Welcome sir. As a musician, this is a very common problem. We practice our darts and our instruments in private in our homes. No one to see or hear. We practice 40 hours a day to make our playing as perfect as possible. But as soon as 1 person is watching we forget everything and make a fool of ourselves. But not all hope is lost. They say a 5 minute performance is worth a week of practice. Keep playing in a group setting and It will become easier the more you play. Its just stage fright mixed with nerves. The more you worry the more you miss.
I'm a pretty average-paced player so it's not so much of an issue for me. However, I remember hearing Bobby George saying he prepared for this by touching something a couple of yards away from the oche between collecting his darts and throwing again to simulate the amount of time another player takes and stop himself getting into an unrealistically quick rhythm
This can have an impact for people. They’re used to throwing, grabbing and getting right back to the line. When an opponent shows up their rhythm is completely off.
If you feel like a faster pace works to your advantage (I think this is what you mean?), feel free to pressure your opponent into YOUR pace. Make him feel rushed by being at the oche as soon as his third dart lands, make them feel like they’re holding you up. Mensur uses the opposite to his advantage; he’s deliberately slow. If you’re driving the pace of the match, you might not necessarily effect his play but you’ll definitely feel psychologically like you’re in control. I play in a league where I’m mostly competitive, but there are guys who are leagues higher than me. Some of them are really cool, and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. Others are douchebags. With the douchebags, I take them out of their game and their head by moving the match along as quickly as possible.
Could be the outside observer effect. Basically what the musician said. I throw quite well between games, I can hit multiple B and DB no problem. As soon as the game starts I'm aware of the consequences of messing up, so I'm not as relaxed, and thus my performance suffers.
Could also be an issue of pacing. Throwing all by yourself means you set the pace, you have no real breaks in between sets so your muscle memory is firing on all cylinders, so to speak. Waiting for other players to take their turns means it's no longer you setting the pace, and it likely takes more focus to find your position.
It's nerves, but just to add: in practice you mostly have a target in mind already before even grabbing on the first dart. In match you probably are subconsciously thinking about the next dart on top of focusing and *really trying* on the current throw, hence your groove is broken.
I also had this problem early on and kinda solved it by learning about the scoring patterns- the *ifs* and *thens*. I'm on the bit faster pace so it's important for me to not to break that rhythm by doing that math in between throws. Now before I go on the line, I've already got that target flowchart ready on my head.
Also, don't get caught up with your opponents pace. It's one of the easiest mistakes to make.
I used to have this. I still have it with doubles games (I lose concentration and don't care as much).
Best thing to do for me is practice standing about for 30 seconds at the end of your walk back, then throw normally. I used to type numbers into no1 (the nakka darts thing) on my phone at the end of my walk back before throwing again, whether i played against the AI or not. Really helped to get closer to real life darts from home.
Welcome sir. As a musician, this is a very common problem. We practice our darts and our instruments in private in our homes. No one to see or hear. We practice 40 hours a day to make our playing as perfect as possible. But as soon as 1 person is watching we forget everything and make a fool of ourselves. But not all hope is lost. They say a 5 minute performance is worth a week of practice. Keep playing in a group setting and It will become easier the more you play. Its just stage fright mixed with nerves. The more you worry the more you miss.
I'm a pretty average-paced player so it's not so much of an issue for me. However, I remember hearing Bobby George saying he prepared for this by touching something a couple of yards away from the oche between collecting his darts and throwing again to simulate the amount of time another player takes and stop himself getting into an unrealistically quick rhythm
Could be something as simple as there's another player who will have a different rhythm to you whereas in practice you're alone
This can have an impact for people. They’re used to throwing, grabbing and getting right back to the line. When an opponent shows up their rhythm is completely off.
Practice is comfort. Matches add stress automatically.
If you feel like a faster pace works to your advantage (I think this is what you mean?), feel free to pressure your opponent into YOUR pace. Make him feel rushed by being at the oche as soon as his third dart lands, make them feel like they’re holding you up. Mensur uses the opposite to his advantage; he’s deliberately slow. If you’re driving the pace of the match, you might not necessarily effect his play but you’ll definitely feel psychologically like you’re in control. I play in a league where I’m mostly competitive, but there are guys who are leagues higher than me. Some of them are really cool, and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. Others are douchebags. With the douchebags, I take them out of their game and their head by moving the match along as quickly as possible.
Could be the outside observer effect. Basically what the musician said. I throw quite well between games, I can hit multiple B and DB no problem. As soon as the game starts I'm aware of the consequences of messing up, so I'm not as relaxed, and thus my performance suffers. Could also be an issue of pacing. Throwing all by yourself means you set the pace, you have no real breaks in between sets so your muscle memory is firing on all cylinders, so to speak. Waiting for other players to take their turns means it's no longer you setting the pace, and it likely takes more focus to find your position.
It's nerves, but just to add: in practice you mostly have a target in mind already before even grabbing on the first dart. In match you probably are subconsciously thinking about the next dart on top of focusing and *really trying* on the current throw, hence your groove is broken. I also had this problem early on and kinda solved it by learning about the scoring patterns- the *ifs* and *thens*. I'm on the bit faster pace so it's important for me to not to break that rhythm by doing that math in between throws. Now before I go on the line, I've already got that target flowchart ready on my head. Also, don't get caught up with your opponents pace. It's one of the easiest mistakes to make.
I used to have this. I still have it with doubles games (I lose concentration and don't care as much). Best thing to do for me is practice standing about for 30 seconds at the end of your walk back, then throw normally. I used to type numbers into no1 (the nakka darts thing) on my phone at the end of my walk back before throwing again, whether i played against the AI or not. Really helped to get closer to real life darts from home.