Session : Putting It All Together

the final session where I will put it all together and video the final session.

I have looked at many different aspects of darts and learnt many things, such

as correct posture, the stance, release angles and about visualisation.

From the start I worked on: Stance, Posture, Wrist & Elbow Positions & Grip

and then after some issues popping up along the way I looked into ways to

minimize these issues. The issues included: Wobble, Release Angles and I looked

at fixing my posture after finding that I was too square on to the board.

So after putting it all together, here is the video:

Overall I learnt how to accurately throw a dart and be effective at

the task. As I explained in the video, there were parts that I was looking

at and concentrated on as I set up.

References:

Karlheinz Zochling, 2000

www.dartbase.com

W. J. Rayment, 2013

www.indepthinfo.com

Nice Darts
www.nicedarts.com

Session : Elbow + Wrist

Backward movement in the elbow and wrist is important. I aids in gaining much 

needed power to get the dart to the board. This backward movement is the 

focus of the session today and having a clean arm release and getting the elbow

and wrist levers in the correct order.

Rayment (2013) mentions in his web blog, 'Some beginners do not pull back the dart 

when throwing. This is a mistake as it makes it difficult to get enough acceleration

 from the dart to reach the board with accuracy. Also it is important to follow through. 

One way to do this is end the throw by leaving the throwing arm extended with 

the hand pointing at the target. Try to avoid the dart wobbling in flight.'

'A typical error here is not to pull back enough because control of this is 

difficult, but you will thus sacrifice a lot of acceleration space and accuracy.'

(Zochling, 2000)

As you can see it is important that there is backward movement so that the dart

can gain velocity prior to the release. If there is no movement then you lack power

and when the body tries to create power it then loses accuracy.

During the session I just worked on the pull back and release without the dart for 

the first 10 minutes and then took a dart and began working on the pull 

back and release and looking down the arm and through the hand when releasing.

References:

Karlheinz Zochling, 2000

www.dartbase.com

W. J. Rayment, 2013

www.indepthinfo.com

Session : Posture Revisited

Looking at posture again in this session. My chest is becoming to

square on to the board and am looking at the video I posted in the

Posture session I did earlier on. 

I  am looking to complete the line and get my chest in the correct position

and not facing straight towards the board. The picture below shows this.

To work on this I will used distributed training. I will throw a dart and actively

set up and think about what I am doing, then go away and do something else

and then come back and see if I naturally go into the correct position.

After trying the distributed learning technique I think my positioning and posture

have improved and am back in the correct position. I also think that because I have

tight shoulders and back muscles that it was hard for me to get nice and straight.
This could be fixed by stretching after exercise.

References:

Lecture 5 - MASA

H. Croft, 2013

Session : Visualisation

The theme of the training session today is a little different to the 

other sessions I have done. After a lecture in class where we looked

at Visualisation, I decided I would implement the idea in my next

training session.

Visualisation: 

- the act or and instance of visualising.

- a technique involving focusing on positive mental images in order to

achieve a particular goal.

For the session today I will sit down and visualize throwing the dart. The aim

of this is to perform the action as I visualize it. By doing this I can hopefully

improve my action and accuracy by getting a mental picture (imagery) for

exactly what I should be doing.

This video by sourced from Mind of the Athlete on Youtube, talks about the

benefits of Visualisation and how it can help the athlete or player be that step

ahead of the opponent.

By utilizing this technique in my training, I then used the distributed training 

ideas talked about in Lecture 5. By visualizing what I wanted and then

randomly going to the dartboard and throwing I mixed visualisation and actual

physical training together.

The technique of visualisation really help me gain control over the dart and

allowed me to hit the numbers I wanted on the dart board.

References:

Mind of the Athlete - Power of Visualisation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joKDiI9bYo0

Lecture 5, MASA

Croft, 2013

Session : Release Angles

Parabola of Success

This session is based on getting the correct release of the dart so I can become

more accurate at hitting specific areas on the dart board.

In terms of scientific detail, the dart flies in a similar pattern to a stone when

thrown or a bullet when shot. 

"The curve can be higher or lower, this depends only on how powerful the dart is thrown. A decent throwing technique must guide the dart exactly along this parabolic curve when accelerating the dart, and must guarantee that the dart can continue this curve when it has left the hand." 

(Zochling, 2001)

As you can see from the diagram above and the statement found on The Dart Thrower

that the ideal flight path for the dart depends on the force I use to throw the dart.

I will spend the session working on the ideal parabola by working out how hard

I need to throw to maintain accuracy and control, then work the throw accordingly.

The session was 30mins long and spent the time working on all the angles that the arm needs

to be on and the flight path the dart needs to take to be efficient and effective.

I found that in order to get decent accuracy and to get the dart to hit the board with a 

solid amount of force that I had to give the dart a bit of flight time, rather that throw it

hard and flat.

References:

The Dart Thrower - Karlheinz Zochling

dartbase.com

Session : Reducing Wobble

As I throw the dart I have an issue that I thought was minor, after

a bit of research I found out that it is not minor and is a frequent issue

for people new to darts. I am talking about Wobble.

"The dart wobbling in flight. This is usually caused by the dart being thrown 

at too much of an angle to the path of flight. The dart flights attempt to correct, 

and this causes the wobbling motion."

(W.J.Rayment, 2013)

To correct the problem in my throw I am going to look at the curve in which

I throw the dart again. I have had a session working on it and getting the

correct flight path and didn't have any wobble. I need to find that

flight again and get back to it, to avoid wobble in the throw.

For the session I will concentrate on finding the correct flight and use

blocked training method to achieve this.

By using the advice that Rayment talks about in his article, I changed the

flight path for my dart throw. I was forcing the dart to hard at the dartboard

and giving it enough air, this meant that my throw was increasingly 

inaccurate. 

References:

W. J. Rayment, 2013

http://www.indepthinfo.com/darts/how-to-throw.shtml

Karlheinz Zochling, 2000

www.dartbase.com

Session : Grip

How do I how onto the dart?

After some research, I found that there isn't any right or wrong way of holding

the dart. I also found an interesting piece from Mike O'Neal of Denver Darts.
It talks about all the different types of grips and how no one grip is the 

correct or incorrect grip. The grip needs to suit you, the individual and how

you feel comfortable holding the dart.

After watching the video I decided to go with the 'pencil' grip. Below pictured

is me holding a dart with the grip I would use.

For the training session, I used the blocked training method that I learnt in Lecture 5

(Croft, 2013) and practised the grip for around 30mins.

References:

Mike O'Neal - Denver Darts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYpXkk595b8

Croft, H. (2013)

Lecture 5 - Stages for Movement Learning