This is a true story and maybe something that just might catch on!
Last Thursday I shot mixed league (Windy City Darters) with my husband Andy. He hasn't shot in a steel-tip league for several years but he is definitely a passionate darter and gives everything he's got. One area that he is specifically working on are his chalking skills. He's smart enough to know that thinking fast at the line and knowing your numbers, your score after each dart and the outs are a great part of the strategy of the game. So, he's constantly working to improve his math.
He claims to be a "Turtle Head" when it comes to math and quickly subtracting his numbers while standing at the line. "Why don't the numbers come more easily to me?" he says. I do my best to encourage him and personally, I think he's much too hard on himself. "But I make mistakes!" he claims and I tell him that everyone makes mistakes and it's okay. It's far better to chalk and learn then to sit back and not chalk because you don't think you're good enough as a chalker! We all learn along the way, and that's the truth. Nobody makes mistakes on purpose, and you do your best when you're chalking, and if you do make a mistake, then you correct the mistake and carry on. And chalking is the very best way to learn your numbers, the outs and how to become a better chalker!
So last Thursday, Andy volunteered to chalk for the ladies' doubles match, which I was playing in. He took his place at the scoreboard and we won the diddle. I was on the Carole's team and this is how he set up the scoreboard:
I noticed the letters "HYC" at the top of the scoreboard and thought it was some sort of secret message to me like "Hi Ya Cutie" or "Honey...something or other". I made a mental note to ask my husband about it later. And then, as the match began, I quickly got wrapped up in the match and forgot all about the "HYC".
In the car on the way home, Andy asked how he did at chalking and I told him he did fine! He was concerned that he was too slow or that he made a mistake...but he corrected the mistake and the match went on. Again, he's just much too hard on himself!
Then he asked "Did you see the letters at the top of the scoreboard, that I wrote?". "Yup, I thought it was a secret message to me but I forgot all about it!". "What did the letters 'HYC' mean????".
"Help Your Chalker!" I thought that was pretty darn clever and I told him so. And just maybe the "HYC" will catch on and encourage darters who are new, to get up and chalk. "HYC" or Help Your Chalker is a message to the darters who are shooting to be patient with a new chalker and to make sure to leave your darts in the board until the chalker and darter agree what the score is so that the correct score may be written down.
Maybe newer darters will be less intimidated to chalk if they can indicate that they are new chalkers. So, if you see "HYC" at the top of the scoreboard... be patient with the chalker, encourage the chalker, and always thank the chalker after the match. Because without chalkers, there wouldn't be competitive matches where the darters can concentrate on their game. Let's all do our part to encourage the newer chalkers and hopefully, the next generation of steel-tip darters.
As always, good luck and I'll see you at the line.