How a average player raised his game

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This is just a very short story about a dart player I worked with. A lot of people check this story out. Yet I’ve only talked with one dart player this year. Perhaps it’s because people just want to find an easy way and the truth is the secret is in mental training. Call me if you like to understand mental training. 

A number of years ago I worked with a dart player at the request of his doubles partner who I also did a little work with on occasion. This guy was not of the same caliber, but they were old friends. He was not nearly as confident as he should have been both with his skill and experience. After several sessions I decided we were going to work on his confidence in a different manner.  I had taught him progressive relaxation and we had addressed his anxiety in a very CBT way (cognitive behavioral therapy). He was playing better, but still played well below his practice level.

So instead of working with him on progressive relaxation with some imagery rehearsal we did a deeper level of hypnosis. I had put up a dart board in my office because I had 3 other dart players I was working with too.  Under hypnosis, I took him to the dart board and told him to play a game.  He was great.  Then I imposed a competitive situation on him without suggestions that he would handle pressure and he was significantly worse.  Next I suggested that he would be able to handle the pressure and he performed at a higher level again.

The next step was interesting. Out of hypnosis we did the same thing with the same results. For competition, we put some money on the line.  After that he basically said he didn’t believe he performed at a higher level under hypnosis and asked me to prove to him he could perform at that higher level.

At our next session I hypnotized him again and went through a similar routine with instructions that he would remember everything. That had a more positive effect, but he still had doubts. He said something in passing that his partner had said. His partner had told him he didn’t understand why he couldn’t perform as he thought he had so much skill that he could throw trip 20’s and bullseye’s with his eyes closed he was so good.  So I decided we would test his friends assessment.

I hypnotized him again. This time I put him in a situation where he was competing. I described the situation, described the lighting. Told him what he would see when he opened his eyes. Then I turned out the lights. He was standing at the line. I was careful to make sure he was in the right position. I told him to throw a trip 20. I called out a shot and he threw there. He hit every shot. I brought him back into awareness with the lights out and then brought the lights up. I had left him of course with the knowledge that he could in fact  throw darts in the dark.

He went on to compete at a much higher level.  He had always had the skill. It teaches us that when we play with unconscious awareness, we can perform and do well at most anything. Remember, I do offer The Mental Game of Darts Imagery Rehearsal mp3 is for sale here. Get yours today.

If you would like to perform at your best in darts, contact me and let’s set a program up for you too. Contact me now