The SFDL just got out of a grueling 8 hour dart tournament called Top Gun. The Top Gun Tournament started about 10 years ago when the SCVDA had an inner A League event but had issues getting attendance, so they decided to open up the tourney to Northern California Dart Associations. The SFDA vs. The SCVDA was the first open invitational of the Top Gun as we know it, several years ago.
Yesterday, Saturday February 27th, 2016, at 11:00am at Beefy's Cabin in Sunnyvale, four Bay Area Dart Associations met and did battle for 8 hours! The Santa Clara Valley Dart Association (SCVDA), The Peninsula Dart Organization (PDO), The Santa Cruz County Dart Association (SCCDA), and us, The San Francisco Darts League (SFDL) were in attendance this day.
Normally Mike Hathaidharm (our VP), is in charge and captain of the Top Gun Team, but Mike felt that someone else should captain the team if we were to go to battle this year, so I took over the Captain duties while both Mike and I made our top four or five picks as essential members of the team. Then I chose a few more members based on the A League rankings, some people weren't home at the time I called, some folks got two calls, I didn't leave a message due too the fact that if someone got back too me a day later, AFTER we chosen a team, it would bring disappointment which I wanted to avoid if possible. There was also an entire A League team which were at a soft tip darts tournament the day of the event which I am sure 1-3 members could have been serious consideration for the team. So yes, this team could have easily changed with many different combinations of players and still been just as successful!
A lot goes into creating, choosing and being prepared for the day long event. I remember a time that we pretty much tried every way a team can be chosen, from holding a qualifier, going by rankings, going by past season, going by a players confidence, or even a players path in our league!
I would have to say that this year we pretty much used all those techniques, to get the team we had, also a bit of luck may have played into the equation.
As the Top Gun Team is your top eight players PLUS two alternates, who will, in most probability, will not get a chance to play, but in the same breath must be ready to play on a dime if necessary. From my perception of it all, the choice involving an alternate has its own unique qualifications in addition to shooting well. A good attitude is a must for an alternate, the ability to jump into character, so-to-speak, is also high on the choice list. Finally, availability, is the most tried and true final requirement. As a note, there could be a team of four woman to compete against other woman the the respective leagues participating, but none of the other teams had a strictly woman's team playing, so we could not field one.
Because this year, we were informed just a month before the tournament date, it makes choosing a competent team that much more intense. I have certainly been in the position where I thought I belonged on the Top Gun Team and was not chosen. It seemed like confidence in myself as a certain winner was not there and as years have now gone by and I've had time to reflect on those days, I can truly state that I really wasn't ready to have the mindset for being a Top Gun.
Practicing is a start, having multiple nights of dart shooting gets you honed even more and attending shoots like Saturday nights at Tim's Four Deuces is great competition. But does even all that get you a spot on the team? Not really, unless you are coming in first all the time or you're ranked in the top ten of the A League. Another thing we recruiting spot is people who attend major dart shoots like the Camellia in Sacramento this past February 14th. The Las Vegas Shoot in January and when we hold it the SF Open! Do you punch the dartboard or wall when you're dart doesn't hit its intended target, well that might get in the way of you becoming a Top Gun member. There are better ways to express your disappointment!
My advice to anyone who wants spot on the team, practice, put a board up at your house or apartment, attend weekend shots if possible, get your team together for a practice night, have a good attitude, be a team player, and remember the age old advice of "Triples for show and doubles for dough!" Make sure your practice regime has you going around the board 1 through 20 then bulls-eye in doubles. I remember it used to take me two days to complete around the clock in doubles. Now I can do it under a half hour.
Top Gun S.C.V.D.A. Action
From Left to Right: Bert Jensen, Kimber Sterling, Robert Adams, holding his
son Ryker, Niels Juhr, next to Niels Michael Hathaidharm,behind Mike,
Erwin Ganschow, in front of Mike,Juhn Catanyag, Pakorn Tatsuwande,
Marc Aquino and Craig Cudney.
I don't know what other captains do for this event, but ranking each player by skill level is tough! (I did accidentally list Kimber up one spot) Even Kimber himself felt he should have been ranked a few spots lower, but I felt confidence in every player, every player but myself! I put myself last of the ranked players, playing clean-up, also for the reason as captain, I can chat with and watch all players prior to my own performance at the oche, this way I know who's nervous who's scoring well, who's doubling out and who's missing their doubles. This way when I do the pairing of doubles on the team I can match players skills together, like play a player hitting trips with one hitting doubles! As a captain you won't know that unless you watch the matches and ask the right questions when you miss a match.
The matches against each Association consist of eight 501 singles, four 501 doubles and one 8 person team game of 1001, for a total of 13 games. One point per game, game is best 2 out of 3, so if you win two games straight, you do not play the third game.
After drawing the high card for the initial leagues place in who plays who first, we drew the SCCDA led by Captain Steve Ritchey. As a captain once you rank your team that is the exact order you play them in the 501 singles portion of the match. 8 singles top against top all the way down to the eighth player of the team. Mike H. drew Darin Heath and started us off with our first win! Meanwhile Pakorn was playing on the oche next door against Trenton Heath with PK taking the win! Now it was Jhun and Craigs turn, Jhun playing against yet another Heath! Jackson Heath and against Craig was Lamont Graves. Both SFDL Top Gunners giving us another win point each! Kimber and Marc's turn up against Steve Ritchey, While Erwin got Lance, Steve took out Kimber. (Read more through the eyes of Kimber!) And now it was Marc and my turn up at the oche! I don't know much about Marc's game as I was concentrating on my first games poor darts loosing the first 501 to Eric (who incidentally beat me in the first round of 501 singles at the Camellia Classic in Sacramento just a few weeks earlier this year!) Being a game behind and knowing my next game I had to get the win or I would not be leading by example and could become 'that guy' (you know the guy who loses out of everyone winning!?) So I buckled down and shot a very good game to win game two, not really a convincing win but a tie breaker third game was needed! I started to slide back into old habits hitting 45's and 26's, but lack of giving up lead to bam a 140 which got me back in the game followed by a strong 85 and we were battling neck and neck, I had 61 left, my first dart hit triple 15 leaving me with 16 left, wire, wire... I really wish I hit that 61 out, but Eric missed his out 78 I believe and I stuck the double eight 2nd dart! Captain Captain!
We were up, 7-1, but we heard the SCVDA was also on a roll I think they were also 7-1. I started to piece together our doubles teams. Mike H. offered his advice and someone else offered theirs, in the end I choose to match people up with whom they were familiar with. Mike H along with Erwin (same team during league) PK with Marc (same team during league), Jhun and Kimber (the one without any teammates on the Top Gun Roster) and myself and Craig (same team during league). This doubles set up would be what we stuck with for the duration of all the matches. With the exception of the PK/Marc pair, we all won our doubles matches, yeah, now our record was 10-2, pretty good so far, I thought. Last game team 1001, keeping the ranked order I set in the beginning, we ended up winning for a final 1st match record of 11-2 vs. the SCCDA.
We had a glorious 5 minutes break, when all the teams finished their first match. Some folks went to a Taco Truck outside the venue, other teams ordered pizzas, we all had our own ways of keeping the fire burning. Myself and Craig had a huge breakfast at Black Bear Diner called 'the volcano', so I wasn't hungry until 4 or 5pm.
2nd match time vs. the PDO. Captaining the PDO was John Haug. With the same ranked line-up we took all 8 games straight. Our only loss of the match was in doubles when Julian Ruiz and Tim Atwell took out Mike H and Erwin. Our doubles teams took all four games and again we took the team game with Kimber providing us with the out shot! (I think he made up for his singles loss in our first match!)
Our last and final match vs. The SCVDA! We were tied and this heads up match would lead to the TOP GUN winner!We knew it was going to be a tough tough match! First up was Mike H. vs. Reu De La Cruz, one very tough and most often winning and being front runner in the BAD (Bay Area Darts) singles league that Brian Jackson runs. But Mike H. must have been on his game because we got the point! But what I thought was going to happen, started to happen, Pakorn got beat by Jimmy Nolan, while Jhun beat Phil Murry, then Craig broke us away from the win/loss struggle, as he beat the well respected player Dick Wescott with an epic third game double out that no one seemed to want to hit! Then Kimber wins over the very competent Fred Murphy, while Erwin got beat by Pete O'Brian. Marc and Robert took their turns and respectively got the win point! we were now 6-2, a seventh win would clinch it for us! We all huddled and spoke of any new strategy that we may want to implement while choosing the doubles..we thought they would try and stack their teams, but in the long run we went with what worked so far and although Mike and Erwin did not take the first doubles match the rest of our doubles squad came through with win points, so officially Pakorn and Marc got our seventh win, clutching the Top Gun honors! We were exhausted, happy and now no pressure for the final 1001 team game. I got to close us out with my first dart in the double twenty for the win! 10-3 over SCVDA!
Our overall record for the day was 33 wins - 6 loses.
