Dartitis...Develop A New
Habit
By :Ralph Chavez

Part I of a two part series.
Let's get into some training exercises for smoothstrokin.

Take a roll of 1 inch masking tape or 1 1/2 inch to start with. Put the tape from
the 20 down to the 3 on your dartboard. That strip of tape is your visual focus.
Just relax, take a deep diaphragm breath and throw at the taped line. That's all.
Do it 2 or 3 times a week or more if you are real enthusiastic like me. I did it
daily for six or eight months and still do it when I loose my alignment. It is good
training to get your alignment back on form.

How about bowling. Have you ever brought the bowling ball back and all of a
sudden freeze up and not be able to throw the ball forward to your mark.. I don't
think so. Well, you say that thing weighs 16 lbs. Of course it has to move
forward just through the sheer weight of the ball.  So to put that into an exercise
take your bowling ball and hold it in your dart throwing hand. Well maybe that
won't do.  We can however take and go down to our nearest sporting goods store
and buy three tennis balls, unless  you are already a tennis player then go retrieve
3 balls from your closet or tennis bag. Hold the tennis ball in your throwing hand
similar to how you would hold your dart (use some imagination here).  Step up to
your throw line and now just throw all three balls at the center of your board.
What are you doing is developing muscle memory for smoothstrokin. And if you
are lucky they will bounce back to you so retrieval each time is minimal. Again
consistency of this training exercise will give you consistency in smoothstrokin
muscle memory.

Darts is a game of rhythm. We each have our own particular "to us" rhythm.  I
started back up playing the harmonica so I can teach my grandchildren how to
play.  What I discovered is that I'm rhythmically challenged.  What was I saying
to myself here, with my subconscious mind listening to me. So I had to quickly
rephrase that. Listen to how you talk to yourself and how it is on a negative tone
or detrimental  to the direction you want to go in your form, STOP..... Rephrase
it to move you in the direction you want to go.  If you see someone struggling
with a bit of dartitis.  DO NOT go up to them and say " Oh, I see you have
dartitis".  Don't be a debilitating factor. If you can't give good constructive and
instructive help, keep your mouth to yourself.

Another exercise it to do a slow motion, without dart in hand exercise.  Kinda
like shadow boxing in slow motion of your throw.  Again we are developing
smoothstrokin muscle memory.  This is also a good technique to pick up nuances in
our throwing action. Improper elbow placement, alignment on target, dropping
elbow or excessively raising elbow or upper arm or shoulder during the throw can
be noticed here. Doing this can get you back on the good form, where throwing
normally you won't pick on small changes you have done to get you off form.
How many time have you asked yourself, "What am I doing wrong?" Well go into
slow motion training and you'll probably pick out the changes you are doing to
give you bad form that you won't pickup on during your normal throwing speed.

Doing these exercises will allow you to get the FEEL for smoothstrokin. Feel is a
better teacher than consciously trying to talk yourself into good form.  If you
have played for awhile you have had someone tell you or you have told someone,
"just throw by feel, or when you throw a good dart just keep your rhythm going
and follow the feel of the throw". Pretty basic, Heh. It is all basic rhythm and
smoothstrokin.

Just look at your intended target (bull, triple or double and lets not forget single
numbers) and let the dart fly.  See a line to your target and throw down that line.
Keep it simple!

Consistent Rhythmic motion, that is the game of darts.

As a last resort. I read once where some ones' advice was to put your foot into a
bucket of ice water when you are throwing. Well we mostly throw in bars and
they sell buckets of beer, cheaper than buying them individually I guess. So if
nothing seems to be working for you, just walk up to somebody's bucket of beers,
take out the beers, take off your shoe when you walk up to the throwline. Set
down the bucket of ice and stick your foot in it. "Hey, what are you doing?"
That's the guy or gal who owns the bucket of beer. Just tell them you have
dartitis.  They will probably think it has something to do with your foot or ankle.
 And that is what you need to do. Take it out of your throwing arm/shoulder
muscles and move it to some other part of your body not used in throwing the
dart.