02/02/02 More on the Mental Edge...

The more I play darts the more I am convinced that having the mental edge is a great part of the game, and the key to becoming a better darter. Hence, I'm on a quest to unlock the mental mysteries that are keeping me from being a better dart player. I've tried some things that haven't really worked too well (I'll share these with you...) and I'm reading everything I can get my hands on to understand this whole "mental edge" thing better, and I'll share these concepts with you as well.

Wouldn't you love to go back to when you first started playing darts? Think about it. When first learning the game you probably threw some good shots that kept you interested in the game (the others that didn't throw the good dart or two just gave up their darts and decided the game wasn't for them. The rest of us stuck it out and now love the game.) Because we started out knowing nothing about the game, the learning curve was tremendous. That first learning curve was probably the fastest and highest in the performance of a darter. Of course it works that way, the curve is greatest when learning something from nothing. Add to that the excitement of joining your first team, your first singles-match win, your first blind draw and maybe your first tournament. It's all those single moments of greatness that keep you going and it's fun. You know, you're absolutely convinced that more moments of greatness playing darts await you. So you keep playing, and keep playing, and keep playing...and then maybe one day you find yourself mentally where I'm at. I've been playing a few years and consider myself an above average player. I play weekly on two teams and usually a blind draw here and there. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, sometimes I shoot really well and other times I'm off. I think I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do but my overall performance isn't really improving. What do I need to do to become a better darter?

I'll start with what hasn't worked for me and maybe I'll save you from going down that same path. I mistakenly thought that the more I played, the better I would become. If playing on a couple teams was good, then playing on more teams would be better. I actually played on 5 steel-tip teams during one season. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, week in and week out. Playing more didn't help my game, in fact all it did was run me down. It takes a lot of time to drive around the Chicago area to the various team matches and I probably would have been better off being on one or two teams and getting some decent night's sleep. I only remember one particular singles cricket match that I played that was near perfection. The rest of it was a blur because between working and darts I was obviously sleep deprived. Playing more doesn't necessarily make you a better darter.

Another flaw with my line of thought in joining 5 teams is that I gave up practicing on my own. I counted the league play (because I was doing so much of it) as practice. That was not practice! League play is warming up and then a lot of waiting around to play, while encouraging your teammates. Practicing is an exercise and must be done alone, where you're able to concentrate (mentally and physically) on your practice routine and what you are doing. No wonder I wasn't getting any better at darts - I was driving all over the city to wait my turn to play and on top of that, I gave up my own practice routine thinking I was practicing enough at league.

Maybe like yourself, I know I can be a better darter. I'm just not sure how. I've just finished reading a book called "The Mental Edge - Maximize Your Sports Potential" by Kenneth Baum, with Richard Trubo. The book has given me much food for thought (I'm still digesting it all), but it makes a lot of sense so I'll share some of the concepts with you here.

Ken writes "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten". This makes so much sense. It's like hitting the "P" key over and over on a keyboard and somehow expecting the letter "Z" to show up. It's not going to happen. Every season I play on two teams and frequent the blind draws. I'm doing the same thing that I've always done and I'm getting what I've always gotten - the same performance, that is.

Ken also writes "Bodies work perfectly; the mind gets in the way". If you've been playing darts for any length of time then you've hit a Ton-80, a hat-trick, every trip on the board, every single on the board and every double on the board. You can obviously do it because you've done it before. "Bodies work perfectly; the mind gets in the way". When you psych yourself out, your body is ready to work perfectly but your mind has gotten in the way. This is so true! An example of this that I can relate to is playing '301. There have been times that I've been up against an excellent shooter and have been surprised at how well I was shooting. I was genuinely amazed at how quickly I got down to an out. I wasn't prepared for doing that because I wasn't mentally prepared to win the game. And then I didn't hit the out. My body was throwing the right darts but I was talking my mind out it. I couldn't believe I was doing so well, surely something had to be wrong, this couldn't be me throwing. I think I actually talked myself out of hitting the double for game shot, and I just chalked it up so to speak as not being a very good darter.

There's much more to this but I'm going to write this in installments. Stay tuned next week for More of the Mental Edge...Good luck and I'll see you at the line.