Remember in your imagery exercises to practice confidence, too. Whether it's how you stand, how you walk, the darts you throw, the words you use, a knowing smile at your opponent, whatever method you can use to project this, confidence is the key to calming you down in tight situations. Confidence is what drives home Bull's Eye after Bull's Eye. Confidence lets you think clearly about how to win. Confidence relaxes you and allows your body to rise to the level of play required to beat the toughest opponents. Confidence is what separates the great players from the also rans.

I believe confidence is the key to winning. I would hazard to say that darts is 10% skill, 10% strategy, and 80% confidence. I've watched players who are deadly accurate when playing against most of the field, but when playing against a pro-level player they've never met before (and have only heard about), they don't feel worthy to stand at the line against them. Their performances bear this out. I've seen players who by all rights should win tournaments, but instead lose in crushing fashion at the end because they lost their confidence.

Now, I don't mean to speak of confidence as though it has an on/off switch. It does not. It is a cryptic creature, to be sure. The nature of confidence is hard to understand at times, and it takes real focus to attain and maintain. You must practice being confident, just like you practice throwing darts. Any feelings of doubt, fear, or anxiety should be routed from your mind, just like your body's immune system would turn and attack a dangerous, intrusive virus. To be a confident darts player, you must believe you are a threat to the opposition every time you pick up a dart. In your mind, you know the other team dreads your every appearance at the line. You feel their hopes of winning wither away with every dart that leaves your hand. Your darts are weapons for you to punch out any combination of targets at will. No triple or double is too small for you. This is what confidence feels like. Make it a part of your game and preparation.

by Timothy R. Bucci, author of:
SOFT-TIP DARTS FOR THE NEW PLAYER: A QUIVER OF 3
(available at Amazon, BarnesAndNoble, and AuthorHouse.com)