I haven't been playing long enough to know if I've gone thru one or am in one. I'm curious how many of you have gone thru one and what it was like during and after.

cldiver wrote:

I haven't been playing long enough to know if I've gone thru one or am in one. I'm curious how many of you have gone thru one and what it was like during and after.

Ive been thru quite a few of them over the last year or so. During one you will feel like it will never end and you wanna give up. But once you push thru it your skill level will bump up to the next level (in my case anyway). So its important to not give up and just keep going at it

Think I have been in one since I started


Seriously though I was playing well after about a year from starting, but then injured myself so have never been able to get back to that same standard so I cant really say to be honest as that was not a normal slump.

I have been shooting alot of crappy darts for some time now. So I might be in one. I dunno. I just say to myself that it will turn around soon.

Be posetive and keep on doing what your doing and dont do what you think you should do. Heh.

USMC80 wrote:

cldiver wrote:

I haven't been playing long enough to know if I've gone thru one or am in one. I'm curious how many of you have gone thru one and what it was like during and after.

Ive been thru quite a few of them over the last year or so. During one you will feel like it will never end and you wanna give up. But once you push thru it your skill level will bump up to the next level (in my case anyway). So its important to not give up and just keep going at it

Good post Mac ! and so true. Don't we have the slump graph around here somewhere?

I've only been playing for about a year, but I've definitely seen "slumps". I've thought about quitting several times as I go from being able to hit anything I look at to watching in horror as my darts stray off into 12/18 ... again.

But here's the thing, it's always a valley right before a peak. So that "slump" is a bit like a workout. You do it and your performance gets worse and worse until you're finally exhausted and can't lift any more.

And then you come back the next time and you're just a tiny bit stronger.

I think that's how it goes with darts and any other sport. But you can also do a LOT of things that prematurely "exhaust" you. It could be something you don't even notice directly. A change at work, sleeping badly, getting a slight head cold... thousands of things can cause you to have an off day (or month) that have nothing to do with your skill or talent at all. Believe me, I've watched my game go completely in the toilet for a few days only to realize after several days I was mentally exhausted because of a big project at work.

It had nothing to do with darts, but it crept in anyway. If I hadn't separated the two, it would have remained in my mind as a "slump" in my game.

I recognized it and kept on plugging away.

The thing for me has been having a clear goal to shoot for - a 9 dart 501 leg - and knowing that any time I make a change to my throw, it's going to have consequences. Sometimes good, sometimes awful, and I just have to keep testing, tweaking and practicing.

And like everyone else has said: never give up.

Well said Chalk! +1 from me bud.

Hey guys! This happens to everyone. Here is a great article that discusses in detail "The First Slump"

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

about the different phases in a player's development, why they occur, and what you have to do to master them

One of the worst and most crucial situations in a player's development is when he experiences his first real crisis -- the first slump....

Let me know if it helps anyone.

Thanks for posting the link on the slump, I feel a lot better now. For the last two weeks I had been hitting shots that had me felling good about my progress after starting Flight School. The last three days I have wanted to do a Colin Loyd to the dartboard. Came close to throwing my cane at the board, throw darts in the trash and try something new, the wife laughs but reminds me of when my darts could not reach the board. I am getting a late start to sport at age 53. Oh and I have been throwing without the brew for about 8 days.Going back to Flight School A1.Thanks again for the link.

FOG wrote:

I am getting a late start to sport at age 53. Oh and I have been throwing without the brew for about 8 days.Going back to Flight School A1.Thanks again for the link.

We have quite a bit in common. I'm also 53 and I started around a year ago. At first I would have a beer but thought it would be better to play without it.

Good luck.

You guys are both relatively new to the game so welcome to the first slump! It is pretty disheartening but work through it! Don't fall into I need new darts, equipment, throw and stance that a lot of people fall into. You've gotta work through it.

I went through my first slump after about a year as well. The next came at about 4 years. I worked through them, and life, marriage and career got in the way. I took about 10 years off and feel like I'm working through my second slump all over again.

At least I know what to expect! Good luck!

P.S. Make sure you read the entire article and do the practice routines. Flight School would help as well.

i dont know if its just me but i think most slumps can be caused by things going on around you like family issues ,money,bills,ect another could be a little loss of intrest in the game you need to find out what ever made you want to play like the company of friends enjoying the game more play diffrent games dart games might help just have fun.
not sure how many nights a week you play i play 2 nights now one in easy level one in higher level so you can find that spark or confordents again losing all the time dosent help lower grade will help that
if you love the game as i just keep plugging away practic make perfect but get out enjoy the game too
goodluck and happy darting

I have been down as low as whale poo.The first time, but the fight back was hard, even my 8 year old son , my wife and other 10 year old son were beating me. The leavel came back to a heigh standard, I was happy with. Then a small tournament. I lost my first 2 games and was out. Into a well. Not long.
Some more time training, a bit of reading, understanding the ups and downs.
The next and last tournament I had a great fight, after 32 legs, I got 4th.
The next low was the one that lead me here and to flight school. Back to a fresh start.
Over the last 3 months my eyes changed, so bad. Now they are stable.
Last night I played 3 friends, I won only 2 games. But my darts were good. Going to keep working. A good student of Flight school.

Thats good to hear guys!

I guess its a natural part of darts though as even the Pros still have slumps, maybe its a bit like dartitis one of those things thats not easily explained as to why it happens but just got to keep trying to work through it.

Reading the reply's to this post has been a great relief now I know darts is sport of peaks and valleys. When the slump rears it's ugly I just need to remind myself 14 months ago my darts could not reach the board and the members on this forum are here to help. I must be a Darts Nut for putting myself through this.

A poster in a different forum a while back had a theory on slumps that I thought was pretty interesting.

His take was that (for him at least) many slumps occur when you are about to move to the next skill level. Basically, your body and mind are learning a new skill at that moment, a subtle change to your throw or mental ability that will take you to a higher skill level. However, your body is still used to the "old way" of doing things, and for a while it is confused and you get a weird mix of the old and the new, which causes your game to get wonky for a bit as you sort things out.

But as your body and mind learn to process the new information, the "new" way slowly takes over and you come out of your slump at a higher skill level than you started the slump with.

Now I'm not sure if any of this is actually true, but it gives me something to think about. Because of this, I try to view a slump as a positive thing - an indicator that my game is about to get better! This keeps my enjoying my game even during the bad times, and I think that causes me to come back out the other end a lot sooner!

Great thinking there. If you believe that you will improve your game (and 99.9 out of 100 does) then you might get out of the slump a lot faster.

That does make a lot of sense. There have been at least 2 times when my shooting was so bad I was ready to quit but hung on "for a few more throws" and suddenly I was shooting much better. I just figured I had changed something and then suddenly reverted but the above idea makes much better sense.
I can see why people want to change their darts when these "slumps" happen but if the above is correct it would be the a bad thing to do.

JohnK wrote:

A poster in a different forum a while back had a theory on slumps that I thought was pretty interesting.

His take was that (for him at least) many slumps occur when you are about to move to the next skill level. Basically, your body and mind are learning a new skill at that moment, a subtle change to your throw or mental ability that will take you to a higher skill level. However, your body is still used to the "old way" of doing things, and for a while it is confused and you get a weird mix of the old and the new, which causes your game to get wonky for a bit as you sort things out.

But as your body and mind learn to process the new information, the "new" way slowly takes over and you come out of your slump at a higher skill level than you started the slump with.

Now I'm not sure if any of this is actually true, but it gives me something to think about. Because of this, I try to view a slump as a positive thing - an indicator that my game is about to get better! This keeps my enjoying my game even during the bad times, and I think that causes me to come back out the other end a lot sooner!

+1 from me JohnK. I couldn't figure how to put it in words but your spot on.

+1 from me there John, it makes a lot of sense to me as I have experienced that myself.

Thanks for the thumbs up, guys! I wish I could take credit for coming up with it, but I'm really just restating someone else's idea.

There are lots of theories as to what causes us to go into a slump. But I think there is universal agreement on one thing: a slump is 99.9% mental. I believe that the secret to defeating a slump is very simple: maintain a positive attitude!! That's all there is to it! Your mechanics haven't just suddenly left you. You didn't just wake up in the morning after years of playing and have forgotten how to throw a dart. Your mind is just absorbing some new information and needs time to adjust and incorporate it into your constantly developing game.

Just smile, keep hitting the practice board, and know deep that you WILL come out the other side of this, and when you do, people better watch out, because you're going to be at the next level!

cldiver wrote:

That does make a lot of sense. There have been at least 2 times when my shooting was so bad I was ready to quit but hung on "for a few more throws" and suddenly I was shooting much better. I just figured I had changed something and then suddenly reverted but the above idea makes much better sense.
I can see why people want to change their darts when these "slumps" happen but if the above is correct it would be the a bad thing to do.

Oh and I completely agree with you here, cldiver. It seems to me that the very WORST thing you could do during a slump is tinker with your game (darts, grip, stance, etc...), even though that is the time when it is the most tempting. All that will do is confuse things!