About The Dart Thrower

I was 19 years of age, hungry for darting victory, already a desperate and feared opponent, practicing hard and with a real love for the game of darts. I started getting far in tournaments, reaching at least semifinal stage almost every time, but the REAL success was yet to come. I don't remember the number of finals I lost in this period. It looked like I was shooting the dartboard on fire in the early stages of a tournament (and even better in practicing), but I simply couldn't win. It was a complete miracle to me.

So I was generally shooting well, doing lots of practice, having lots of talent according to everyone, so what the hell was wrong, especially on the big points in tough matches? This was when I realized that practicing and the will to win isn't enough. In fact I was some sort of bad boy. I remember one final pretty well. I was in front, ready for winning, but it simply got away with me. In the end I was swearing like a drunken sailor - during the match and on stage, for which I got a serious warning by the referee (which I deserved, no doubt). Fortunately experiences like this made me think a bit further - and discover that nobody will ever see one of the top players behaving like I did. So I started to work on it. I read books on sports psychology. I tried to be cool. I tried to be quiet. And it started to work (the rest is Austrian dart history ;) ).

What I want to do now through TDT is to advocat the importance of the mental side of the game. I do this because I love darts, because I want to see darts recognized as the professional sport it is, and because I think that for achieving this we have to fight the common thought that we are pot-bellieds performing for pea-brainers. This and the possibility of discussing darting issues with people all over the world are my motivations to make this www project - I don't get money for it (well, if you feel like changing this last thing - please do... ;-)) ).

About Me

I have started to play darts at the age of 17. My darting career developed quite fast, but it took me long to win my first major tournament. This happened in 1991, and ironically it was the Austrian Championship. I played several times for the Austrian national team, and I was the first Austrian to achieve a WDF ranking point (5th place in Austrian Dart Open 1992). My best WDF world ranking was 92nd, and I won a second national single title in 1993.

After darts

I stopped playing darts around 1999. I still follow the sport, and I am still interested in mental and technical aspects, both in sports and in other areas of life. I also play competitive chess - something I have done before, during, and after my darts career, but I am much weaker in chess than I have ever been in darts. For those who know a bit about chess ratings: my (Austrian) national Elo rating has been between 1950 and 2000 during the last 10 years.

I very much enjoy the Pathologically eclectic rubbish lister, and the better Open Source Database.

Hope you enjoy The Dart Thrower
Karlheinz Zöchling