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AP Featured News
Saturday November 7, 2009
Darts is more than throwing bull's-eyes
MONICA OROSZ
CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Before the sharp objects start flying, the players shake hands.
The same gentlemanly - and gentlewomanly - gesture ends a darts match, emphasizing that good sportsmanship is as important as winning a game of Cricket or "01."
Yet the men and women who gather at sponsoring bars in the area really don't need to be reminded to behave themselves. Along the way to perfecting their steel
darts games in the Kanawha Valley Darts Association, team members often become fast friends, said association president Gary Shorter.
Brannon Krieg, the association's Web administrator, says he started playing in the league for fun.
"Now these guys are some of my best friends," he said.
Click here to be redirected to the Charleston Daily Mail website..
The sport - yes, a sport, as in the statistics and standings
are printed in the newspaper - challenges both skills of
throwing accuracy and math.
The regulation 17 3/4-inch diameter board is divided into
20 numbered sections, divided from a small central circle
- the bull's-eye - to outer sections. Winning a game isn't
necessarily about hitting the bull's-eye.
In the "01" games, for example, players start from a set
score - say 501 or 301 - and work backward. The goal
of the game is to be the first to reduce your score to zero
by subtracting backward by the points you earn based on
where your dart lands on the dartboard. See? Skills of
accuracy and math.
It's a sport in which men and women are on equal footing. The dartboard is hung so that its bull's-eye is 5 feet, 8 inches from the floor, eye level for a 6-foot person, but
easily compensated for by the throw of a taller or shorter person.
Strength, height and weight don't factor in to the skill of this game. Watch a few players throw their darts and you see that a dart throw is as unique as a golf swing.
Steady aim is what counts.
"It's eye-hand coordination and consistent technique. However, strategy is also part of the games. Darts is 50 percent or more mental," said Shorter, vice president of
4MOST, a health care cost containment company, who first took up the sport in college.
The game provides constant challenge, he said. And his regular Monday night game - the league runs both a fall and a spring season - pairs him with men and women
he probably wouldn't run into in his daily work life.
This particular Monday night at the Overtime Lounge in South Charleston, players include a retired police officer, an emergency medical technician and a painting contractor.
It costs just $25 to play each four-month season, and that includes a free drink by the sponsoring bar each game night.
Shorter credited the seven sponsoring facilities for encouraging players. The bars agreed to spend about $100 per English bristle dartboard, plus install proper lighting and
devote space for darts players, who need a clear path and a regulation 7 feet, 9 1/4 inches from the dartboard to the throwing line.
New players can certainly use darts on hand at each bar, but regular players bring their own, in everything from specially designed and foam-lined cases to practical tackle
boxes.
Players can spend anywhere from a few dollars a dart to a couple hundred dollars for a set of three, and longtime players have their favorite styles, with varying grips on the
barrel and styles for the flight, or feathered end of the dart.
The Kanawha Valley league plays traditional steel darts, a game that has its roots in English pub games and is not to be confused with the more modern electronic
dartboards played with plastic-tipped darts. The electronic dartboards have computerized components that keep and track scores. While many league members also
play that style on occasion, it's quite different in the feel of the darts. Plus, it appears they actually like the complexity of keeping score.
Shorter is quick to say that if you're math phobic, members will help you out in that regard. And those calculations get easier with play.
In a word, players say the game is addictive. The best throw can be the next one.
"It's like golf, challenging. Challenges are what makes things interesting; overcoming them is what makes them fun," Shorter said.
Some players, like Chris Pierce, who's been playing nearly 20 years, are highly devoted.
"I throw every day," he said.
For more information on the Kanawha Valley Darts Association, visit www.kvdarts.org.
"We're always looking for new members," Shorter said.