Darts: a game where participants compete with one another by throwing small arrow like devices at a target that is round and has numbers and sections and an inner bull with an outer bull and so on. Darts now refer to the standard game with a specific bristle board design and a set of rules. Rules that are general to the game and rules that govern games like, “501,” “301,” and “Cricket.”


Darts is a traditional pub game that was and is commonly played in the United Kingdom as well as other places in Europe and across the pond here in the America’s.


Wikipedia tells hits history in a terse form, i.e., “The dartboard may have its origins in the cross-section of a tree. An old name for a dartboard is "butt"; the word comes from the French word but, meaning "target". In particular, the Yorkshire and Manchester Log End boards differ from the standard board in that they have no treble, only double and bullseye, the Manchester board being of a smaller diameter, with a playing area of only 25 cm across with double and bull areas measuring just 4 mm. The London Fives board is another variation. This has only 12 equal segments numbered 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10 with the doubles and triples being a quarter of an inch wide.”


There have been a variety of darts created over the years but the most common today is the tungsten dart. There are electronic darts but for this blog and for my efforts in tossing darts I remain a steel dart fan and enthusiast. I am recommending a book for novice darters but only because it appealed to me and my studies and rest assured most of the dart books out there are outstanding. In short, find one if this one does not fit your needs and get it. I can tell you when I started to play over twenty years ago, before I laid down my darts in 96, I tossed darts for several years without knowing some very important and critical mechanics, etc., of the dart game. As I take up once again my steel darts I have found a fountain of information to help make the game both enjoyable and competitive. Enjoy, diddle for the middle and let the darts fly!

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Roller Coaster Ride

Dart Arts Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

I like riding roller coasters, they are full of up's and down's, thrills and chills, and they take us through all kinds of emotional states. 

I like the art of darts, they are full of up's and down's, thrills and chills, and they take us through all kinds of emotional states.

So, with such similarities I asked myself, "Why do I get so frustrated when my game is on the down side, when it gives me the chills when the dart flies off target and sets my emotions at state of frustration and disappointment?

I decided it could be about my mind-state where I place such importance, such high expectations and standards that would make anyone just plain crazy.

That doesn't happen when I get on the roller coaster ride. As a fact, when waiting my turn the excitement and anticipation creates a happiness that just makes my day.

Now, I do get the same exact feelings when I apply my skills in practice of the dart arts, I get them when I play and yet, the down side of the roller coaster ride happens from time to time when I throw darts in competition and it makes me feel angry, frustrated and disappointed because I know, from both practice and experience, that those downs in darts should not happen. At least they should not happen very often since I, we, are all human and subject to human foibles, etc.

This goes back to my original goals that I will express in my teachings of the Zen and the Dart’ist because it is about the mind, my mind-state when tossing arrows. My physical and mental skills are honed to be pretty darn good yet some of my psychological efforts still come out and haunt my keister from time to time because when competing, especially in a team effort, I put my mind on desires and goals other than throwing the perfect toss and focusing only on the moment while removing obstacles and extraneous thoughts from my mind. 

What does this mean then is that my mind game is good but my mind-state is still being adversely effected by external stimuli of a less than positive nature. I have to work on this and the best way to do that is to play, compete and train while gaining experience not just tossing arrows but in the mind as I play the game - a technical one and the psychological one. 



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