Darts: The sound of one dart..

Something flickered for a moment and then it vanished and was gone..
"Romeo had Juliette"
-Lou Reed

My mentor George Silberzahn often says that there are levels of understanding in darts which much of the time feels more like some sort of Gnosticism than a game but sometimes, just sometimes I will have a darts epiphany and find myself having an aha! moment.
Somehow, quite inexplicably I  will have a new perspective, a new clarity on the meaning of life (well at least the darts part of life) and I have done so just very recently, despite having largely been in a bit of a downturn performance wise.
How a new understanding coalesces in my mind and takes form as an idea I could not begin to tell you, although I do suspect that my return to regular structured practice is the major causative force at work here. 
Now what is it exactly that I have learned here?  Simply that my 'stroke' the 'thing that is done' in the moment between intent and execution is nothing. Any attempt conscious or otherwise to add on or construct a 'something' only detracts. There is intent, and then completion. Anything bridging those two is a snowflake on the tongue; all suspension of care and all absence of will as applied to the doing of 'the thing'.
All of this of course might be little or no help to someone who doesn't have a first hand experience of what I am talking about, but I do believe that while personal experience and cultural lenses may alter the descriptive phrases, that there is some degree of universality to this particular stage of learning the game. 
So now that I have the great cosmic secret to darts why am I still frustrated?
Well first of all I think it should be said out loud for all of us who quietly thought it to ourselves, and that is that the better you get at darts the less easily it rewards you.  One day your'e excited that you fluked a triple 12 or two and then in a blink of times eye your shaking your head in disappointment at an 83.  
There is also a truism of the universe that once an idea is understood in a way in which it can be described into language it is transformed from knowing into remembering and the problem with remembering is that each and every time it must be translated from language to knowing and simply put as "I just do X" realization that produced brilliant results over one session may not bear the same fruits in another session despite our best efforts to "just do X".
The end result if I can take a step back and try to look as objectively I can I think that while I might be disappointed (and perhaps a little depressed) by not being in full ownership of some new level of prowess, I can still feel hopeful that I am on the cusp of one.
I love the game of darts but I will tell you it is frustrating and a long long steep climb.  Maybe not for everyone, but for those of us who suffer a dearth of natural talent it is a grind and some days the very commitment to persevere unto itself is its best reward. A lot of slogging, but in that, yes certainly progress and the rewards and satisfaction that go with it.

Oh yeah and if anyone is wondering the dart team is still undefeated at 5-0-2 and can't say we plan on losing anytime soon.  Of course other teams may have something to say about that, but that's there business to try. ( OK make that 5-1-2 but still not too shabby) 

Now if you'll excuse me I'll have to go back figuring out how to do nothing. 

Dart Board Chats Update!

While it will still take a minor miracle to get Dart Board Chats up and running there IS a website on the way!  More on that soon!

See you all next time and thank you all so much for taking the time to read!

Dave 'The Abominable Throw Man' Sproull