Session 9 Movers and Achievers

The Joker Juniors were delighted to welcome a new member Joey to the pack this week. We continued our fun this week working on grouping and accuracy. Our Joker Junior highest hitter this week was Maisie O Shea our only girl and she is challenging the boys. Jake Long, Ruairi and Rian Power, Jay Lynch and Joey O Sullivan were all my Joker's MVP's this week because everyone aced our maths and are getting so quick at adding the scores together in only a few short weeks.

For our older youths this week we took 20 minutes out to briefly discuss mental health, over throwing and being a smart dart player. I am aware that youths today want to make a career out of darts and they throw like there is nothing else for them and this is their job. This can be detrimental to their mental well being as darts is a cruel game and is 70% mental. So we discussed how it is not their job right now, how its a hobby and we are going to have a healthy happy positive attitude to the game and the wins will follow. Putting pressure on yourself at age 12 to 17 when it doesn't need to be there is not helping the mental side of the game. You won't win if you are stressed out and we discussed from a sport psychology point of view how stress/anxiety can tighten up one muscle and suddenly you are missing. We also spoke about negative thoughts and why we do some of the routines we do every week that we are gaining confidence on certain finishes and by hitting them repeatedly we are in the mind set that that finish will go in a game setting. We spoke about being a smart dart player and having a plan B and right now plan B for everyone was education and school work. I saw some of the faces and I get it I wasn't the best scholar but before darts I was a plumber and that funded my darts for years. We spoke about Gian Van Veen and how he was playing at the top of the game whilst getting a degree in Aviation and combined both handing his thesis in the day he advanced to the world youth championship final in 2023. Why is this important? Because mentally he has a plan B, he has a way out, darts isn't everything to him and he plays because he loves it , he plays because he wants to and not because he has no other choice. The way to progress in darts is to start winning locally, then in INDO's and JDC Eire's and we will look at going to the UK and challenging them there when we are match ready. I will guide everyone on that route and we already have some of the older boys working towards development tour next year but we will be competitive when we go in all aspects of the game. 

We worked on our doubles (again of course) statistically this week  Jamie Cunnigham, Allen Moore, Brooklyn Gibson and Sean Hutchinson were the most consistent. Showing steady improvement was Jamie Harte, Dylan Comer and Dara Duke. Aaron O Callaghan showed good match improvement in our 501 King of the oche final game.