So you Want to be a Pro Do You?

Becoming a professional dart player has become a viable career option in recent times. The marketing skills of the PDC have helped, so has the BDO bringing more opportunities to the fore for dart players. There is also the chance for players to earn "good" money at private exhibitions,offering coaching lessons and of course lucrative sponsorship deals that have alerted a lot of players to the opportunities that are now available.If you are good enough that is.

Darts is unusual (when compared to a lot of sports) in as much as the future young stars do not get taken in by professional clubs and nurtured (and paid) to become the stars of the future. This happens in football, rugby and cricket for example, but not in darts. "Wanabee" pro dart players have to finance their own dream (or be lucky enough to land a sponsor) to become the next big thing. This does not deter players from starting on the road to being a pro and like many journeys there are usually a few diversions along the route.

In February 2010 I (Paul Gillings) had just finished my degree in The Performance Analysis of Sport, I had focused my studies on darts. I went to a players championship event (The PDC floor tournaments) and spotted a young player who was going through exactly the scenario that has just been discussed. Anthony Urmston-Toft was playing in his first "pro" event and had ambitions to be a elite dart player. We got chatting and formed a darting partnership, Anthony threw the darts and I offered him my findings from my  studies that would give him a edge over his opponents.

This is a diary/blog of some of what has happened in just over a year of our partnership, the highs, the lows, the win against "The Rocket", Amsterdam, the switch to the BDO, custom made darts, Germany, Isle of Man, Finland, playing for "England" in Glasgow and Folkstone! Anthony also worked full time in a catering outlet during this time and became a father for the first time. Yep, it's been interesting!

Swindon - 20 February  2010

Anthony along with his wife Sarah financed their trip down to Swindon for Anthony to play in the event. The match I spotted Anthony playing in was against Nigel Heydon, Nigel won 6:3. I noticed two things, Anthony was firing in 140's and 180's but was clearly very nervous (which was understandable) which meant he was hitting some 26`s too! I introduced myself after the match and we exchanged email addresses so I could send Anthony more details of my ideas.

Swindon 21 February 2010

On the Sunday of the event Anthony showed his potential by narrowly losing out to "Mighty Mike", Van Gerwen winning 6:5

Manchester 26 February 2010

Anthony and I met in a hotel in Manchester to discuss our "partnership".  We discussed the areas I had studied and some of the ideas I had. Anthony was interested and keen to try them out and so was I. So that was it, the dart player and the sports scientist plan was up and running! (see the press release )

Derby 27 February 2010

Anthony was competing in Derby and I accompanied him and notated (took all the statistics) from his match. He lost to Mark Frost 6:3.

Derby 28 February 2010

Anthony got his first PDC win against Tony Martin - 6:1. It was a preliminary round game so there are no winnings to help towards the costs until you win a first round match. The first round match was against Brendan Dolan, which Brendan won 6:3.

Wigan March 13 2010

Anthony was beaten 6:3 by Darren Weaver in the first round.

Wigan March 14 2010

Anthony beat Matthew Wenham 6:3 in the preliminary round before going out to Alan Tabern in the first round.

Update 22 March 2010

On Saturday 20 March 2010 Anthony competed in the PDC Players Championships in Crawley. He beat PDC Premier League star and number 10 seed Ronnie Baxter in the 1st round 6:4. In the second round he beat Kevin Dowling by the same score before going out to the experienced Chris Mason.The two wins mean a significant   milestone has been reached by Anthony;he now has a PDC Order of Merit ranking as well as a Players Championship Order of Merit Ranking .

UPDATE 28 April 2010

Anthony was scheduled to miss the PDC tournaments on 10 and 11 April in Barnsley as well as the 17 and 18 in Derby due to a family wedding in Australia. However, this then incorporated the latest tournament in Wigan on 24 and 25 April due to all flights back to the UK being cancelled. Anthony is now back in Manchester and will be competing in Wigan on May 8 and 9. 

Wigan 8 MAY 2010

Having recently spent three planned weeks in Australia and a further week trying to beat the volcanic ash to get home Anthony was then drawn against Simon Whitlock in the 1st round of the latest players championship event in Wigan. Whitlock, arguably in the top two in the world at the moment, fought his way into the second round and then went on to win the event.

Wigan 9 MAY 2010

Anthony was drawn against Paul Hodkin in a preliminary round game which he won 6:2 to set up a first round match against Peter Wright. This game produced a close fought contest with Peter Wright going through 6:4  

The Perfect Dart -Update - 26 May 2010

Anthony had his first custom made set of darts created by Red Dragon Darts.

180 - Update -  12 June 2010

Anthony got the opportunity to try out his shiny new Red Dragon darts in the Players Championship PDC tournament in Barnsley. They seem to work! His first throw with them in a competitive match, which was against Ian McFarlane scored 180! A further 5 180`s from Anthony followed in a high scoring and very entertaining match. Anthony went through 6:5 and finished with a 9 dart average of 109.15, a doubles percentage of 35.32 and a 3 dart average of just over 92. In the second round Anthony was drawn (again) against the established PDC player, Alan Tabern. The top 36 player demonstrated the levels required to hit this high ranking by winning despite Anthony`s 9 and 3 dart average of around 90.  Nevertheless, Anthony added a further £200 to his PDC Order of Merit ranking and moved closer to the sought after top 96 ranking position.