Gareth Clement

Back with a bang

2011-12-14T17:20:00.000Z

so the first games of the new season on a sunday and monday have taken place, however on a sunday, we have a 100% record of played 2 lost 2 , on a monday its slightly better, played 3 won 2, lost 1 .

Over the last few weeks ive settled into a different technique of throwing, before i was trying to put the darts into the twenty bed, now im concentrating on keeping the shoulder straight the pull back straight , and then thrusting the elbow up making sure the follow through is as straight as possible,

Monday night was the first night to try this out in a pressure enviroment, and it bloody worked, my first 180 this season, an average in the team and trebles of 98-94, a massive improvement, less wayward darts, and less fines, so all win all round

On a Monday night we are 5th and sunday, somewhere near the bottom, however we are in division 1 on a sunday, and in our team of 8 only 3 have played darts for more than 4 years.

After quitting super league, due to a lack of cash, , things have improved work wise, ive had a promotion so im looking to join a team, been offered one, but they only have 9 players, and i want to play on merit, not just to make up the numbers, i know im good enough, i want to go and prove it now.

Over the festive period theres a few christmas darts tournaments that im going to enter, work permitting, so fingers crossed on earning a bit of doller for those.

www.gareth-clement.blogspot.com

New season

2011-11-27T16:16:00.000Z

Tonight brings the start to a new darts season and the close of a very disappointing season, after losing my singles titles, and getting knocked out early in the delegates, however i lost in the semi finals of the monday night singles, to Kierion Carter, after having darts to beat him.

But a new season brings new challenges and goals, i have to regain my titles back, and this is top of my list, Secondly i want to go all season unbeaten in league play, Hard but not impossible, im going to cut down heavy on my drinking and concentrate on what makes my darts go well ,and what cocks it up, so my aims and goals for the forthcoming sunday and monday leagues
> remain unbeaten in the singles
> top the weekly averages every week
> win back my singles and delegates
> learn to lose before i win

Winner

2011-09-28T09:37:00.001+01:00

Won the in house Ystrad Labour singles for the second year running to represent the club, against the best county players. Due to the masses of entries, we had a 15 dart showdown, ,and the two highest would play against each other, The pressure was on, I started with scores of 85.121.140 i was looking safe and finished with scores of 100 and 121 which gave me an average of 113.4 , my confidence was up and i was up for retaining my title. it was best of 5 late at night, the pressure was ramped up.

The first leg was a one way affair , battered my opponent in 12 darts the same with the second leg out in 13, I was one leg away from glory, one leg away from making this year, a hugely successful one already i was down to a double after 11 darts, and after taking 4 darts to finish, double 10 came to my rescue, i had done it , i was the two time in house champion,

Monday night i played some of the best darts i've played in a long long while, team game averaged 107, trebles 89 and went out in the singles in 11 darts, including my first 180 in months, things are looking good,

Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/garclem2009
www.gareth-clement.blogspot.com
More soon

IM BACK

2011-08-29T20:05:00.000+01:00

After a massive slump and i mean a huge slump, my darts where just about going to the top half of the board, I lost all confidence, my throw had gone out of the window, my mental state was shot. Thinking more than i should, i decided to have a break and return to basics.

Each of the following days i broke down my action, stance,throw, and concentrated on that all day, alot of videoing was taken . and i can say it massively helped What i noticed is that when i throw my arms drops to the right, so i changed my throw completely from stabbing the dart, to caressing it into the board.

I had a break from darts, missed my first ever league game, and came back with a bang last night, with a 102.87 average in the team game, taking out a 104 . and a 15 darter in the singles. Ive taken a back seat from super league this year, for now, im not entirely happy with my game at the moment, so when i get back to my best il be back, but its a choice of who to play for.

Alcohol and Darts

2011-07-01T08:44:00.000+01:00

Darts and booze has gone together hand in hand for almost forever, wherever you see a dart board, usually a few steps away there is a bar, but is this good for the game? Only a few of the top pro's don't drink, with some others ranging from the odd pint to calm nerves, to others having 24 pints before a game.

I think if darts wants to push onto the next level and look for inclusion into the olympics, Then i think there needs to be a blanket ban on booze at darts, its a drug, it "helps" players calm down and therefore used to a players advantage, It doesn't look good, You wouldn't see Ryan Giggs before a big game chugging away on a John Smith, it also can't be good for the players health. Take a look at Andy Fordham, he used to put away 24-30 BEFORE going out to play, and we all know what happened to him.

Also with the fans, booze is becoming a problem, to where at one point having it thrown over the players, it portrays a bad image, and everyone unless this image is changed will keep coming back to the sketch from the 80s.

What should happen is that all players as well as getting drug tested for drugs, should include testing for alcohol to . make a fair playing field for all. Clean up the image of darts. and lets push to get this amazing sport into the Olympics.

Future of PDC post Taylor

2011-06-30T18:23:00.001+01:00

Ok, so there has been a lot of talk on a forum i visit (www.dartsforum.co.uk) about what will happen when Taylor retires . For one i think darts and sport will lose a great champion when he does decide to call it a day, Yes he may be cocky, yes he's a sore loser, having won more than 150 professional tournaments and a record 15 World titles, there is going to be a huge gap to fill. After being at the top of his sport for nearly twenty years, he has seen most players come and go, But with the Youth tour there is a new generation of player coming through, Players with no fear, players who will have experience of the big stage, Players like Joe Cullen and Reece Robinson. The future is bright for the PDC.

However the same cannot be said for the BDO, struggling prize money,less exposure without the pig headed-ness of Olly Croft, i think the PDC and BDO could work together pretty well The PDC players could be used for the top 128 in the world where they enter the players champs etc. and the BDO run the qualifying school, where they better in lower comps, with lower prize money. HOWEVER with the top say 28 in the order of merit promoted to the PDC and the bottom 28 relegated.

The PDC needs the BDO as much the BDO needs the PDC. it needs to happen sooner or later. Before its to late. Olly Croft needs to realize this. The Qualifying school could be shown on terrestrial tv and then the majors on sky. Its a win win situation.

Lets make it happen

Derby match

2011-06-20T12:55:00.000+01:00

Last night we played against our other team, for the first time ever in a competitive league match, Our team deprived of our captain and a few other players where massive underdogs.With only 3 recognized dart players in a team of 6, a victory looked unlikely.

The first team game we got hammered, they went out with us left on 323. was this the 7-0 drubbing that everyone expected?

The second we started off well, i threw 56 to start followed by 140,100,123, and then went out on 4 . the third was a real snatch, they left madhouse- double one, and slowly but surely clawed back ,again me hitting double 2 to bring it to 2-1. The underdogs where winning. The impossible seemed possible.My average for the team game was an amazing 104-53 the first time ever i had smashed the 100 average, having 15 throws, and 12 being a ton or more

As acting captain i had the huge task of selecting the trebles, do i split our 3 darters, and go for two wins, and win the game? do i go top heavy, and grind out a win.
So thats what i done, played the first trebles with our three best players. and it worked, i started, and it was the perfect start, a 180 then followed by a 85, then another 100 and then 60 and out, 3-1 and the dream was on.

The next trebles was our "non darters" and after them leaving madhouse again and some flukey darts, we needed double 9 for victory , we hit it first dart. We had won, a monumental achievement, against all the odds

For the singles i played theyre best player, and it was a great game started with scores of 100-85-99-and 40 but with him hit 125-125-100-41 and taking out 100 fully deserving it,

Overall we won 4-3 we had done it , and my average was over 100 for the first time, really starting to get the bite back for darts, roll on tonight. What would you have done in the trebles? gone top heavy or split? would love your ideas

www.gareth-clement.blogspot.com

2011-06-07T20:18:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, played over the weekend, alot more confident, alot more happy, and ALOT more better ,changed my throw slightly, abit more snappier, and elbowy (is that even a word).

My average sunday night was 73.4 and last night was an impressive 87.43 which is a massive improvement, i hope to carry this on.

Im looking for sponsorship to help me push further, if you, or know of anyone who can help feel free to email me on garethclement2009@hotmail.co.uk

Quiet here lately

2011-06-06T09:33:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, but dart-wise ive been having a pretty torrid time, My form has gone downhill, i lost the appetite for the game, and frankly i couldn't be arsed to play, I wasn't looking forward to playing, Ive hit the dreaded SLUMP

So i had a complete break from darts, not even picked a set up for over a week, went out bought some new darts, and started all over again. right from the bottom, from how i stand , to how i release my darts, and i can say what a dramatic improvement, I feel more comfy in my action, i've got the hunger back, and last night was my first game back, and i hammered my opponent, i know its early days but i feel good, I AM BACK.

Got darts again tonight, i'll post videos and pics of my new darts and set up

Champion

2011-03-31T21:58:00.001+01:00

What a phenomenal past few weeks ive had, Im now
Overall singles champion for the rhondda
Overall delegates runner up for the rhondda
and also hit a career high average winning 3-1 with a 91.34 average, which was amazing!!!
Really pleased where i am at the moment, im striving to improve all the time, however, lack of tournaments is a major bum . Hopefully this 2012 welsh open that Barry Hearns babbling on about will take off!!

The Treble

2011-03-07T09:55:00.001Z

What a great last month i've had , Won the trebles, singles and delegates in my league ,going through only dropping 2 legs in the three weeks,
The final of the singles was a humdinger and it could have gone either way, but i managed to secure the title with a massive pressure outshot of 87 to win. Really chuffed to win this, another win under my belt, and slowly proving myself locally,

So i have three overall finals to play for, and im looking to win all three,

Super league is going great im not far from breaking into the top 50 averages, which is amazing considering its my first season!

any more questions or if you want to sponsor me email me on garethclement2009@hotmail.co.uk

Darts

2011-02-08T10:15:00.001Z

What a weekend i've had, i won the delegates for the fourth consecutive season, a new league record, and boy did i make it hard for myself, won all my games 2-0 bar the semi which was 2-1 and what a game it was, to be honest if i lost i couldn't have many complaints as he outscored me but couldn't hit the all important double, And to win the game i hit out 94 while he was on double top, The final was a more straight forward affair battered him from the start and didn't give him a chance,

On a Monday night im still 7 out of 7 not lost a singles games, Tonight we play Cwm Rhondda which will be a hotly contested derby game against Ritchie Burnetts team

Next few days

2011-02-06T10:52:00.000Z

With an uncanny coincidence i'm playing in the same venue Cwmparc Legion Tonight, Monday and Tuesday, Tonight is the Delegates Which i've won overall 2 times running and my division 3 years in a row, lets make it a forth

Game ON

Phil Taylor

2011-02-02T23:34:00.001Z

Phil Taylor, 15 times world, ruled the sport for nearly twenty years and possibly more to come, but is it bad for darts? Is one man who can sweep everything before him that bad for the sport? Would it be better for sport if there was two, three, or maybe four players getting the majors? Or like golf usually a different winner each tournament. One thing you cant deny is Phil’s consistency over the years, and his desire and balls to change and try things, such as his glasses, Taylor is dangerous when hes up against and emerging starts such as William O Connor, Joe Cullen and his own protégé and current world champion Adrian Lewis, Is Sky Sports saturation of Phil Taylor ruining the sport also? Every time the darts are on its seem they have a fixation with him, It would be nice to hear the views on other dart players in the tournament. I think Taylor has been put on a pedestal by commentators and players where almost before scared to play him and had lost before they even got on stage,

But in the last 4-5 months games in the past where taylor would have blitzed , he seems to be losing, is this the downward spiral that will signal the end of Taylor, Or will he bounce back better than ever? Will Players like Webster, Barnaveld, Lewis or Wade take over the mantel of the greatest darts player ever?

Personally I don’t think we will ever see a 15+ times world champion. If and when Taylor does retire I think the majors will be shared around like. Barney seems to have lost his drive and motivation, Wade seems to have his own problems there doesn’t seem to a player ready to step up to take over Taylor’s torch.

Lets hope Taylor regains some form, he becomes back to his best, and we will see who will be the best players to come, lets hope the youngsters in the pdc tour will give him a run for his money, I think Taylor will go out on a high, he wouldn’t want to struggle and drift out of the game, and when he is retired the goal will be to get close to his records, because lets face it no one will be better than Phil “the power” Taylor

Ystrad Labour

2011-01-31T10:51:00.000Z

Last night we played a team unbeaten all season, without 2 players needing a win to be promoted, the odds where stacked against us, after the team game we where 2-1 down, i was averaging a rather excellent 87-97, after starting the three games with a 140-100-100, considering its a double start thats amazing, also hitting a 180 to leave 28 whilst the opposition was on 40,

In the trebles we went 1-1 leaving the overall score 3-2 to them, my scores where 100-100-100-60.

Now it was down to the singles, and needing both games to win, upset the odds and to gain promotion. i started steady with a 60, then hammered the treble after 9 darts down to 98, then leaving 40 and taking it out, James erricker won his game, leaving the opposition stunned and us getting very merry, and getting promoted!!!

Super League

2011-01-26T19:42:00.000Z

Won my super league game last night 3-1 with a 24.55 average against a guy ranked 9th in our super leagues top 50, and i battered him!! finished with 7 tons 3 ton pluses and a 17 darter, really really pleased

Im in desperate need of sponsorship to enter the pdc youth tour, if your interested please email me on garethclement2009@hotmail.co.uk

New year

2011-01-14T09:47:00.001Z

What a start to the new year i've had, really pushed on, had some major progress tournament wise, and also super league.Here's a brief summery

Ystrad Labour "house" singles and doubles champion
Ystrad Labour open Champion
CIU Rhondda singles runner up
CIU Rhondda "6s" winner
Pentre Legion - last 16
Semi finalist of the Ninian Stuart open

Super league
Even though i lost both times 3-0 my average was 23-99 and 24-88, i lost to Tim "tea pot" Jones, who averaged 29 and took out 160 with me sitting on 103.

Im looking to really kick on this year, enter a few more tournaments, and really start pushing harder. Im defending my "delegates trophy in the next few weeks, i want to make it 4 years running, thats my goal

Update

2010-12-29T22:41:00.000Z

Not posted here for a while due to work etc, playing really well at the mo, my super league average is 24.54 with a record of played 8 won 4 lost 4, so not bad.

Entered a tournament yesterday lost in the last 16, beating the great ceri morgan, and had 3 darts to win a few legs against Kierion Carter .

www.rhonddaboroughdarts.co.uk is our super league website

Update

2010-11-11T16:58:00.000Z

Not posted on here for ages. Just a quick summery on the lastest results for me

Lost in the first round to eventual semi finalist in the World Championships

My record for Super League is now won 3 lost 2 with a Ave of 23.43

Unbeaten in 7 singles games on a sunday/monday/ Friday

Help please

2010-10-18T22:15:00.002+01:00

http://www.justgiving.com/Gareth-Clement
the rugby team i help with is looking to raise money for tenovus,(www.tenovus.org.uk) cancer has ripped my family apart, and i want to do my bit, with the club helping, would love if you could spare some change

World U21

2010-10-12T20:20:00.001+01:00

Guarenteed my weekend off for the Saturday for the World u21 and i really really cannot wait!! 40 entrants have been confirmed.

1. R Robson

2. G Clement

3. A Richards

4. D Reynolds

5. M Blake

6. N Kenny

7. P Jones

8. R Davis

9. A Bird

10. M Thompson

11. M Martin

12. A Godbeer

13. A Davies

14. H Ware

15. A Gooding

16. R Morgan

17. B Jones

18. L Fletcher

19. A Waters

20. R Williams

21. R Edwards

22. D Salmon

23. D Cole

24. A Ashcroft

25. K Parry

26. M Jones

27. S Fisher

28. M Hannaford

29. G Musgrove

30. M James

31. I Collins

32. B Gladman

33. J Thomas

34. M Thomas

35. C Wright

36. S Cankett

37. J Cox

38. D Mcgivney

39. B Barnes-Scriven

40. J Tewkesbury

Hopefully number 2 will become number 1!!

Super league is going ok, won my first game 3-1 but losing my other two 0-3 but playing really well. but i lost so playing well isnt enough!
Here is the league table

Team	Pl	W	L	F	A	Pts	Legs
CWM RHONDDA	3	3	0	21	6	21
GARW VALLEY	3	2	1	18	9	18
TONDU	3	2	1	15	12	15
CARDIFF CITY	3	2	1	15	12	15
RHONDDA BOROUGH A	3	2	1	14	13	14
BRITON FERRY	3	1	2	14	13	14
SWANSEA B	3	2	1	12	15	12
SWANSEA MILE END	3	1	2	11	16	11
YSTRAD MYNACH B	3	0	3	9	18	9
RHONDDA BOROUGH B	3	0	3	6	21	6

Dragged out of retirement part 2

2010-09-22T19:47:00.000+01:00

As my Monday night team where short i ended up coming out of retirement to play and ended up playing in the singles with a 25.53 average.won my singles, in 19 darts, We beat the stag 6-1

Played Cwm Rhondda last night in Super League, the team lost 6-3 i lost my game to a great player in Shaun Dibbs, 3-0 with a 21.47. Again my doubles let me down, and scoring at critical times was very poor, I need to work hard on that, and to also conquer my nerves. So any tips would be welcome.

On a positive note i now have a job!! working part time in vodafone

Dragged out of retirement

2010-09-14T10:48:00.000+01:00

As college was cancelled, i decided to visit my old dart team, to see how they where getting on, even managed to blag a game in the trebles and done well enough to get into the singles,With scores of 140,41,140 and then going out on 40.Played in the singles and won with an 18 darter, not bad considering i didn't practise or expect to play.Winning the game 5-2 in the process. Ive been asked what books/videos can help dart players, and i must say the book on the left is amazing!!.

Rhondda Borough "a" 6 - 3 Rhondda Borough "b"

2010-09-08T09:34:00.000+01:00

First ever Super League game last night, and was drawn out first to play Neil (who's last name escapes me,) back a few years ago he was ranked 5th in Wales, however he's had a few years off, and is having one more crack at it.So this game as every in Super League isn't going to be easy,
With no-one knowing me in my team it was very important to make a good impression, and to "lay a marker" of sorts, won my first leg in 23 darts, Neil won the second in a very scrappy 31 dart leg, which really kicked my average in the nuts. The third leg was a cracker both players hitting tons for fun. missing double top for a 115 out. The whole crowd where right into the match, the forth leg, hit 3 tons back to back, and finishing on 94, massive sigh of relief and glad to get the first game out of the way. Next up Cwm Rhondda with players such as Ritchie Burnett,

On a sad note, Phil the fish has died

My biggest Achievement to date

2010-09-04T21:17:00.000+01:00

The nerves where jangling, i was three darts from the biggest prize of my life. The crowed was expectant, 10 or so seconds from glory, all i had to do was hit the targets, and i had one shot at glory, one chance, and no one could take it from me. As the crowed settled i gathered my nerves, i travelled far, and this was my chance. First dart, smack in the target, the crowed's anticipation rose, cheers belted out, my opponents head lowered, I aimed my second dart, Bang straight in the middle, Third dart, one dart, one chance, one moment of glory, i took my time, gathered my thoughts, and raised my arm, bang, the dart seemed to take forever to get there, my heart felt it was pacing as though i ran a marathon.

It got there!! i had one, my opponent had shook my hand I was champion, i had done it now time to collect my prize, Becky picked out the most livest fish there , My proudest achievement, all that effort, For a bloody fish

Hope you enjoyed