since i started playing darts i've set sunday as the day i'll play 30 legs and record them so as to mark progress. anyway i've been in a foul mood all day and it's obviously affecting my game . darts are all over the board no grouping at all. what do you do in that situation when practising ? do you just stop and come back at another time when your more in to it and perhaps think that it is just bad practise or do you keep plugging away to pull it around . i've been trying to turn it around all day and i just isn't happening at all. but my thinking is that if i ever get good enough to play for a local team then surely matches will come on days when your not up for it or feeling in the best of moods and practising like this is also important so you can learn to turn your game around???
whats your thoughts?

Dont practice when in that frame of mind really as it will do more harm than good.

If you practice for a while and find it helps to calm you down and relax you then thats a different matter, but if you find your getting frustrated with yourself then I would stop for the day.

Practice should be more about refining your technique than anything, the mental side will be learned in competition.

jamie,

I agree with you on this. You have to find a way to work through having an off day. Here are some great links and articles:

Mental Quickfix Program:

http://www.dartbase.com/tdt10.htm

The Slump:

http://www.dartbase.com/slump.htm

You can't control when you'll have an off day or be in a bad mood. But knowing and understanding them will help you work though it; especially if it is on a match day.

I totally agree with Grip. If the practice doesn't relax you, then leave it out until another day. Myself, though, I find if I'm in a foul mood I kind of shut off, and go into my zone when I'm practicing, if you know what I mean? It calms me down.....always have. However, if my mind was all over the place, well, I suppose my darts would be too?

I will quit a practice session if I am getting angry with what I am throwing. Over the years I have learnt it is better to put the darts down and go do something else for a little while, then try again later. I usually have a great session on the retry.

No amount of bad practice is good practice.

came on here posted this thread and had a cuppa then when back to it , calmed down a bit and trying to slow down the tempo . not as bad as i was a couple of hours ago when i was getting frustrated . scoring gone up but really can't finish at all. i probably expect to much as i've only been playing a couple of months and have been improving each week if just slightly. thanks for those links jake i'll check them out. interesting reading what you all have to say seems to go away and come back to it approach seems to be the majority. time out with a brew and refocus

Glad to hear that Jamie. If you've just started playing, I implore you to read the link about slumps. You will hit a couple and if you understand how to deal with them, you'll have a great leg up over others. One thing is certain you will have at least two major ones.

BTW.. I just had a terrible practice session. 5 legs of 501 and did not score better than a 100 on any leg. Kept at it though frustrating and still enjoyed myself.

Cheers:

I think one of the hardest parts about playing darts are your expectations of yourself.

When you first start out, it seems like a hard game to play. Within a few weeks, you start hitting a few big scores and peg outs and the game seems easy.

Your expectations rise, alot of the time, they rise above your ability. I know this from having done this myself.

One thing to remember is that to get real good at this game can take years of hard work. Dont be to harsh on yourselves in the first 12 months of playing. You are still learning the game. Enjoy yourself.

The rewards for your hard work will start to come in time.

Yep you'll have peaks and valleys during your first year, but usually most hit their first actual slump within that 12-24 month period. I hit my second slump at about 4 years.

You'll probably have small peaks and valleys the entire time you are playing after you hit your first peak.

Worked through it all and got to a pretty good standard then took several years off. Feel like I'm working my way back through my second slump now. Been at it since 1988.

Join flight school me friend.

My first slump was a major one. lasted close to a year, I ended up quitting darts before I lost the love for the game because I knew if I lost the love, there would be no coming back.

I sat out for almost 9 years before getting itchy feet. I have not regretted a day of that 9 years off.

I am throwing better now than I did before the break and attribute this to taking that break. My love for this game is as strong as the day I got the itchy feet again.

well mood does seam to affect your darts . in a lot better mood tonight and have been on fire . ........... well for me .averaging around 33 darts per leg of 501 , thats good for me! was 40+ plus last night

Good to hear that Jamie. It doesn't hurt to have a little break in practice when things don't go your way.

During a match or a tourny, I will just try to breathe deep and almost meditate a bit to get that break.

Quote :

i'll play 30 legs and record them so as to mark progress.

I wonder if that might be your mistake? Are you playing/fighting against your previous/good results?

yeah . each week i try to better the last. i think that was adding to my temper as i use an app on my phone nd you can see the averages on it slipping away and i was getting more and more P****d off with my self

jamie373 wrote:

yeah . each week i try to better the last. i think that was adding to my temper as i use an app on my phone nd you can see the averages on it slipping away and i was getting more and more P****d off with my self

Have you thought about trying Flight School?


http://www.howtodarts.com/

i have yeah . not really got in to it much yet though . i'm going to get it a better go though

Jamie, try not to look at your average until the end of your session. I find when I start average watching, you start trying to hard and things go worse and it snowballs out of control.

Just focus on hitting your targets and getting your groupings. The average will come as you improve those 2 things.

i think i may actually stop recording my scores for a wee while of perhaps do it in longer intervals. just been playing casually ever now and again today .not play an actual game ,but just throwing for random trebles and doubles and i hit a lot more targets without worrying about scores.

Thats the trick mate. Dont over think things. Keep it simple and prosper.

jamie373 wrote:

yeah . each week i try to better the last. i think that was adding to my temper as i use an app on my phone nd you can see the averages on it slipping away and i was getting more and more P****d off with my self

im probley not the best one to give advise maybe change of pace maybe try diffrent dart game to mix it up a little also to give you more options in using othere numbers on the board eg around the world i do this on doubles and trips ,or cricket any thing just to mix it up any way i hope it works out for you mate

Just to echo what a few others have said about averages, they will be the ruining of your game if you pay to much attention to them.

When I downloaded n01 I had every stat available on show from ton plus to c/o %. My game went belly up because I would hit an 18 darter then the next leg I was maybe on 200 after 18 darts and started to get annoyed, I would be taking a dozen or more darts to hit a double and the ton plus's dried up.

That was the case for nearly a year until I decided to get rid of every single stat and focus solely on beating whatever level I was playing against. I started thinking that a 32 dart win was just as good as an 18 dart win because the scoreboard said so.

As you stated that your fairly new to the game I would advise you to play for the passion and not the glory. Enjoy practice and don't worry about a bad throw or a bad leg. Quality practice is much more important than quantity so go to the board with the desire to play and if you get angry then take a deep breathe, talk to yourself in a calm matter and return with a focused mindset.

I generally stop for a few minutes to see if I can get focused. When I come back I'll throw at a different target(bulls or something easy at first). I've had good practises when I been really PO'd, it actually helped me focus and after a while I calmed and resumed my normal standard. The only time I stop if is I'm getting too frustrated and start throwing the darts away (read.. driving them at the board). Nothing positive is happening then.