC World Championships Night 6,7 and 8

Posted: 23.12.11 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We have a hobbling Wizard, why Scott Rand can't help being confident, filing cabinets and a driving related question for Wes

File This Under W for Winner

Scott Rand put in another supremely confident performance stuffing “The Pieman” 3-0. We raved about Rand after the last tournament, his "board management" skills and body language in particular. He didn’t disappoint this time either. There are a couple of areas about this particular match that are of interest too.

I recently laid my hands on a very interesting article on sports confidence. I will write a blog about it soon but in the meantime there were two contrasting areas in the paper that summed up this match. First of all Rand does get a bit of stick for his confident persona. I have no idea why but it appears some people prefer their dart players meek and mild.

However, I have to tell you that he can’t help it! In the report I have read it points out that in all the studies of successful sports stars it has been proved that a huge amount of self confidence goes hand in hand with successful sporting performance. In the studies, the more confident individuals were, the more skilled they were at working out problems during a game and overcoming obstacles than less confident players.

We were also told the “shocking” news that Andy Smith had not even practised for the event and I was just like James Richardson the other night, speechless! In the same study the lack of preparation for an event was a key factor in individuals having low confidence. Taking this on another step, low confidence then displayed itself in athletes in the form of anxiety and dissatisfaction. If you ever wanted a sporting example to underpin the points mentioned here then the Rand V Smith game is it!

Talking of preparation and despite still working full time Scott Rand had the initiative to take his board to work and as luck would have it, the lorry he drives was in for its MOT. Out came the board which was balanced on top of a filing cabinet and the Rand warm up session was under-way. We have a few of our clients now who have a board at work. When you are working full time it is tricky to fit in practice time and you have to take every chance you can to get on the board. Maybe it would be worth trying to balance your board on top of the filing cabinet too? It helped produce a “top drawer” performance for Scott Rand!

Hop A Long

Simon Whitlock came hobbling up the stairs looking quite distressed. The betting exchanges went into overdrive with Whitlock and Dennis Smith swapping places as often as a Whitlock 180 before he picked up his injury.

In the end “The Wizard” did put in a fantastic performance and won easily. I must admit I did fear for him, my main concern was that he would lose his centre of gravity as he couldn’t use his supporting foot for balance.  My colleague Andrew had a different view on proceedings.

He suggested that the injury actually gave Simon Whitlock more stability. He was forced to focus completely on his technique and “throw smooth” otherwise he would have felt the pain from his injury. Andy recalled a golfing friend of his who played with a hip injury. The same scenario played out with the focus going into to a very smooth drive and the golfer actually playing better despite what appeared to be an injury where the opposite outcome would seem more likely!

This also explains why Andy does what he does at The Darts Performance Centre and why I just let him get on with it!

...............................................................................................................................................

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.