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Eric Bristow's battles with Dartitis

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  • 15-01-2016 9:18pm
    #1
    DEFTLEFTHAND
    Registered Users Posts: 16,500 ✭✭✭✭


    I was watching a few darts documentaries on youtube recently and one story that keeps coming up is Bristow's sudden decline in the late 80s and early 90s. He attributes this to dartitis, a condition that impacts on the players abilty to release the dart. It plays havoc with your rhythm and leads to erratic scoring.

    Take a look at this video chronicling the changes to his throw over the years.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBW2_4bTrI


    It's sad really, I bet he struggles to average 60 these days. I was reading on another darts forum that when he plays exhibitions he gets bet most of the time by average pub players.

    Anyone here ever experience dartitis?


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    #2
    statto25
    Registered Users Posts: 3,841 ✭✭✭statto25


    DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »
    Anyone here ever experience dartitis?

    Yes, I did for a couple of years. Right now I'm an average pub player but when I was younger I played a lot better standard. I was constantly tweaking my stance, throw, darts and add to that the pressure I was putting on myself expecting a big score everytime and eventually I developed the yips. In practice I was fine but come gametime I would walk to the oche, aim and..... Nothing...the dart would not release. It was like my brain had lost the step in my throw where I actually release the dart.

    Eventually my first dart became a throwaway and the next 2 might hit somewhere near the target. It was the most demoralising experience. People who never seen it before laughed and other became frustrated with the time I took to throw the 3 darts. I thought about packing it in and eventually my captain dropped me to last in singles just to give me a game. I went from 2 legs guaranteed a night to a sympathy throw.
    I didn't quit and just kept going and eventually after changing everything about my throw, I started to get some fluency back in my throw.

    Right now I'm throwing with more or less no issues at all. I get the odd "stutter" but I just reset myself and it goes away. I would recommend that anyone who gets dartitis to never give up if you are serious about the game. Change your setup or darts altogether but the trick is to keep your mind focused on what you are trying to do.

    TLDR: I had dartitis, it was a fecker, kept persevering, don't have it anymore.


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