Coaching the logical way

Peter Simson

Session 1

A. What we can learn from Roger Bannister?

  • He enjoyed what he was doing.
  • He was always motivated to succeed.
  • His training was goal orientated.
  • He set long term goals. (They were flexible)
  • He set short term goals.
  • He made use of the knowledge he had.
  • He used visualization.
  • He used the help of friends.

“Winning isn’t everything, winning in the fewest possible darts is the only thing.”

SDA

What is a single dart average.

In reality your SDA is the amount of darts you are using to close a match.

Why should we be using it?

SDA vs. % wins.

Statistics show a player will throw 50% of their matches within 12.5% of their average.

When playing a top player, don’t hope for that once off game, statistics show that it is going to happen very rarely. The only way to consistently beat top players is to raise your SDA through dedication and meaningful practice.

There are two ways that you should be looking to increase your chances of winning or raising your SDA.

  • Moving the entire graph right.
  1. Dealing with constant weaknesses.
  2. Having the correct mental attitude.
  3. Practice
  • Reducing the standard deviation
  • Dealing with temporary weaknesses
  • Improving concentration.

Examples of temporary weaknesses

Maintaining concentration.

Emotional stability. ie Easily loose your temper.

Distracted by back round noise.

Distracted by surrounding conditions. ie. Lighting, drafts.

Distracted by your opponent.

Excessive alcohol intake.

Setting short term goals that disrupt your concentration. i.e. You are so determined to beat your next opponent you loose your current match.

Loss of form in pressure situations.

Problems with your throwing technique.

Fatigue.

Examples of constant weaknesses

Lack of practice.

Lack of family support.

Unhappy with your partner or team.

Inability to calculate closes.

Physically or visually unfit.

Identifying your weakness

Rather than just complaining “I couldn’t close” ask yourself “Why couldn’t I close – what was different”

Self analysis – Dr Lynne Slogrove (NMMU)

Weakness IISCSIS-CS (IS-CS)xI.

1.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

2.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

3.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

4.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

5.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

6.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

7.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

8.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

9.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

10.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

11.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

12.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

13.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

14.[ ]10[ ][ ] [ ]

15.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

16.[ ]10[ ][ ][ ]

1.List the weaknesses of a dart player.

2.Decided how important (I) each of these weaknesses are on a scale ranging from: 1= Not at all important

To

10= Of crucial importance.

3.Rate your current situation (CS) in each of these weaknesses on a scale ranging from: 1= Cannot be any worse

.to

10=Can not be any better.

4.The ideal situation (IS) would be a perfect [10].

5.Subtract your current situation (CS) from the ideal situation (IS).

6.Multiply this value with the importance (I) of each weakness. This figure should give you a good indication of where you should place your priorities.

Session 2

A. Metal Attitude

  • Before and during any match there are always factors that will contribute to positive and negative energy.
  • Always look for the positive factors first. Team or crowd support, will to win etc
  • Try to minimize the negative factors by first becoming aware of them.
  • Factors may cause a negative attitude can be grouped into
  • Physical and psychological well being.
  • Surrounding conditions
  • Opponents

Physical and psychological well being.

  • Comfortable clothing, shoes, spare equipment, good eating and drinking habits are factors that are within your control.
  • Injuries, illness and emotional problems may be beyond your control, don’t try to ignore them or deny their existence. Talking to some one often helps.

Surrounding conditions

Although the game is essentially you against the board you are not playing in an isolated 2m X 4m room.

Make yourself aware of conditions that may distract you. Board height, lighting drafts, noise etc. Don’t let yourself be taken unaware or blow them out of proportion.

Opponents

Don’t react to an opponent try to distract you. This is what he wants.

Likewise don’t waste mental energy trying to distract your opponent.

The best psychological advantage you can get over your opponent is with your first three darts.

B. Focus and flow

Focus and flow are the heart of sports psychology. To my mind it is the most difficult to master but when achieved it will give you a powerful feeling of competence and exhilaration.

Focus is the complete attentionto the execution of the skill.

Flow is the execution of the skill while being completely engrossed in it and excluding everything else.

The qualities when you reach a state of flow are:

  1. All your attention is focused on the skill
  2. You are not aware of your own awareness
  3. You do not evaluate the quality of the performance during it’s execution
  4. You are not aware of any distractions
  5. You do not make any conscious decisions but rather trust your body to follow what you have learnt in practice
  6. You do however remain in complete control of your actions and reactions

The main things that interfere with reaching a state of flow are mood control, lack of ability to manage distractions and handling stress.

To understand how focus and flow work we need a simplified model of the brain and how it reacts to stimuli.

The brain is separated into left and right hemispheres which perform different functions

  • The left side is known as the analyser -it performs analytical activities that are logical and in sequence such as logical thinking, mathematics’ planning and goal setting and analysing how a skill should be performed.
  • The right side of the brain is the integrator – it controls and integrates the components of a skill in to one flowing movement.

Either the left or right side of your brain should be dominant under different circumstances. During practice it is the analyser that should be dominant as you try iron out errors and work on technique. When playing a match however the integrator should take over and put into place what you have done in practice.

You will reach a state of flow if your right side of the brain is in complete control and is not being distracted by analysis or external stimuli. When you approach the oche going for a big close you must know what combinations you require and what your options are if you hit a single instead of a trip. For example if going for a 94 close and your first dart is 18 and not T18 you should instinctively know your next two darts are T20 and D8.

Focus

Focus can be practised and trained in the form of meditation. Study an object for some time, get completely involved with it – shape colour, texture, smell etc. Then switch to another object and concentrate on it blocking everything else out.

Whilst practising visualize your throw and the darts then remain focused as you throw.

You must be aware of losing focus as your game improves due to one of the following reasons:

7.Your reactions become automatic; you simply go through the motions of throwing.

8.You play opponents that are weaker than yourself and get bored.

9.The goals you have set yourself are too low.

Flow

Flow is easiest achieved when:

Your skill is good enough to match your opponent or practice goals.

Your opponent is not so weak that you become bored.

You have all distractions under control.

You are not analysing errors or mistakes.

You are relaxed and alert.

Thinking positively with negative thoughts eliminated.

It is developed and not forced.

You have practised and trained focus.

Mood control

Bad moods damage your motivation in both training and matches. They lead to negative thinking and distraction. Your mood is completely under your control. Improve your mood in the following ways:

Positive thinking and suggestion – say to yourself “I feel good”

If you make a mistake or miss a dart, refocus and concentrate on the next dart.

Use imagery – think of times when played or practised really well.

Re-motivate yourself by reviewing your goals.

Smile – even a forced smile lifts a bad mood.

Coping with distraction

Your brain is designed to protect you from danger, to do this it naturally reacts and draws your attention to unusual or unexpected stimuli. These can be:

A loud noise or flash of light

Sudden movement

Unusual stimuli

The absence of a usual stimuli (we have all experienced how you are distracted when a noisy background suddenly goes quite)

It is these distractions that will break flow and you need to teach your brain to selectively override its natural reaction.

Coping with distractions is mainly a matter of attitude. You either dwell on them and blow them out of proportion or accept them and let them pass by. Don’t waste mental energy on trivia that is better spent else where.

When you make a mistake you have only lost focus not the skill.

The following helps with distractions:

Distractions may be beyond your control but your reaction is entirely controlled by you.

Think positively – recognize distractions and let them go.

Always reassure yourself that you are able to perform well despite distractions.

Be prepared for larger distractions.

If you are coping with a distraction it will give you an advantage over your opponent who is not.

Develop a refocusing plan when distracted.

Handling stress

Stress effects your ability to focus and with flow.

Individuals are responsible for controlling their own stress levels.

Stress has many negative effects

  • It interferes with judgement and fine motor control
  • Opposition can become a threat and not a challenge
  • Causes adrenaline to be released into the blood stream
  • It uses mental energy that could be used else where.
  • It damages a positive frame of mind by
  • Promoting negative thinking
  • Damages self confidence
  • Disrupts flow

Every player performs best at a different stress level, but most will perform best between the two extremes.


It is important that both the player and manager / coach are aware of zone of optimal performance which can differ in place and size.

Players can find their optimal stress zone by keeping a log of their performance under different stress levels.

There are a number of symptoms of stress

  • Physical
  • Increased heart rate
  • Increased sweating
  • Butterflies in the stomach
  • Rapid breathing
  • Tense muscles
  • Dry mouth
  • A desire to urinate
  • Mental
  • Worry
  • Confusion
  • Feeling ill
  • Feeling out of control
  • Behavioural
  • Talking rapidly
  • Nervous mannerisms
  • Yawning

Increasing stress levels

Apply these when you find yourself demotivated, bored

  • Raise your goals in practice or warm ups
  • Up your personal goals, like increasing your SDA
  • Use imagery, your opponent is playing a 9 nine dart game
  • Use suggestion – I can feel the energy flowing through me.
  • Focus on the importance of the match or event.

Stress reduction techniques

Different techniques should be used depending on the situation.

What ever method is used, the success still depends on practice.

  • Environmental methods
  • Reduce the importance of the event
  • Reduce uncertainties, try not to be caught unaware
  • Listen to music
  • Physical methods – use particularly when there is excessive adrenaline
  • Progressive muscle relaxation
  • Breathing control
  • Mental techniques
  • Positive thinking – use an elastic band on your wrist
  • Recall good performances, you may have lost concentration but you have not lost your skill
  • Self hypnosis, the thumb in palm technique works well.

Session 3

Practice and warming up.

It has been said that the three golden rules to improve your game are “Practise, practise and practise”. Ideally you want short daily practises that are goal orientated. Likewise your practice sessions should be frequent with quality and not long and boring. Five one hour sessions has far more value than one five hour session.

The game can be broken down into 3 parts.

  • Opening 3 darts
  • Scoring
  • Closing

All areas must be practised and the monotony of practise minimised.

Warming up.

Every player should have at least two warm up routines.

A long routine and a shorter one.

First concentrate on is getting your follow through comfortable, then focus and your line and height.

Start by aiming above or at the double 20. It is the highest point on the board and in this area that your follow through is most crucial, continue throwing until you feel comfortable.

Then concentrate on height, throw three darts at triple three, then bull and then the triple twenty. Once again continue until you feel comfortable with the height before moving onto the rest of your warm up routine.

Your warm up routine should cover the entire board, scoring and closing.

Appendix A is a warm routine that the Eastern Province team developed a number of years ago, you can develop your own or adapt this one.

Practising

Practising 501 games is important but practising wit a partener does have it's limitations. A 501 game spends to much time on scoring and not enough on closing and it does not cover the board. The other disadvantage is that you will only set your goal on beating your practice partner, when practising alone you can set your goal as high as you want. The majority of your practice should be on your own.

The opening three darts are more psychological than anything else, there is no better way of gaining a psychological advantage over you opponent than starting with a big score of 100 or more, while starting with a score of say 26 or 11 means the chances are that you are going to spend the rest of the leg playing catch up darts – not a good idea.

Use different routines to practice scoring and closing.

Practise routines should have the following qualities:

  • They must be goal orientated ie they aimed at practising your scoring or doubles.
  • They must not be so complicated that they require excessive scoring and disrupt your rhythm of throwing.
  • They must be challenging and if possible put you under pressure.
  • You must be able to keep a record so that you can set a goal.

Golf and drawn doubles meet all the requirements and you do not need a partner so you can use them when practising alone.

  • Golf
  • If you throw less than 60+1 (Bogey)
  • 60-990 (Par)
  • 100-139-1 (Birdie)
  • 140-179-2 (Eagle)
  • 180-3 (Albatross)

You can obviously adjust the scoring to suite your level, if you are a beginner you may say less than 45 is +1 and 45 to 80 is par etc

As in golf, the lower your score obviously the better you are performing.

  • Drawn doubles
  • Use this routine to improve your closing and increase the number of big closes (100 and over) that you make.
  • Select 10 numbers between 41 and 101 (Excluding 99 which we leave out because it can not be closed in 2 darts)
  • 2 points if you close the first number in two darts
  • 1 point for closing it in three darts
  • 0 points for a miss.
  • Total your points after the 10 numbers and record the score.
  • This time the higher your score the better you are performing.

Other routines.

Noughts and cross: draw a grid as in a standard noughts and crosses game. To fill a outer middle square the player must throw 100 or more. To fill a outer corner square the player must score a minimum of 120 or more. And the centre square can only be filled by throwing 140 or more. The first player to get 3 in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally wins. Again this game can be adapted to a player whose level of play is not that high and replace the relevant squares with 60, 80 and 100 or more.

Piggy back: Player are paired with a partner and then choose the doubles that you want to practise or use most commonly used doubles, eg 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 16, 18, 20 and bull. Both players must hit the double before you can move onto the next double. Once player A has hit double 1, he can not continue onto double 2 until his partner has also hit the double 1 and he sits out every round until that happens. If his partner has already hit double 1 and he hits double 1 with his first dart he can move onto the next double.

170: Play legs starting on 170 closing on a double and record the number of darts used. Your ultimate goal is obviously three darts. Good idea to incorporate a quick practise for both scoring and closing.

25: Start with a score of 25, and go for each double using three darts starting with double one finishing with double 20 and bull. For every double you hit add that score, if you miss a double with all three darts subtract its value.

Finishing: Start on 60 and go for a three dart close, if you miss go down one point to 59, if you make it go up 10 places to 70. The score you are now on, 59 or 70 becomes the next close you aim for.