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Christopher Hammer: Lastly, Just as an intro, players who famously claim they don't practice.
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Christopher Hammer: Give us a few of them. We start with Gary Anderson, then we'll do Ryan Sill, and if there's anyone else.
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Nicho: Well, Gary's probably the highest profile case of someone who doesn't practice, and maybe we're talking over the last…
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Nicho: 25?
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Nicho: 20 years, I don't necessarily believe everything that Gary says.
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Nicho: I used to hang around with him in the early part of my amateur career, and he said he didn't need to practice that much, but yet he was first on the practice board at the 2001 British Open in Liverpool, when I was going for breakfast at half 7 in the morning. So it was at that point I thought, hang on a minute, don't believe everything you're told.
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Nicho: So, does Gary practice as much as he once did?
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Nicho: Absolutely not.
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Nicho: Because what he needs to do now, based on his anatomy, the way it feels, because he's not… he's no spring chicken anymore.
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Nicho: He feels he can get as much out of his game now
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Nicho: As he once did, by practicing less.
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Nicho: He doesn't practice… a lot.
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Nicho: sometimes he doesn't practice at all, he just does enough to get what he needs out of his game right now. And let's face it.
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Nicho: If he's telling the truth that he doesn't practice much at all, He's not exactly playing poorly.
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Nicho: But what he's doing alongside less practice is he's utilizing his brain a bit wiser to make sure that the kit he's got means he doesn't have to practice as much.
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Nicho: The front-loaded darts, the molded flight combination that he started with at the Worlds, he finds them easier to throw, which means that maybe he doesn't need to practice as much.
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Christopher Hammer: And ironically, another high-profile non, not a non-practicor, but someone who doesn't practice much, is his practice partner, Ryan Searle. So, if they were both telling the truth, they wouldn't know each other very well, because they wouldn't be practicing.
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Nicho: Well, here's the thing, it is rather coincidental that both Gary and Ryan say that they don't practice much, when in fact, they're supposed to be practicing with each other, and they've even both
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Nicho: But at the fact that they may do some practice with Justin Hood, who is another one who said that maybe he needs to do a little bit more work. And all three of them
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Nicho: we're playing New Year Darts at the World Championships.
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Nicho: So, if this is not horses for courses, I don't know what is.
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Nicho: And then there's other examples of people who need to do more to get That kind of…
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Nicho: Feel out of themselves to compete at the highest level.
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Nicho: When you wake up in the morning.
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Nicho: What's your goal for the day? Do you want to stay sharp? Do you want to get better? Are you working on something?
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Nicho: My philosophy has always been from children.
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Nicho: To amateurs, to pros, that if you want to be the best, you've got to be working on something every day.
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Christopher Hammer: Okay, so that's a nice little intro. Are there any other players you can think of, who…
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Christopher Hammer: Synonymous with not practicing very much.
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Christopher Hammer: Doesn't matter if they're our aunt, because it's,
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Christopher Hammer: Just a nice little example, because I like how you included Justin Hood, because he did say he needs to start working harder.
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Nicho: Yeah, let's have a look. James Wade is a perfect example of this, right? I once heard…
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Nicho: from James, when I was somewhat in the same management stable, and in the same sort of circles as James, that he played Premier League
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Nicho: One Thursday night. His darts from that night ended up in his manager's staircase.
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Nicho: And they weren't touched again until the following Wednesday.
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Nicho: As in, there's me darts.
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Nicho: I'll get them later. They were put on the staircase, and the next thing you know, oh, where's me dot? They're still on the stairs. So they had sat there for 5 days, he hadn't touched them, and then he had to go back to a Premier League.
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Nicho: Now, what we're talking about here, Chris, is not practice before you're about to play. This is practice on the days where you're not competing.
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Nicho: This is where you're supposed to be working on your game, working on your mental aspects, working on your technique. These kind of… this is what I would classify as practice, okay? Now, by all means.
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Christopher Hammer: Stop warming up.
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Nicho: Oh yeah, please, part of this article, can you please put in the link of Allen Iverson saying, we're talking about practice?
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Nicho: Because it's so true!
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Nicho: Well, you and I, we're having a conversation about practice, so we're talking about practice. So what is practice?
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Nicho: Practice is enhancing your game, not on the day of competition.
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Nicho: What is practice in basketball? It is on the court, with your teammates, working on three-pointers, working on technique, when you're not about to play. So what does that make the three hours before you compete?
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Christopher Hammer: Just a warm-up.
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Nicho: warming up.
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Nicho: So what Ryan Searle is referring to is he doesn't practice. So he doesn't play when he's away from the venue, but when he gets to the venue, he's constantly on the board, so he's always got warm-up time.
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Nicho: And maybe that's all he needs.
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Christopher Hammer: So when you said before about James Waite.
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Christopher Hammer: Is that common for him, or was it just a one-off mistake?
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Nicho: No, that was common. You would more likely see James under a car, fixing a BMW or some other German brand, and not being able to, you know…
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Nicho: Think about anything else but the car, and doing a fabulous job, by the way.
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Nicho: But he would much rather have done that than throw darts at a board to enhance his talent.
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Nicho: One of those players that might need 30 minutes?
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Nicho: Give him 30 minutes, and a couple of hours of relaxation before he plays a competition, and he's absolutely good to go. But even he found out, at times in his career, if I just put in a little bit of work.
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Nicho: Even if it's…
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Nicho: An hour on a Tuesday, and an hour on a Wednesday, I'll feel a little bit more prepared by the time we get to Saturday morning in the traditional timescale of a player's Championship weekend.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: You know, just to give you an indication of what it was like for me and Dave Chisel.
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Nicho: Andy Cornwall and Matt Edgar recently spoke on the Mission Darts podcast about when I practiced with Chizzy and with Andy in Morgan.
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Nicho: So Dave was a great scorer, I was a great doubler, and Andy was somewhere in the middle.
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Nicho: And he would just smash them up a little bit.
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Nicho: But it did remind me of the Tuesdays that we used to do every single week, no fail.
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Nicho: 4 hours minimum.
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Nicho: And that's what we used to call a smash session.
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Nicho: So we would work super hard on Tuesdays. After having Monday off.
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Nicho: And then we would do top-up sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and then go into a Players' Championship weekend ready.
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Nicho: So it'd be a 4-hour smash session. That's what we got from that session. We would get that sharpness, and we'd work on what we were doing.
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Nicho: But that works for us Doesn't mean it would work for everyone.
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Christopher Hammer: So, if we look at different parts of the darts community, juniors.
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Christopher Hammer: Obviously, so telling them you've got to practice for 8 hours a day, that could put them off, so… let's say, you know, I don't mean JDC players, but, you know, these are… they're ones that are well on the way, but new junior players, kids, what should their parents say they need to do for practice?
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Nicho: Do as much as they want.
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Nicho: I think you have more enthusiasm to play darts when you're a child than you do at any point in your life.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: This is why we like Connor Scott, you see, because he plays like he's a kid.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: he wakes up in the morning, first thing he does, picks up his darts and has a throw. And you think, he just loves his life. He's a pro dart player, and he gets paid for doing it.
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Nicho: If he's winning.
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Nicho: But when you're young, and you…
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Nicho: love the game. It's… let's say you're 10 years of age, or maybe even 8.
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Nicho: and you've finished your homework, and you've been to school, and you've got a couple of hours, and you don't want to go on your games console, or fiddle around with your phone, you want to play darts, just play darts. Just throw darts at the board. It can be an enjoyable thing. And it can also be the most constructive practice you ever do.
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Nicho: Because it allows you to evolve
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Nicho: Into the throw that you will ultimately have when you stop growing.
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Nicho: this is… I talk about this a lot with the JDC kids.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: You're not gonna stop growing until you're about 21.
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Nicho: So you have to grow into your thrall. You're not going to have the finished article until you are 21.
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Nicho: Yeah. Or even further on from that. So when you've got kids like Jack Johnson at the age of 15, or 14, who are tiny little kids.
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Nicho: I say to Jack, you're a great player right now. I tell you what.
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Nicho: In 5 years' time, when you finish growing, you may be another 20% better.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: Because you haven't stopped growing. So, when they're a kid, just allow them to play. Don't take it too seriously. Don't expect your kids to be Luke Littler. Just let them play, let them enjoy it, and let them grow into their throw.
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Christopher Hammer: What kind of… but what kind of practice is playing games that aren't 301, or 501, or…
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Christopher Hammer: Just made-up games.
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Nicho: Anything that keeps them engaged.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: This is the thing, attention spans these days have never been shorter because of…
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Nicho: Devices like these, devices like the ones we're talking about.
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Nicho: Sometimes it's a case of parental control, turn the internet off.
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Nicho: Off you go, why don't you play darts for a bit?
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Why don't you get outside for a bit? You know, give them a little bit of variety. And variety's good, because if you play 5-1 down straight start all the time, you're gonna get bored.
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Nicho: The good thing about technology alongside darts these days, and the use of YouTube and TikTok and things like that.
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Nicho: Is that they can play so many different games now, invented by so many different people.
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Nicho: And the game's never gonna get boring.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah. What about… now, if we look at, say, the amateur circuit,
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Christopher Hammer: people who just want to get better, like pub players, who aren't trying to become pros, realistically, they want to know what it's like to maybe average in the 70s, you know, but I guess the equivalent of breaking 100 in golf, you know, average over 60 would feel really good for them. Yep.
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Christopher Hammer: But they, let's say they're currently averaging in the 40s, and it's a lot of 26s.
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Christopher Hammer: They hit a lot of…
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Christopher Hammer: Ending up on double one a few too many times a match. And they want to, you know, finish… I want to hit their double tops more often, finish on double 16, not end up on a weird, random double.
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Christopher Hammer: What should they be doing?
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Christopher Hammer: At any age.
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Nicho: First things first, forget about averages.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: this is endemic within the amateur game. People are obsessed with statistics. So when people watch the Motor Super Series, they watch PDC Darts, or even WDF stuff on YouTube.
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Nicho: The averages are right there, all the time, and it plays with the ambition of the local player.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: I want to be able to do that. They're looking at that average, and it's so vivid on the screen.
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Nicho: So, when they play their darts apps against their friends, they might have an online league that they play in, they're obsessed with their numbers.
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Nicho: I find this with people who come to me for coaching, because they always talk about, I want to get to this average level.
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Nicho: And the ultimate way to combat that is, do you want to win or not?
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Nicho: And they go, well, of course I want to win.
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Nicho: Well, forget about averages then, because all you've got to do is beat the player in front of you, and you've got no idea what they're about to average, so stop thinking about it.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: You have to win situations.
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Nicho: This is the behavioral change that a lot of us coaches are starting to do.
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Nicho: We're trying to take people away from statistics, we're trying to get them ingrained in technique, in thought, and in being a player.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Being someone who can compete without having numbers all around them, because…
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Nicho: when you're going for, I don't know, you've got 32 left in an important match.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: The last thing you want to be thinking is, what am I going to average if I hit this?
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: Are you thinking clearly about the shot you're about to have? Yeah. You're not. So everybody I'm talking to at the minute, I'm focusing them on playing the best that they can play, and going for the situation. So it's 32 to win.
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Nicho: That's it.
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Christopher Hammer: Simple.
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Nicho: It's not about averages. Averages are a byproduct
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Nicho: of this sport, and we're obsessed with them, because we've got so much action to watch, and to digest, and so many systems like Dark Connect that people keep up with.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: So, forget about averages, win the situation. And… When amateur players
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Nicho: come to people like me, or they go to their local coach who's accredited with the GDC, or the PDP, or whatever.
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Nicho: Their philosophy of them getting better in their own heads is usually wrong.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: It's one of, I want to get better because I want to score better, I want to double better, when in fact, to get better, you need to be more mentally savvy, and you need to be technically better.
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Christopher Hammer: Yep.
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Nicho: So, you don't get statistically better.
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Nicho: You become a better dart player, and again, the byproduct are the numbers.
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Christopher Hammer: What's better?
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Christopher Hammer: practicing a little bit every day. Again, we're not talking professional level here. Try and just at least get maybe an hour in a day, or a nice big block of
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Christopher Hammer: A big block training session, you know, playing for 3 hours…
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Christopher Hammer: If he can do it 8 till 11 o'clock at night or something.
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Nicho: I would be a big advocate, if we're talking about grand scheme of, you know.
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Christopher Hammer: Very important for this.
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Nicho: similar level. Sort of, not prol level, but not…
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah, people who have jobs.
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Nicho: Blah blah, somewhere in between.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: It would be a big… Advocate for chucking in 60 minutes.
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Nicho: you know, I know that people have got kids, people have got jobs, people have got relationships, people have got other things going on in their life, but on a regular day where, you know, instead of watching two soap operas in 60 minutes.
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Nicho: You let your partner do that, and if you've got 60 minutes free, go and stick 60 minutes on the board of constructive practice.
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Nicho: Don't just throw at the board.
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Nicho: Throw with intention.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Throw at things, not just a board. Throw a treble 8. Throw a double 10, throw a treble 20. Throw at the bullseye. Go for things on purpose. That's how you get better.
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Nicho: And if you can structure a practice over a 60… well, 45 to 60 minute period, that is going to see you
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Nicho: finding improvement. But every now and again.
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Nicho: Not just because you brought it up, but it is constructed to sometimes get around a bunch of the boys or girls, and say, why don't we go down the pub, let's go down the darts Club and hammer it out for a few hours and just have a mini tournament within ourselves.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: This is one of the great things about the JDC, sorry, the ADC, because what they're doing with their vault events locally.
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Nicho: is they're engaging people more often, so people can cherry-pick when they play, so they can get more darts thrown competitively. So it's not just one leg in singles, one leg in doubles, and one leg team game. So you play three legs in a night.
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Nicho: how does anybody get better doing that? If you play ADC stuff.
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Nicho: There's a structure where you can not only make money, but you can also pay more people.
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Nicho: This is why people are improving at the amateur level, because they're playing more players.
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Christopher Hammer: Would you say try and practice
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Christopher Hammer: Find practice games on your own that can stimulate you, or is it better to try and find a practice partner?
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Nicho: A little bit of both. Sometimes it's really good to have a practice partner, because that gets you ready for competition a little bit quicker. Yeah.
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Nicho: That's why I used to practice with Chisnell, because he was not only great company, He was…
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Nicho: In the last couple of hours of practice, it was demonic.
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Christopher Hammer: That's it.
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Nicho: And he wanted to tear me up.
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Nicho: And I wanted to do the same to him.
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Nicho: So it was constructive from a competitive point of view. And if you can find someone that is of a similar mindset to you, that you want to just tear them apart for a couple of hours.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: so constructive.
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Nicho: But every now and again, you have to remind yourself that 99% of the time, this is a singles sport.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: And you have to be able to think
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Nicho: On your own, when you're under pressure, and that's what solo practice is all about.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: And when we look at the professional level, how much are they really practicing, generally speaking? I know everyone's got their own routines. What is your average PDC tour card holder doing for practice?
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Nicho: Very much depends if you're in the Premier League.
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Christopher Hammer: Okay, let's say you're a non-Premier league player, because there's only 8 of them.
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Nicho: If you're in the Premier League, it's very simple.
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Nicho: You're probably not practicing.
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Christopher Hammer: Hmm.
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Nicho: Simon Whitlock famously once said, when he was in the Premier League, he did not need to practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
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Christopher Hammer: Crossing.
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Nicho: He's practicing on Thursdays, and on Fridays, and on Saturdays and Sundays. And that would be enough for him to be the best version of himself. But if you're not in the Premier League, and you're not playing World Series events, you've got your standard 34 players championship events.
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Nicho: and you've got your Eurotour qualifiers, and you've got Euro Tours that you qualify for.
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Nicho: That's still quite a lot of darts.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: But you've got more scope to improve your game, because you've got more…
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Nicho: Thursdays off, you've got more Tuesdays off, this and that stuff. That practice is paramount for you to improve. It very much depends on whether you've got a job.
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Nicho: If you've got a job and you're on the PDC Pro Tour.
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Nicho: I've got no sympathy for you.
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Nicho: You wanna be a pro?
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Nicho: Get in the deep end.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Give it, give it your all. Look at Whistle Nyman!
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Oh my god! He had a job until Christmas! Now he's not got a job, he's winning every time!
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Christopher Hammer: Community Precise.
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Nicho: Tournament's this year, it's only April!
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Christopher Hammer: Because he's practicing more.
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Nicho: Because he's able to practice the way he wants. He's got freedom to do the things he wants to get better. Look at what's happened.
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Christopher Hammer: What was his job? Do you know?
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Nicho: No idea.
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Christopher Hammer: Okay, so… so it does vary, but, the thing is, to get to being the top player, you know, being a modus player now, and you've got ambitions to get on the tour.
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Christopher Hammer: there's… I would assume they're practicing a hell of a lot, because they've got the dream to get on the tour, but then when you get on the tour, you won't have as much time to practice.
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Nicho: Well, this is a very good point you've just made, because if you look at some cases of players who played at Modis and been very successful.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: then when they go to the PDC Pro Tour, they actually play less
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Nicho: So, if you're playing at Mortis, you've got the Challenge Tour, you've got the ADC, you've got possibly WDF as well, and all sorts of other independent stuff, right? If you're on the PDC Pro Tour, you can't do Mortis, you can't do the Challenge Tour, you can't do WDF, because it's streamed.
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Nicho: All of a sudden, things are limited.
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Nicho: So, we've seen some examples of people who played away from the PDC Pro Tour at level 2, and been very successful. But at the PDC top level, they can't compete because they don't play as much.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: One of those people who's openly admitted it is Scott Williams.
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Christopher Hammer: Yes. Yeah.
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Nicho: He believes he was a better player when he wasn't a PDC professional.
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Nicho: So, it's all about discipline, And making sure that you play enough.
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Christopher Hammer: to be the.
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Nicho: Best version of yourself every time you go to a tournament.
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Christopher Hammer: What about Littler and Humphreys? I know they're Premier League players, and he's saying that Premier League players probably don't practice, but what about those two? Because they don't turn up at a lot of the Pro Tour events, they don't…
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Christopher Hammer: Littler skips, I'm guessing he's not going to be at this European tour event this weekend, but it's in Germany.
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Nicho: I would assume not.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah, so what's their… what do you reckon their practice is like?
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Nicho: I'd be very surprised if Littler touches a dog this week.
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Christopher Hammer: Really?
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Nicho: Outside of the Premier League, I'd be very surprised if he even touches a dot.
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Nicho: I think sometimes… He's very aware of how much he needs.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Why he's so good?
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Nicho: You might look at his nearly £3 million in earnings on the rankings and think, he must be a workhorse, when in fact, he knows in his mind and his arm exactly how much he needs to get out of…
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Nicho: the best to get out of himself. He's had a cold start to the Premier League, but that has changed. His ability to adapt
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Nicho: is incredible.
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Nicho: And it's not just seasonality, it's in-game as well. Look at the… look at the situations he was in at the match play last year. 5-0 down, multiple times, and he still figured it out.
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Nicho: His ability to not panic and adapt quickly, or as a season progresses, is maybe better than anybody we've seen.
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Christopher Hammer: Is that well known that he doesn't practice much?
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Christopher Hammer: Littler.
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Nicho: Yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: I mean, has anyone written about it?
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Nicho: I think it's just… something that people talk about. He doesn't have to practice a lot.
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Nicho: But… He's just one of those freak cases.
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Nicho: Of, players that, imagine if he did… imagine if practice made him better.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah. But the thing is, I'm doing this Zoom call with one of the Premier League, they do Zoom calls, and it's Littler today at 3.30.
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Nicho: Okay.
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Christopher Hammer: if I put it to him,
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Christopher Hammer: About… you said he'd be… you'd be surprised if he touches the dart this week, practice-wise.
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Nicho: outside of the Premier League.
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Christopher Hammer: outside of the Premier League, no one would say, oh, we already know that, would they?
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Christopher Hammer: It wouldn't be like a question that's been asked before.
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Nicho: I think some people already know, but maybe they haven't publicized it.
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Christopher Hammer: So if I do a little, practice… In Google.
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Christopher Hammer: That's… as an… Let's have a look…
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Nicho: While you're doing that, I'll tell you something off the record, just to prove it, right? Okay.
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Nicho: So, last year in Belgium, in Weezer, he was defending his title, And in between…
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Nicho: the… last… sorry, in between the quarterfinal and the semi-final, because he was… he was first quarterfinal.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Stuck on a sore, and he fell asleep for half hour.
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Nicho: And then they woke up and say, oh, you're up in about 30 minutes. Alright, okay, fair enough.
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Nicho: Went up and smushed it.
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Nicho: he's… he's very much… He's dotting… he's dotting intelligence. He's artificial intelligence, that's what he is.
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Nicho: He knows exactly how many reps he needs to get that sharpness that he requires.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: Whereas some people, they need hours.
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Nicho: And that's the point, isn't it? He knows… he doesn't go out and practice for 3 hours because he knows he doesn't need to.
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Christopher Hammer: When it…
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Nicho: In fact, there are players who need to put those hours in to get the best out of themselves.
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Christopher Hammer: I found this article from July last year on Sky, when… after he'd thrashed, ryan Searle, 10-2.
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Nicho: Yes.
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Christopher Hammer: And he said… and the article says, the defending… the reigning world champion is renowned for his lack of practice on the board outside of tournaments, often throwing darts in… often not throwing darts in between being on the stage.
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Christopher Hammer: However, Littler said he has been practicing very hard for the world match play. He said, I was well up for it tonight, I just wanted to get that winning feeling, and I did it.
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Christopher Hammer: he says.
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Christopher Hammer: I've been practicing so much, I've just been putting in hours and hours, I'm glad it paid off.
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Nicho: Yeah, there's a reason for that one, though.
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Christopher Hammer: Yes, so…
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Nicho: He lost to Van Gerwen in Round 1 the previous year, and he didn't want to lose in Round 1 again. He was…
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: He was future-proofing himself. This is, again, it's the adaptation, isn't it? It's, I'm not gonna do what I did last year because it resulted in a loss. This time, I'm going to put in a bit of work because it'll result in a win. This is what I'm talking about. It's a computer game mentality of, if I do the same again, I'm going to lose a life.
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Christopher Hammer: Do you think it would then be, but he says… he quotes here, people will know I'm not a practiser, but I certainly have been practicing for this one. So, do you think it would be a fair question, because his Premier League form has increased after a bad start.
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Nicho: Yep.
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Christopher Hammer: That… has he adopted that mentality in the last few weeks to up the practice?
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Nicho: Yeah, I would frame it… a bit like, has your… has your preparation changed after a slower start? Yes.
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Christopher Hammer: Now he's motivated.
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Nicho: Now you've got some results. Is that a… is that a result of a smarter work ethic over the last 4 weeks?
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Nicho: Because somewhat of his standing in the sports community, I mean, we're talking about a guy who's doing a Coca-Cola advert. He's been throwing darts with the England football team in the last week.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: He's been pulled in all these different directions, and that makes it very difficult for him to put in any practice at all.
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Nicho: Effectively, his practice last week for winning in Berlin was playing with the England football team.
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Christopher Hammer: Was that… so… was that post… was that pre-Berlin?
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Nicho: Yeah, it was on Wednesday.
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Christopher Hammer: What was it?
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Nicho: I think it was on the Wednesday.
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Christopher Hammer: Is there any… did he answer any questions about what… how he got on with the England squad? Like, to the media? Like, if…
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Nicho: Not that I'm aware of. The only thing I know is that he was thrown with… is it, aaron Ramsdale and Phil Foden, who hit a 180.
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Christopher Hammer: Figure out.
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Nicho: And Owen Binks was refereeing, and they had a… they had a right… right old laugh.
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Nicho: It was.
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Christopher Hammer: Yes.
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Nicho: But it's safe.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah, I'm just reading a little article about it from, you know, the England football page, so a bit more official quotes.
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Christopher Hammer: Yes, I mean, there'll be other people asking questions today, I'm just trying to think of something a little bit different.
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Nicho: Good, because I would imagine the planet will be on there, will he?
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: Normally, I mean, I'm just happy just to get the recording of it, and if…
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Christopher Hammer: you know, sometimes I'll throw in a question, but I'm not that fussed, because they do tend to…
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Christopher Hammer: Ask him questions over and over again.
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Nicho: Well, you could actually… Approach him with a broader question along the lines of.
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Nicho: This is your third Premier League now. Has…
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Nicho: Have the last two campaigns, educated you as to how much practice you need
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Nicho: to get through a campaign. And has it changed over the last couple of years?
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: as a result.
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Nicho: Because what you're… in that question, you're approaching his experience as a Premier League player.
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Nicho: And he's no longer a rookie.
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Nicho: So, we're trying to find out if he's learning as he goes along. He's obviously very successful, because he's made a couple of finals.
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Nicho: But has he done anything different in Season 3 compared to the previous two?
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Nicho: Because it's been his slowest start.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah, I think the thing about the work ethic has changed, because…
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Christopher Hammer: Like, there's evidence that he did up it.
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Christopher Hammer: when he was, for the World Match play, when, he really, really wanted to win, and if he was struggling, he probably thought, right, I gotta pull my finger out a little bit.
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Nicho: You know, I don't remember exactly who it was.
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Nicho: I think it might have even been Chris Mayerson, because we were talking about certain players on TalkSport at Christmas time.
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Nicho: one of them was Gabe Clements, and you think, your form has been awful all year, and yet he goes to the worlds and plays really well.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: and you question the work ethic of some players. Season-wide.
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Nicho: Compared to what they do at the Worlds, they only try and peak properly once a year.
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Nicho: In fact, one of the great things about Littler at the minute is that we know he peaks multiple times.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: for the UK Open, he'll peak for the playoffs of the Premier League, because he'll get there. He'll peak for the match player, the Grand Prix, the Slam, and the Worlds. Yeah. He knows how to peak 7 to 10 times a year.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: I mean, look at Justin Hood, another great example. Peeks at the world. What's he done since? Nothing.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah, good. Nothing else we need to touch on with practice there? I think we've done quite a good little…
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Nicho: I just think it's… I think it's horses for courses. I think, to give you the two best examples right now, maybe the person who practices the least
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Nicho: would be Ryan Searle, because he's admitted.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Nicho: But it doesn't stop him from winning in the first third of the season for the last 7 years.
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Christopher Hammer: Only just sneaks not in with a day to spare.
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Nicho: Exactly, so there you go, he's done it for 7 straight seasons. Then you look at Joe Cullen, and you look at…
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Nicho: him losing to Wessel Nyman in a corresponding final within 24 hours of Ryan Searle winning, and he's the one who's openly admitted that he's been lazy, and that putting in a bit more work does help him, because look at the results.
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Christopher Hammer: Yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: Bro. Okay, well, I will… be in touch soon when I've written that up.
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Nicho: Grit?
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Christopher Hammer: And, yeah.
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Christopher Hammer: That's great.
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Nicho: Yeah, and just let me know what's happening with May 13th.