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PUBLICATION OF NDFP DART REFERENCE MANUAL All Rights Reserved 2005
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| Philippine
Dart Leagues |
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The formation of dart leagues in the Philippines
is in its infancy. The dart activities in the Philippine dart
setting are more dart tournaments rather than dart leagues. In
the more developed darting countries such as England and the United
States, the regular and continuing dart activity are the dart
leagues and this may explain the tremendous growth of darts in
these countries.
The National Dart Foundation of the Philippines (NDFP) supports
and propagates dart leagues and sees the dart leagues as the main
generator of dart revival. We believe that:
• Dart leagues are the major building block of dart development
and expansion. League players are committed to play competitive
darts every week of the schedule.
• Dart leagues are the entry point for the novice and beginners
in competitive darts. The league environment is less intimidating
compared to dart tournaments because teams of the same level of
skills are grouped together. This is where they gain confidence
in playing darts and eventually move on to become mainstream darters,
playing in the weekly and major dart tournaments.
• Dart leagues are weekly dart activities for the competitive
and hard-core darters to sharpen and maintain their playing skills.
On a weekly basis, a league player plays different teams and plays
different individuals thereby gauging better his or her weaknesses
and strengths. Thus, there is better player improvement and development
in dart leagues.
• Dart leagues force darters to practice more because peer
pressure within the team to play better is greater than playing
individually in tournaments. A leaguer gains more experience in
dart leagues for they play more individuals than one can play
in a tournament.
• Dart leagues also enhance the social side of darts, for
these create an environment of camaraderie and friendship among
darters. A dart league is the regular dart activity and haven
for the dart enthusiasts and the hobbyist.
• Dart leagues provide continuing dart activities in support
of the dart venue and establish a strong and viable dart infrastructure.
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| Robson Dart
League |
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The National Dart
Foundation of the Philippines organized the Robson Dart League 1st
Conference in January 2004 with 10 teams, the 2nd Conference in
May 2004 with 18 teams and the 3rd Conference in September 2004
with 32 teams. In 2005, the 1st Conference attracted 33 teams, 40
teams in the 2nd Conference and 44 teams in the 3rd Conference.
Teams gradually expanded with each conference as more novice beginners
began to realize the non-intimidating environment of the dart league.
Alternates eventually decided to field their own teams so they can
play every week. The player profile extends from corporate, barangay,
dart clubs and mainstream darters. As players gained confidence
they started playing in the mainstream weekly tournaments.
The launching of the dart league was made possible by innovative
introduction of new methods in league administration. There is no
Tournament Director (to minimize cost) to run and adjudicate the
league. The Technical Committee, elected by the team captains among
themselves, has the responsibility to decide on protests, team line-ups,
awarding and anything related to the league. The League Statistician
collates and publishes the league results every week. |
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| Dart Associations
and Dart Leagues |
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Dart associations
should be the driving force for the creation of dart leagues. Nationwide,
the formation of dart leagues is undeveloped for there is no clear
national direction and support for its development. We have provided
a whole section on dart leagues to highlight the importance and
our commitment to dart leagues. Dart leagues should be integrated
in the dart infrastructure of all local organizations.
Tournament Directors used to be the central organizing focus of
dart leagues. With limited logistics and limited Tournament Directors,
the organizing efforts should shift to the local dart associations
to propagate the dart leagues. The lack of organizers and the organizing
know-how hamper the development of dart leagues. We hope that this
manual can jumpstart the propagation of dart leagues nationwide. |
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| Existing Dart
Leagues |
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The main proponents
of dart leagues are the barangays and the corporate private and
government agencies.
Restricted dart leagues have been going-on from time to time such
as:
• The inter-barangay dart leagues coordinated by the Sangguniang
Kabataan (SK) and organized by the municipal or city sports committees
and youth councils. This is a potential area for grassroots development
and the local dart associations should provide organizational support
to barangay undertakings.
• The corporate inter-department dart leagues have been part
of the sports activities of corporate entities. But, these leagues
have always been at the mercy of availability of funds.
Players in these leagues are restricted by residency in the inter-barangay
dart leagues and employment in corporate leagues. |
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| A Snapshot
- The USA Dart Leagues |
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The local dart associations
in the United States exist mainly to organize dart leagues. For
example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a dart league in
San Francisco run by the San Francisco Dart Association. Across
the Bay Bridge to Oakland and Berkeley is the Wednesday Night Dart
Group (WNDG) dart league and further east in Concorde is the Northern
California Dart Association (NCDA) dart league. To the north of
San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, are the Marin County
and the Santa Rosa dart leagues. To the south of San Francisco is
the Silicon Valley Dart Association’s dart league. A dart
player in the Bay Area can play in the different Bay Area dart leagues.
The Bay Area dart leagues do no have cash prizes and only trophies
are given. On the other hand, major dart tournaments have cash prizes
and no trophies.
The grassroots elimination of ADO for some of the major tournaments
abroad such as the Winmau, Embassy and so on, is first done through
the league players of the dart associations. The winner of the dart
association’s elimination moves on to the regional elimination,
wherein the top two qualifiers join the other qualifiers from the
15 other regions. The top 32 qualifiers nationwide play in a double
round robin format to determine who will represent the USA. To qualify,
a darter must first play in a dart league.
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