Grand Slam Sunday

Posted: 17.11.13 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We're back from preparing for our coaching night and tournament!Do we deserve a clap?

We have had a few days off blogging about the Grand Slam. Our last effort was about the Hankey/Whitlock match. I think we all needed a break after that match. In that blog we suggested that maybe Hankey had been clever and moved the odds in his favour by disrupting The Wizard. Some who read the blog dismissed this notion and said it was blatant gamesmanship and not welcome on the oche.

We also suggested that the greatest dart player ever, Phil Taylor, was similar to Hankey in as much as they both have a win at all costs mentality. Another similarity we remarked on was that Phil was also not averse to disrupting his opponent, albeit in a far more subtle manner. How, we were asked by several of our readers?

One way actually raised its head last night in the Taylor/Wade game. Phil gave James a round of applause after one particular checkout which both John Part and Wayne Mardle picked up on. Hawaii 501 wasn’t impressed; his opinion was that perhaps the acknowledgment wasn’t as heartfelt as Taylor may have wanted it to look.

This is what we meant about subtle. Wade could get riled by the fake applause and then try too hard. He may of course think The Power was being genuine and whilst he was glowing with the praise his mind wanders whilst Phil takes the next leg! Subtle you see.

Ted couldn’t repeat his own brand of opponent disruption though. A combination of perhaps Waites knowing The Count and his tricks too well and Scotty’s own mental toughness and single mindedness that perhaps Whitlock lacked that allowed Ted to pull off the impossible. Another reason is that at the moment Hankey’s darts skills and technique are not quite where they need to be to simply play darts against the best around.

This is of course the major difference between Ted and Phil. They may have the same desire to win but it's Taylor’s superior technique coupled with his win at all costs mentality that makes him such a formidable opponent.

El Classico

The Lewis V Van Gerwen game was a treat for all darts fans. The fast play was breathtaking, and the speed of the throw rarely infringed on the precision of the darts when they landed at their final destination. Barney V Taylor was always the El Classico of darts, not anymore, Jackpot and Mighty Mike is who every dart fan would pay to watch!

Do you Suffer from Nerves?

This is the time of the year where PDC wannabees start getting prepared for Q School. This is the chance for any player to win a tour card and mix in with the big boys. It is a nerve wracking and tense experience for the majority of players that enter.

This is no surprise though. I have players who literally shake before a fun game of blind pairs down The Dog and Duck. Anxiety, butterflies, nerves are the dart players biggest enemy. It’s not just dart players who suffer. Every sport has professionals and amateurs who get the same symptoms prior to taking part in their sport of choice. The difference is that other sports have coaches and experts to help them.

This is of course why we formed the Darts Performance Centre. The original idea was to create a website to help dart players with sound coaching advice. Along the way we have the testimonials to show we have achieved that.

We also like getting out in to the real world and another reason for taking a few days off blogging was to put the final arrangements in place for our coaching and members' night next Friday and New Forest Masters darts tournament on Saturday. We are particularly proud of our coaching night and would urge any player who suffers from nerves to give getting some expert coaching advice a try

The cost is £25.00 (You get access to our site included in that too)! The price of a new set of darts! Whether you want a Tour Card or to stop shaking at The Dog and Duck this is your chance to take a step towards achieving whatever your darting goal is.

If you are quick our friend Krispy at Darts Beers and PDC Cheers has a space up for grabs in a comp that ends tomorrow (Monday).http://www.pdc-darts.co.uk/competition-the-new-forest-masters-darts-coaching-night/

Today's Games

Semi-Finals
Robert Thornton v Scott Waites
Phil Taylor v Adrian Lewis

Evening Session (7pm-9pm)
Final

Tips

Three out of three and even Rodders has pinched the "winning formula" of 180's and number of legs, so time to move on!

As it's Sunday we have a nice laszy bet for you.

Both semi finals have evenly matched, high class players so the leg count should be high. This gives the players in both matches time to hit a checkout of over 130.5. Just one over that amount from both games pays 8/5 with Boyles.

Image courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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TheDarts Performance Centre is a resource to assist dart players of all standards play better darts. The site is arranged as an online coaching manual. There is advice on technique, nerves, psychology, goal setting, practice games, an area to log your statistics and an interactive area where your darting questions are answered by two sports scientists, one with 30 years dart playing experience. You also get an invite to our free but exclusive members only events and acess to our members only darts coaching app! Membership is £25 per year!