I definitely identified an issue this week. Actually I think it's been an ongoing issue for some time and I need to work out how to address it.
I seem to be 'choking' at key moments, or in key matches.
I always feel comfortable that I will get through the group stages, perhaps because I have several matches to qualify in the round robin stage. Here I seem to play much better darts. In two of my games last night my average was mid 50s and first 9 over 70. This is the direction I believe i'm going in practise. However, when I got to the knockout stage, my form went drastically downhill. Was I over-thinking things, or trying to hard. Those 100+ scores were not forthcoming, and my opponent eased to a finishing position while I was still struggling. My throw felt ok, but just couldn't score. This has been happening for a while. I believe in myself and know I can play well, but something seems to creep in that adds extra pressure. I feel I am good enough to be making the latter stages of this tournament every week, but for some reason this habit of 'choking' is stopping this.
I've tried slowing down, and breathing to relax myself, but still in key moments, I fall short. I genuinely believe this is the number one reason why I am not improving as I would like.
So what do I do? I've tried to read up on various topics online, but nothing seems to capture what I am feeling. I am seriously considering seeing a sports psychologist, but this is expensive. I cannot see another way past this currently. Obviously will keep battling through, as I think if I can solve this issue, my game could certainly go up several levels.
Stats for Weds then: Tournament Avg: 43.85: First 9 60.73 :100+ 6: 140+ 0: 180+ 0
Hopefully will perform better in Thursday's tournament. I'm usually more relaxed as I'm not expected to be in contention.
