Aidan's Dublin Diary - Gary Anderson

Posted: 07.10.13 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

Have ever changed your darts in the hope of improvement? Gary Anderson has, read this and weep!

Aidan Farrelly will be chatting exclusively for the Darts Performance Centre with the winners from each Round One tie in this year’s PartyPoker World Grand Prix in Dublin. We want to know how each player approaches the treacherous double start competition, how they compose their nerves, and any other performance related tips along the way.

Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson walks in to the press room, having demolished Jelle Klassen with a 104 average in a double start competition. First word out of his mouth... ‘Lucky!’

I near choke on my late night cup of coffee. That performance was as far from lucky as I have seen. It was sensational. My phone near exploded with the Twitter activity related to one man’s apparent upheaval of a certain, well commented on issue with doubles. His thoughts are clear:

“That’ll give them something not to talk about. They just went in tonight. I had it in my head to focus on tops, 18s and 16s. They were my targets.

“I am back to not caring. I just go up and play. If I win, I win. If I get beat, I get beat. It’s been a long time since I have felt like this. It was getting to me to be honest. I was losing games I felt I should be winning.

Watching on screen, I noticed something different. Had Gary changed his darts?

“I changed my darts on Friday.”

Hang on a minute. Friday? As in three days ago? I’m choking once again. It’s more from jealousy now than anything else. But it reiterates just how naturally gifted the Flying Scotsman is. To flush out such a performance with a set of darts that still have the tags on is just... well... I give up trying to describe it!

“I picked up a different set of darts and they went alright. What month are we in, October. I think I have had 42 different sets of darts this year. One minute I am happy with them, the next minute I’m not.

“When you get a set of darts, you should stick with them. I have been struggling for the last 24 months. You start questioning is it my darts, or the way I’m standing etc. I just end up changing the darts. It ruins you; it doesn’t do you any good to keep changing. They were going alright in practice tonight so I felt good.”

Anderson fans are buzzing. I have never seen the words ‘He is back’ to clog up a twitter news feed so much as this. With form like this, surely Anderson is fully behind the notion that this could be his week to shine. And stifle the doubters.

“Wednesday is a different day. You can just never tell.”

Darts Performance Centre Analysis

42 different sets of darts, extraordinary. If a footballer told you he had tried 42 pairs of different boots in a season in an attempt to regain his form you may think he was mad!

For the price of 25 sets of darts Ando could of hired us and our video kit and saved himself a lot of anxiety. One day it will be the norm for dart players to embrace video technology, one day...

Let’s see how the new darts fly on Wednesday!

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Meet Aidan

Aidan has been a fan of darts since a young age, although he didn't pick up his first set if arrows until he was 23. In that time, Aidan has been dedicated to finding out what it takes to become a professional. He plays with two club teams in his County in Ireland.

Aidan documents his ups and downs of improving his game, and explores some of the unknown, yet crucial elements of darts such as nerves, confidence and much much more.

Aidan teamed up with the Darts Performance Centre ahead of his battle with Raymond van Barneveld 12 months ago, a relationship which he admits has "helped me to focus on certain areas that needed improvement, and the support from Paul and Andy guarantees will make you a better dart player".

Aidan throws a 23g DPC Elite Performance dart. He loves to tell people that he has now lost count of the amount of 180s he has thrown. His highest checkout in a competitive leg is 130, and the closest he has come to a perfect leg was two maximums before crippling under pressure to finish out with a 15 dart leg.

His plan is simple: to be a Pro! Follow his journey right here!

Aidan welcomes any feedback, advice or questions. You can find him on twitter: @A_Farrelly or email: throwlikeaprodarts@gmail.com