How professional and amateur darts players can evolve to reach new levels? Paul Nicholson on why change is more important than ever before

Just like any other sport, dart players should always be looking at different ways to find the next level of performance throughout their careers – no matter what standard they play at.

If you do the same things year in, year out, are you really going to succeed or evolve into a more prolific winner? No. At best they’ll plateau. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

If you find a winning formula and expect it to work for the long-term, you’re mistaken. Just look at Phil Taylor. He was constantly evolving whether it was his calendar management, diet, exercise, weight loss and practice regimes. He found new ways to get an advantage. No wonder he won trophies for so many years and reached new levels as he got older!

You have to have that self-reflection of what’s working and what isn’t otherwise rivals will catch up and you’ll go backwards.

EXERCISE AND DIET

During the pandemic there were several players who found themselves with more time to work on their fitness and diet or to lose weight. It was revolutionary for Luke Humphries, who looks a completely different player these days and has so much more in the way of energy levels and stamina than in the past. This helps him immensely for all the travelling on the European Tour and the long playing days of the Pro Tour.

Exercise not only keeps you physically fit but also mentally fit. That’s obviously key for long days and weekends on the oche. Luke’s consistency and his climb up the rankings is proof of this – but he’s certainly not the only one.

Several years ago, Ross Smith maybe didn’t look after himself physically like he does now – and that was mainly down to his career as a truck driver. These days he epitomises what a modern-day darts player should look like and it’s no surprise he’s becoming a more dangerous player on the big stage.

Danny Noppert and Gerwyn Price have always been physically fit and look what it’s helped them achieve in a relatively short space of time.

Gerwyn has recently admitted he’s adopted a gluten-free diet in the past eight weeks after working with specialists to try and find out what was triggering the water retention in his hand and feet. He researched that a gluten-free diet could help and his diet changes have coincided with improving results. He also admits his ‘mind seems to be better’.

Andrew Gilding had to wait until his 50s to become a truly dangerous player on the circuit but that came after he gradually lost weight and also focused more on the psychology of the game.

Michael Smith famously lost a lot of weight during the pandemic and now he looks a much fitter version of himself. His image is great and unsurprisingly, he’s now a world champion!

You can probably lose ‘too much’ weight to the extent you don’t feel as comfortable on the oche. There’s not one dream weight or physique that everyone should aspire to because we are all different.

In terms of darts fitness, Phil Taylor was always right up there even though he may have been a little bigger than he wanted to be at times in his career.

On the morning of every game he’d always go for a long walk and grasp fresh air. He did the right amount of physical exercise and practice for him. He had it nailed, but his regime wouldn’t work for everyone.

You have to find what works for you. I’m currently on a quest to find out the best kind of exercises for modern-day darts players and hopefully I’ll find some answers later this year.

Obviously bulking up too much in your arms could have an adverse impact on your throw if you are naturally slim like Bradley Brooks – whereas if Gerwyn Price lost his muscle mass, he might also struggle.

There’s got to be some kind of best practice that would work for most players.

Looking closer at diet, I think the catering for players at 99% of venues is absolutely shocking!

Some of the players are starting to take their own healthier food to venues and that’s something I used to do earlier in my career because I wanted healthier pasta rather than sausage rolls and chicken and chips. It really annoys me how much unhealthy food is offered to the players.

Look at how other sports have changed. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, golfers were golfers. But since the turn of the century we’ve seen more and more ‘athletes’ playing golf. And the same can be said of cricket.

What I want for the future of my sport is more athletes playing darts. It will help the image of the sport and also the performance level.

Unfortunately, the general perception of darts is still that it’s a pub sport.

Eric Bristow once said “we can take the players out of the pub, but we can’t take the pub out of the game.” He’ll always be right but that doesn’t mean we can’t revolutionise the image of the sport to chase more mainstream audiences and appeal to a wider variety of demographics.

Hopefully one day we’ll see a dart player on the front of Men’s Health magazine!

PRACTICE ROUTINES, PARTNERS AND SET UPS

More than ever before, I’m seeing players making their set ups at home remarkably similar to those on the Pro Tour with the now famous blue backgrounds.

They want to make sure that when they practice at home, the conditions and visuals are as close to what they’d experience in floor tournaments and I think that’s very clever.

It’s just another example of how players have moved away from the old days of just going down to their local club or venue to practice – where conditions would be totally different to professional tournament venues. You’ve got to try and replicate - as best you can – serious events when you practice as it’ll make you mentally better prepared.

Even amateurs now will have pro level lighting, pro level boards and even pro level raised oches made by carpenters from scratch. Nobody did this kind of thing in the distant past and those who still don’t really may need to catch up.

Practicing with the right partner has become more important than ever – just look what’s happened to Gary Anderson and Ryan Searle this season after they’ve clearly taken their routine up a notch.

Dimitri Van den Bergh has lived with Peter Wright and Damon Heta in the past which makes practice a lot easier but obviously those arrangements are rare.

It’s important a partnership not only like each other but can also push each other. That’s the perfect storm.

In 2011 I lived in Preston, hence every Tuesday I’d travel to Morecambe and practice with Dave Chisnall and it had such a profound effect on my career. I knew I’d be in for a hell of a session but it’s exactly what I needed.

People hunt for proper partners these days – someone who will really test them rather than any old partner they’d beat relatively easily.

Ian White is seen as the greatest sparring partner in the history of darts! Everyone he practices with goes on to have success – Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor and Michael Smith to name just three! Don’t forget what those sessions did for Ian’s career too. He is one of the best players of the last decade.

It’s also important to find a venue that suits both players. When I practiced with Dave, we used to go to the Gordon Club in Morecambe because it was always quiet and we got no interference.

Nowadays, players are more famous and high profile so they want to stay away from the public when practicing seriously. Fortunately, they make more money these days so they can all get their own practice facilities installed at home and invite their partners over.

Phil Taylor famously invited Raymond van Barneveld over to his house many years ago to practice despite their rivalry and Barney will often host some of the Dutch-based players.

Players tend to have one serious practice session with a partner once a week in the build-up to tournaments at the weekend. As well as that, players do like their freedom to do their own practice routines during the rest of the week.

What players do during these practice sessions can differ, but the majority will play a lot of legs for hours on end. I heard about one recently between Jeff Smith, Matt Campbell and Darren Webster and they recorded all their statistics. They just played legs in a ‘winner stays on’ format and Darren Webster scored 87 180s in one night! And that was twice as many as the others!

Practicing as trios has it’s benefits. You could have two of them playing a best-of-11 leg match against each other while the other rests or does some practice drills on a different board. Then he/she plays the winner while the loser then rests. It would replicate a long Players Championship day.

Some players will just practice alone and that’s their choice, but I’m not sure if that’s the best way.

EQUIPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

In the past, players would often get signed to a deal, get a set of darts made and go on their way.

These days the relationships between player and manufacturer are much tighter and that’s typified by Michael van Gerwen and Winmau.

They joined forces the day after MVG lost to Peter Wright in the 2020 World Championship final and went on an extraordinary journey together, taking the tailoring of personalised equipment to another level.

Darts are not just purely made my machinery anymore – elements have to be handcrafted to suit the player as much as possible. MVG is so meticulous, he needed this kind of relationship to help him get back to winning ways.

Dimitri Van den Bergh had a great time with Unicorn but then changed to Target, where he’s onto his second set of darts. It’s a relationship you need to cultivate with your engineer to maximise your potential as a player and leave no stone unturned.

Dave Chisnall was at Target for years then changed to Harrows, where he’s enjoyed success. In fact every time he makes a change in his career – which isn’t too often – he enjoys success.

Some players don’t like to change and they stick with the same equipment. James Wade is the perfect example of this. As much as I admire what he’s done over the last 20 years, I do wonder if there’s a piece of equipment out there that could vault him back up the rankings again and would assist in him winning more major titles.

He’s using the same flight, stem and barrel that he was 15 years ago. I would like him to perhaps experiment a little more over a month or two and see what new level he could reach.

When Brendan Dolan switched from his old darts to a brand new set at Winmau, it took him years to figure it out. It took him so long he doubted if he’d ever win titles again. When he figured it out with the aluminium stem and the kite shape flight, it clicked really well.

Some say Peter Wright is an example of someone who changes too much – but I think he’s an exception. It’s what makes him who he is and I think change keeps him fresh and successful.

TRAVELLING

Whether you’re travelling around the world or around the country, it’s important to feel at home wherever you are.

When we flew to Hannover after the Premier League the other week, Gerwyn Price was on the plane clutching his own pillow! He wants those little home comforts when he’s on his travels and other players will do similar things like packing their favourite tea bags and snacks.

Robert Thornton would always take Cup a Soups wherever he went around Europe just in case he couldn’t find something he liked to eat!

Different cities can feel alien to players – especially those who don’t travel as much – so you’ve got to try your best to minimise the anomalies that could put you off your stride.

The smallest things can make such a big difference and that’s what elite sport is all about.

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