Hi again. Let’s review what we’ve discussed so far in this series on practice. First we talked about the importance of regular personal practice in improving your skills. Just throwing darts at the twenty wedge is not really practicing. Practicing includes examining your playing strengths and weaknesses and soliciting feedback from other good players to know what you need to work on. Once you have a good idea of those opportunities to improve upon, you have to analyze what is causing the problem so that you can experiment with new techniques. Trying harder will probably not improve your game in the direction you need. Honest examination of your game and aspects of play will help you. Players that refuse to try something different to alter their performance are limiting their own growth in the sport. Excellence is not an accident. Once you find the right recipe for improvement, write it down and find practice games and routines that help you to integrate the new skills into your regular performance. After a while the new skills will be automatic and subconscious.

We also went into practice for improving your dart stroke. Probably the most obvious skill that a darter can have is a great stroke. Everyone notices a darter that has a smooth, precise stroke, and it can become your number one asset in winning more games. Stroke falls into the sequence of events I call "Setting Up." The setting up routine is something each darter does with every turn they take at shooting. It consists of Deciding What To Shoot At, Stance at the Line, Gripping the Dart, Aiming at your Selected Target, and as I mentioned, Arm Stroke. Avoid getting into a Set Up routine that is habitual only, and does not produce the desired results. I think we have all seen darters that have interesting or strange set up habits that do not seem to add any important benefits to the thrower, other than being compulsive or superstitious. You may wonder if a movement or practice you have is giving you a benefit; experiment by using that practice for 30 throws and use a different practice(s) for an additional 30 throws. Compare the resulting numbers.

Once you have a good idea what areas or techniques you need to improve, you might wonder what you can do to make and sustain a lasting improvement. This article is all about practicing to improve skills. To find the right practice though, you have to use your creativity. Practice routines should be designed to recreate the game or shot situation that you want to improve. When you develop a specific practice game or routine that helps improve an area of weakness, you must use it regularly over a sustained period of time until the skills are fully integrated into your repertoire. Another important aspect of this type of practice is recording your results as you practice. You won’t really know if you are improving or not unless you do the same practice routine over a time period and record your results each time. The numbers will tell you if you’re getting better, worse or staying the same.

So let’s get into some actual situations that you may want to work on. Let’s focus on cricket this time and in the next article we will focus on the ’01 games. Most of the practices you learn in either one of these type of games translates to the other. Cricket, being the popular game that it is, requires a lot of difficult but predictable skills.

In each game there are times that you need to have all three of your darts hit the same wedge; like closing a number with three singles, closing and scoring, or just scoring a whole bunch on the same number. A good practice technique is to throw all three darts at each cricket number, sequentially (e.g. 20s, 19s, 18s, 17s, 16s, 15s, Bs). Do not move from one number to the next until you’ve hit three darts in a row on that wedge. Record how many total darts it takes to go through all 7 segments. Other cricket skills require two darts at one number one at a different number, or all three darts at different numbers. You can create practice routines that help these situations. As in the technique above, start with the 20s and move in sequence. Throw two darts at the 20 and one at the 19, etc.. Don’t move on until you’ve hit all three targets. The reverse practice routine is also helpful; that would be one 20 and two 19s, then one 19 and two 18s, etc.. To recreate the game situation in which you need to score on three different numbers, throw one dart at 20, one at 19, and one at 18. Then move to the next sequence. Variations on these practice routines can be as many as you can imagine. For instance, with the last routine, you could throw one dart at the twenty, one at the 19, and the last at the Bull. Next you could go to the twenty, 18, then Bull, continuing the pattern. Keep in mind that you can vary the difficulty of these practices by aiming for singles or triples. It gets much more difficult to complete these routines when you aim for triples.

There are so many other cricket skills needed that I could not be able to cover them all, but let me talk about a few that are not usually mentioned. In cricket, the game is usually won early on, within the first couple of throwing turns. If you notice this to be the case, you would agree that the beginning throws are the most important, most of the time. Winning the bulls eye is paramount. Practice throwing darts at the bulls eye to give yourself the best chance to start each game. I often shoot 30 darts at the bull, recording how many times I hit it and how many double bulls I made. Another important cricket starting skill is closing 20s on your first turn (that is if you won the bull). Create a practice routine of hitting three fat 20s, so that you know you can do it in the game situation under pressure. A good way to start is by throwing your first dart, aiming just under the double 20. By getting those first two darts into the 20 wedge, you take a lot of pressure off yourself to hit a third. With the twenties closed, you improve your chances of winning immensely. Another important cricket situational skill is being able to hit a single bull at any time in the game. It takes at least two darts to close the bulls (a single bull and a double), so capturing a single early in the game can be very helpful. Practice throwing two darts at other numbers or targets, then throw the third at bulls. Record results. The important thing is that you assess weaknesses from competition play, then work on them with these drills.

All The Best,

Charles Bradish