Well, the time that I realised that I had what is commonly referred to as Dartitis I had returned to darts after a break, at first everything seemed to be fine. I was regaining my form, my style was nice and as solid as ever. I was a little frustrated at not playing as well as I knew I should do; but generally everything was going well. I was not playing in competitions, just some league darts for fun.
So I was not playing under great pressure or putting great pressure upon myself to win.
I remember the game before the problem became apparent. I was to play a young player who was in his very first season with his very first team and was somewhat nervous, people were winding him up about how good I was and I joined in a little, I did however reassure him not to worry and that it wasn’t as if I was going to go off hitting a 180 against him or anything. Well… as chance would have it I did hit a 180 first visit to the board, in fact I had a good game and came out in 13 darts against him which is quite respectable for a league game, no problems round the board, no problems finishing. I felt fine, no problems.
The next game I was a little uncomfortable when warming up before the match but didn’t think much of it, then during the game I started to have problems. I was hesitating, snatching, hooking throws, locking up and throwing wild darts.
I was totally mystified by what was happening. I remained mystified as the problem got worse over time.
It just got worse and worse, effecting my confidence, my enjoyment and my attitude to playing. Some matches saw me in a foul temper, cursing and shouting at myself in utter frustration. Nothing I tried worked. I tried different darts, flights and stems. I tried modifying my grip – everything that I could think of, it just got worse.
I felt terrible, I just couldn’t get my head around what was happening and very seriously considered quitting the game completely.
Somehow I couldn’t let myself quit, I had always loved playing darts. But now the game I played as easily as breathing was a total nightmare of frustration.
Posted by dartitisdave 
Posted by dartitisdave 