Sam Beaton first came to Brno in 2014 while he was a PhD Student in Glasgow. Many years after deciding to make South Moravia his new home, he has become the best-known foreign darts player in the region. A minority sport in the Czech Republic, darts is both a competitive activity and an ideal way to meet new people. Brno Daily went to chat to Sam at one of the city’’s many darts tournaments to find out more.
BD: How did you end up as a darts player in South Moravia?
I was encouraged by a friend to play a friendly clubhouse tournament for Zbrojovka fans, where I met a number of people involved in the Brno darts scene. They invited me to come and play with them, in what I thought was a friendly meetup game, but was actually for a fully-fledged darts team in the South Moravian regional league. I then had to take things a little bit more seriously! I now play darts all around Brno several times a week, and occasional games in the wider region, with a view to play more tournaments nationwide in the future.
BD: Could you tell us more about the current darts scene in Brno and Europe?
When talking about the darts scene, it can really mean two things. Steel-tip darts, which you see on television and with incredibly famous players such as Michael Van Gerwen, is the predominant dart sport in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands – countries where darts has historically been the strongest and more popular. In a lot of countries, including the Czech Republic, the more popular variant is soft-tip (or electronic) darts – these are the machines you’ll see in a lot of pubs and bars around town. The popularity of steel-tip is growing, though, both in Brno and around the country; and there’s currently two players (Karel Sedláček and Adam Gawlas) who are PDC Tour Card holders, which is the highest level of professional darts competition. In Brno, there are tournaments on all the time, and you could feasibly play at least 3 or 4 tournaments a week if you wanted to.
BD: Do you consider being a member of a team to have any advantages?
Being on a team certainly has advantages in terms of a social aspect, access to facilities for practice and other benefits. Of course, if you want to play in a team league, it would be essential! However, darts is (and always will be) predominantly an individual sport. You don’t need to be in a team to play tournaments, especially at a local level, and any venue you go to you’ll be made very welcome if you’d like to play. Some specific tournaments (for example the monthly South Moravian Regional tournaments hosted around the region) do require you to be a member of the Czech Darts Organisation, which is the Czech branch of the World Darts Federation (WDF), the governing body of darts and organiser of many tournaments. Don’t be put off by this though – you just need to fill in a form and pay a small annual fee.
BD: You are part of an academy. Does it have any particular spin?
The goal of the Academy (www.dazidenice.cz, or on Facebook where there’s more info!) is primarily to coach and mentor youth dart players and provide good playing facilities for them, which is why the Academy runs a number of training sessions and coaching for younger players, and can facilitate them competing in junior tournaments and events around the country. Youth darts is on the rise across Europe, and we’re seeing more and more players coming through to the highest levels of the game. We also run a weekly Friday night tournament for adults and other ad-hoc competitions; and have two Men’s teams in the South Moravian darts league.
BD: For anyone interested in starting to play, what do they need to know and have?
The most obvious thing is having a set of darts, and you’re good to go! You don’t need a super expensive set to get yourself started, and if you go to a store in Brno like Dabi you can try before you buy, to see which sets are the most comfortable for you. If you want to set up a board at home, to practise or to play with friends, a good board and surround (to protect your walls/landlord deposit!) is also very affordable. Although darts can be very strategic, the rules itself are very easy to understand and the darts community in Brno is very friendly.
BD: What different kinds of darts there are? How do you pick one? What is the difference between them?
Darts come in a variety of weights, sizes and grips. The key is to find a set that is most comfortable for you and most consistent, meaning it will go where you aim it! Don’t be put off by this – try out some styles and weights of darts before you buy them at a good darts shop, and once you get more experience you can start tinkering with the different options for stems, flights and other features. Most beginners would probably be best-served by a straight-barrel dart between 20g and 24g.
BD: What is the balance between technique and strategy when aiming to win?
Both are essential to a darts match. You need to be able to plan your correct routes to finish games – so what would be the quickest/most efficient way to take out the number of points you have remaining. But that is all for nothing unless you can actually hit the numbers you want. Good players will be able to work out quite quickly what they need to do to win once they step up to the board.
BD: Can it be dangerous to play? Have you ever heard of an accident?
I’ve not heard of any accidents outside of usual sports injuries (wrist, shoulder etc), but obviously caution is required when you are throwing what is essentially a sharp pointy bit of metal. As long as proper steps are taken it’s a safe game to play. So children should always be supervised when throwing, don’t throw darts at the board if your pet dog is sitting in front of it, and so on.
BD: What does it take to sign up for a tournament? What kind of prices are there to win?
Most standard tournaments around town will cost you 100 or 150 as an entry fee, with a small amount going to the venue and the first two places getting a cash prize, more in bigger tournaments of course. Obviously for larger tournaments there’s the chance of trophies or other things to win.
BD: Where can amateurs have a fun time in the city?
A lot of darts clubs are technically private venues, but anyone is welcome to play in the tournaments they put on. Venues like M13 on Veveri will allow you to hire a board if you’re not a member so you can play with friends, on non-tournament days only, of course, or else the boards will be in use. Other more commercial venues like Rubín have a mix of steel and soft-tip boards to play. If you’re more interested in the latter, many bars have the electronic darts machines and it’s about 5 crowns to play.
BD: Is there an active discussion as to whether it should be an Olympic sport? Do you have any take on this?
There isn’t and it shouldn’t be. Not every game needs to be an Olympic sport, and considering the “Split in Darts” [SB: a story too long and tedious to mention – those interested can read about it on Wikipedia], I have no idea how this would even be organised.
BD: As a last question, what was your best game? Or do you have any favourite darts memories?
I’m not sure if I’ve had what I think of as my ‘best game’, though I did get to the quarter finals of the South Moravian regionals over the summer, which is my best achievement in that tournament. Unfortunately I’m the sort of player that thinks more about the losses I had and how I could have done things differently!
