Well you might remember that I started a contest to win a set of Target Storm darts that I was sponsoring myself to help promote my very talented wife's music.  

CLICK HERE TO SEE CONTEST DETAILS. 

Well there are some pretty exciting changes to the contest! 

Toronto Darts and Games have stepped in to sponsor and for you that means if you win the contest you can pick the set of darts you want as long as they are $60 dollars and under. If the darts you want are over $60 ask anyways.  (no promises, but if you help support my wife's music then I'd love to set you up with a set of darts you'll love!)
My wife is also a dart player so all the more reason to enter.  There is a cost, but it is as little as a dollar and the prize I must say is awesome!! Contest closes 11:59 pm (EST) Friday May 31 2013.  Every track from my wife's album you buy gets you one entry into the raffle.  Buy the whole album all at once and you get a great deal of 8 raffle tickets for just $6. 
Good luck to all who enter and to all who agree that Rebecca's music is worth supporting! 

This past Tuesday my first season of darts and life with the Shaft Thrower dart team came to an end.  I had a good night.  In two previous meetings with the team we were against I walked away without a win. This time I won three out of four.  A bit of personal satisfaction in that, but alas as a team we fell just a little bit short and so our season has come to an end. 
It was a fun season, and good to get my feet wet with league play, but I am very much with my eyes set towards the future.  From where I was at the start I shoot better, I have more focus and I know my options on out shots.  Now the question is can I continue to grow?  
The answer to that is of course, as long as I stay focused and most importantly stay patient with myself.  It is a tough lesson to learn, but with darts the progress comes when it comes.  Putting artificial expectations on yourself is only a formula for disaster. How good you should be is as good as the dart that leaves your hand. No more no less.
That being said, I think the upcoming Summer League will be a great catalyst for improvement as being middle of the pack on the team will take some pressure off me and some of the high power opponents we will face will most certainly be a learning experience as all the A B and C players are pitted against each other! 

I hope you will all continue to join along and follow my evolution as a dart player.  I will do my best to add as much insight as i can and perhaps you will see something in my experiences that will help you with your own darts journey.

See you all next time!!

Dave 'The Abominable Throw man' Sproull 

As you all know my first season of darts has come to an end and with this past Tuesday being a break for most players before the playoffs start up, our home bar The Fox and Fiddle ran an impromptu darts tournament comprised of mostly B players.  As you might recall last time I was up against a bunch of B players I didn't play horribly but also fell short on every occasion.  That was singles, and this time was doubles with my wife Rebecca as my partner.  I don't know why, maybe it had something to do with knowing I would be throwing Silfr Sigr my magical darts, or just the simple fact that I had a better grasp of my options on out shot than I ever did before but I felt strangely calm and confident. 
Wouldn't you know it, but we went on to win six out of a possible eight legs to take second place, with my wife pegging out two of the games and coming up with some big scores, including a 168 in a game where we very dearly needed it. (sorry no photo)  At the end of it all the bar owner Param (who also plays and is a fine darter indeed!) added us to their summer team.  Now joining the summer team was something that we would have been allowed to do regardless but it was nice that they seemed happy to have us and sincerely thought Rebecca and I worked well as a pairing in darts. (I agree..and once the games have that 'for real' feeling the wife has another level of play!).  
It is all a  learning experience but being the top player on the last place team in your first season brings some pressures with it, both real and imagined.. and so being able to play on a team that has the current first and second ranked players in B division will take some pressure off as well as possibly offer some opportunities for us to take advantage of some mentor-ship, or failing that the learning that happens by simply being around people doing something well.

In any event they are a good bunch and we are both looking forward to the upcoming summer season!!

Before that happens though we still have at least one playoff game for the Shaft Throwers.  It isn't impossible that we will advance, and we have been making the games a lot closer of late, but the sensible answer is not likely.  
I think our best bet is to into it with nothing to lose and maybe hope that the other team will maybe just maybe underestimate us.  

I think there might be something said for making this blog about a bit more about the last nice dart I threw and so I want to bring up something that has been bugging me.  I don't know if this is a universal thing, but it is endemic to Toronto and that is that achieving a higher level of darts is done through a process of self flagellation. 
To hammer home this point I was playing a game against a pretty good and pretty experienced player and I had a shot waft outside of the scoring area just above the twenty where it meets the five. (in case you are wondering my release was a little short)  "You should not be able to do that" he says matter of fact and suggested that on his team they were going to make people pay a cash penalty into some sort of darts version of a swear jar. 
Now far be it from me to correct someone who has been playing the game for twenty odd years, but I don't think this is simply wrong, I think it is damaging.  
Never ever in my life have I ever heard of 'playing not to lose' as being a winning strategy in any type of competition, and I would suggest darts is no different.  if nothing else, what this guys was saying is tantamount to 'whatever you do, don't think about purple elephants' .  
I also think there is a difference between understanding mistakes and correcting them in a constructive way, rather than being punitive and more than likely putting a potentially very destructive bug inside someone's mind.
 Toronto is a great place for darts with some great people and great players but I don't think that being positive and playing to a high standard are mutually exclusive.  Maybe it is a Flight School vs Non-Flight School thing but maybe it is as much about being in touch with your mechanics and feeling your throw than it is about learning your mechanics, but either way I think good things happen when you focus on learning to do things right and knowing it, rather than tearing yourself down for honest mistakes and lapses.

How is it in your town?  Am I even being fair in saying this type of negative reinforcement is a Toronto thing?

Well that's all for now, but maybe a little food for thought..

if you haven't entered the contest yet, chances are still very good of winning but it IS starting to heat up. 

See you all next time!  

Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull 

Well my first ever season of darts in the 'C' division of Toronto's QSDL league has come to an end.  Granted we have the playoffs to go still, but our team is a humble one and it would be something indeed for us to get out of the first round as we will be up against tough and experienced competition. 
So how did the season go? Well a lot of fun. Frustrating at times often by pressure I would put on myself for the wrong reasons and at the wrong times but I learned a lot and all things considered I didn't do too badly. I finished first on the team by a comfortable margin (and my ever improving wife came in 3rd mere points out of 2nd) and I made it into the top 10 in the division landing in 6th spot. Next season I want to do better than that and fully expect to but I cant say I'm upset at all with 6th in my first season!  I do think just because of number of games played that some very good players ended up below me, but I also think that a lot of these players that I did get above have years of experience and teams with a lot more depth than our Shaft Throwers did. (Who nonetheless showed some bright spots such as Brian Smith who ended up 2nd on the team and shows a lot of potential!).
I must say I end the season on an up note and feeling very confident if not where I am but where I will be going. No, I don't have a specific destination in mind,  only that I will get there and that I will leave the me today behind, perhaps to be forgotten.
One of the best things I have done, and has already set me towards being much more competitive is actually learning out shots from 130 down to 60.  The top player in 'C' division Chris DeVos was the final catalyst in me getting that done, when he served me a wake up call by blasting me out of a game with a deft 89 finish.
sadly, I am no better yet at arithmetic and simply learned the numbers as one would a phone number. Bobby George would approve no doubt!
Now if I had to give credit anywhere for my fairly good results (other than being slightly obsessive about darts) is George Silberzahn and his amazing (and free) Flight School program. 
I think I could also give credit to some local guys you might not have heared of who have also given me tips along the way like Dave Davenport, Mark Chua, Adam Bonar Scott Leef and more as well as a good bit of perspective from having had a chance to speak with a couple of the pros like Danny Delfino and the ever classy Anne 'Sleepy' Kramer.  Lots of people really. I just do my best to stay focused and put the work in. I am to going to get anywhere on natural talent. It's all work, but maybe fun work. 

All in all just a fun season really.  Let's see what summer season brings! 

For those who missed last post I am still offering up a set of Target Storm in a raffle for people who help support my Wife's album.  You wont be disappointed as my wife really does have a lovely voice so check out the details: Win A Set of Target Storm Darts
Please also feel free to use the contact form to ask me any questions you might have about the contest!  If you entered now your chances of winning would be pretty good indeed.

Thank you all for reading once again and for following along in y darts journey,wherever it may lead me. I now have some practice to do!

Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull

You might remember recently I mentioned controversy with Graham Hancock's recent 'TED' talk? Well here on Graham's own YouTube channel is the talk they disproved of.  I can see people refuting,disagreeing and debating his points, but for the life of me see no grounds for pulling it. Certainly not by a science board.
See for yourself ...

I have mentioned my wife's dart playing recently in that she has gotten a lot better, and indeed she has. To the point where playing against her she has me a little rattled. She has also come very close to her first ton eighty recently and well I am incredibly proud of the progress she is making.  My wife is also a fantastic singer and a little while ago she made an album which is available many places including Bandcamp.  
So right now the TBLAC blog is running a contest to win a set of Target Storm Darts. 

In order to be eligible to win you must purchase at least one track from my wife's album One Star Awake from bandcamp. 

• Each Track will give you win entry which will be decided by random drawing.
• If you purchase the whole album rather than going track by track you will receive 8 entries.
• Darts won will be brand new and purchased by me specifically to be sent to the prize winner. 
• Contest will close 11:59 pm (EST) Friday May 31 2013.
• A choice of weights will be provided based on availability
• Names for entries will be gathered from information provided when you make the purchase of tracks or albums on the bandcamp site via PayPal.
• Everyone who makes a purchase before the end date will be presumed to be entering the contest unless they state otherwise.

For everyone who enters I wish you all the best of luck and hope that you truly enjoy the album and that you end up believing that my wife's music is worth supporting whether there was a set of darts in it or not.  it's just that a new set of darts makes anything better. ;-) 

Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull

See you all soon as we find out how I did on the last game of the season for darts, and good luck to everyone who enters the contest!