I feel like I might have missed an installment, but if I did I can assure you that I have been hard at work with both darts and with cool things to bring to this blog!  
Last Tuesday was a loss for the team, but a night of a few positives. My wife Rebecca won a singles game against a guy with a very solid record and I managed to pick up a couple of wins myself.  Most noteworthy of these would also be my singles win, as I was having a good time but not really in the groove and I would say well on my way to a loss.  Then, still in the first leg (best of three) and feeling no momentum at all and hitting some abysmal scores, I thought to myself "I cant let this S.O.B. beat me!", and that then and there became the mantra in my head for the rest of the game.  
Next thing you know, I'm walking away with a 2-0 win!  It's amazing how much a role that concentration and a calm focus plays in darts.  It is sometimes the hardest thing to maintain as well, but I think that along with the simple nerve to stay unfocused and to keep from getting unhinged is at the end of the day the biggest difference between winning and losing in the game of darts.  All of that comes hand in hand with a certain tenacity and of course determination and commitment.  
This oc course leads me into the next bit I want to talk about and that is a member of the Shaft Thrower dart team, Brian Smith.  I recently found out that Brian is a personal trainer, and has his own fitness business.  I was 
a little surprised by this, as you see Brian maybe doesn't look like what I would expect a personal trainer to look like.  That is until you find out he got down to where he is now from 357 pounds!  That is some pretty good work.  Looks like other people agree as it looks like his appointment book is already filling up!  
Brian is a down to earth guy and from playing darts with him I can tell you he is competitive, but not in a loud kind of way..maybe a 'do your best' kind of way?  
In any event he is a good guy and is certified as a personal trainer and can help you out 0ne on one in Toronto or anywhere in the world via Skype.  Check it out!!  

Building Bodies By Brian


Coming up I hope to have more interviews as well as a review of my new Copper/Tungsten darts!!  Thank you all for reading.  

Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull 

Well I have just finished a tough but I think rewarding morning practice session with my newly arrived McCoy Copper tungsten darts (which I will write more about soon!) and as you know i would normally wait until after tonight's league games before posting, but I had something I wanted to share with you first and would hope that you might want to share as well.  It is about something called the WDDA or 'World Disability Darts Association' and no, I'm not disabled but I am a dart player and with their wits, and a little pluck and determination these people are doing a little bit for the disabled and I would say a lot for darts, and by their actions speak eloquently to the beauty that is the game of darts.
I was fortunate to be able to conduct an interview with Russ Strobel. Russ Strobel is the WDDA Chair as well as the inventor of something called the Wild Fire 137 which brings able bodied and wheelchair using players together at the same oche.

Here is the interview.  It is their hope to make people aware of their work and to get the word out.  I am happy to help them out a little in that regard.

Russ Strobel World Disability Darts Association Interview!!  

Thanks for reading!!  I'll update you all later on how I make out tonight with the league game! 

- Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull

It is amazing how much difference a couple of days and a good practice session can make.  Had I posted immediately after my Tuesday darts league night I would have been bemoaning how whatever gains I had made had evaporated and what little fledgling skill i had undone and lost.
It is true I had a bad night, and allowed myself to become just ever so slightly unraveled.  I was up against a few of the better shooters in the division.  I wasn't horrible, but I was nowhere near good enough, well at least on that night.  It really is amazing how much impact being in a new place can have on my nerves still!  
In a bit of an upside though, it seems results from a few weeks ago were late in being entered and so now I can briefly enjoy being in 7th place in 'C' division until my bad performance on Tuesday gets entered in.  It would be nice to finish my first ever season in the top ten of the division.  Plenty of darts left, and as they say 'the proof is in the pudding!'.
I also have some exciting things going on beyond just playing the game, for instance there is still the Larry Butler interview I hope to have posted sometime next week and a bit about a really exciting initiative out of Australia that I think you will all appreciate plus a few other surprises!
I have also recently had the pleasure of interviewing up and coming American dart pro Danny Delfino.  It was a fun interview and I think a fun read.  

Click to read the Danny Delfino Interview 

I hope you all enjoy it!  There are more to come !! 

Oh and did I mention I have new darts on the way from puredarts.co.uk?  Copper tungsten!  

See you all next time!! 

My dart league is still on hiatus until next Tuesday, and I am very eager to get some games in!  What I haven't been, however is complacent.  If you enjoyed the interview i did with Anne 'Sleepy' Kramer you might be excited to know that there are more with interviews with Danny Delfino and American darts legend (and current ADO #1 ranked player) Larry Butler.  Both of those will be coming soon!
Until then, and without me having had any games to play what then to talk about?  I think maybe we can talk about the picture I have posted here.  Yes, they were all thrown and not placed in the treble bed and yes that is a grand total of nine points. So the question then, considering that I am maybe a certain distance from a 180 as to whether I was happy or frustrated with this result?
The answer is quite pleased indeed. Maybe not jump up and down with glee, but still enough good things have happened here to make this satisfying.   Right off the hop, I think we can dismiss any sort of notion of 'it could have been a 180'. No, it is a nine and can only be what it is. it could just as easily been a fifteen. What should be considered however is that while I threw the darts I did not specifically aim for the ones or for that matter for any number.  I was just casually tossing darts at the board and the only reason the three darts ended up where they did is because all three throws were so similar.  So not so much a testament to my accuracy in this case, but perhaps a very hopeful indication that some sort of consistency is starting to develop in my mechanics.  That is something I am very happy about indeed!
To finish things off I should mention that I have actually started throwing around thoughts of starting and captaining my own team next year.  It's a ways away so who knows, but the thought is there.  I think I may talk more about that soon!
Next time I post I should have more to report on my league play as well as those interviews somewhere in the mix. 
In the meantime I am going to leave you with a blog from another dart player. He is on a couple of the forums I am on and next to my mentor George Silberzahn has posted some of the most insightful and helpful things I have read in terms of helping me get better at the game of darts.  I thought it would only be a fair turn to give his blog a quick plug.  Please check it out!

Game On! With Donny Joe! 

Enjoy, and see you all next time!!