Grip, Stand, Throw – A Primer On Good Dart Throwing Technique

Unlike other sports wherein the faster and the stronger competitor will edge out his opponent, in darts, theoretically speaking, you can become at par with the best through diligent practice. Of course, not all kinds of practice will yield the same results. Investing lots of time and effort into practicing will yield marginal results if your dart throwing technique is off. In order to develop the best dart throwing technique, you should have at least a basic understanding of the concepts involved. For one, darts travel in a parabolic curve. Whether that curve is high or low is influenced by how strongly a dart is thrown by the player. It is also useful to imagine your throwing arm as a multi-lever composed of two attaching points (the elbow and the wrist), a fixing joint (shoulder) and three levers (hand, forearm and upper arm.) With these in mind, here are a few tips you should bear in mind while practicing. Among the various parts of the multi-lever that is your throwing arm, the shoulder is the only part that does not change its position.

How Does The Elbow Affect Dart Throwing Techniques?

In moving the dart backward, the elbow remains in position. Upon throwing the dart it should begin to go up. Some players advise to keep the elbow fixed all throughout the throw. However, this decreases your accuracy. Seasoned dart players are divided on the issue of how to use the wrist. On one hand, there are players who advocate the snapping of the wrist to help increase the acceleration of the dart as well as accuracy, pretty much like how one would snap a whip. On the converse side of the coin, there are players who avoid snapping their wrists simply because it adds one more factor that needs to be controlled when throwing a dart. A throwing technique can be broken down into five phases, namely: aiming, moving backward, acceleration, release and follow-through. In aiming, you should focus on the area that you want to hit, obscuring other players and things from your view. This will be followed by a backward move. How far you move back is based largely on your personal preference. Ideally, you should pull back either under your chin or beside your cheek. In the acceleration phase, you have to strive to achieve a balance between speed and force with an emphasis on doing this smoothly. Some newbies put too much thought into the release. It is quite common for issues with release to be caused by failure to raise the elbow or to forgo the follow-through phase. With the follow-through, what you’d want to achieve is to keep your throwing arm in a straight position. Do not simply let your arm fall down after releasing the dart.