Monday night (9th Feb) witnessed Dundee’s darting Teams come together for the ‘Fives’ competition, held in Shotz. The competition rules allowed for a team of 5 looking to play 5 singles and 2 doubles (if required) in a race to 4 legs. The Academy was proud to field two teams in our first occasion entering this event. The standard was very high with one of our Teams drawn against a Harlequin’s side who have undoubtably been amongst the very best over the last few years in Dundee. This DDA side was led out by Jack Honeyman and the boys can count themselves unlucky ultimately losing 4-1. Sebastian Ross picked up the DDAs only leg in this match however, Jack, Daniel Brookes, Dane MacLachlan and Joseph Valentine all had darts at doubles to win their match. Joe was very unlucky with his final dart bouncing out of the double 9, which would have taken the DDA side into the doubles. That left Harlequin captain, Kev Clark (yep, our own Academy coach) taking his side through to the next round.
Our other team looked to be struggling initially, going 0-2 down but a gutsy fightback with Daniel Creelman and Cameron Gordon winning their singles, left the match at 2-3 going into the double’s tiebreak. Cameron was heard stating he needed a drink after the match, but we can confirm it was only orange squash he had! (well played Cammy, your scoring was outstanding!). The first doubles game went to the academy with Donovan Ross and Gene Adams taking the win. This left Daniel and Cameron going for the deciding leg! Sadly, the team were just pipped at the post by the winning Gunners side. Robert Murray also gave a very good account of himself in this fixture but alas we move onto next week with George to confirm the fixture ahead of time. A special mention must go to James Ross, who competed with the Black Watch team on the night as they were a player down. I know that they were very appreciative of James supporting them and being a part of their side.
Harlequins ended up as one of the qualifiers for the finals on the night, so absolutely no shame in the DDA team losing to them. Congratulations to the Harlequins team on their overall performance.
One of the biggest takeaways was the many compliments from opponents on the standard of darts from our players. Yet again the tenacity and resilience of the players was 100% and they represented the academy in a fantastic manner.
More good news keeps coming! Donovan Ross represented the county on Saturday (7th Feb) and so, joins Gene Adams, as two Academy members to play at county level. Congratulations Donovan! We are all delighted for you. Watch this space folks!
Tuesday (10th Feb) sees our inaugural academy Tuesday night league begin. There are three groups (allocated based on length of time playing and average scoring) and the players will compete each week in arranged fixtures against other academy members. This is to introduce a competitive (with a light touch) element; however, time will still be given over for the players to practice and engage with drills. This means that our younger players will experience matches in a safe academy environment which will hopefully help them progress and one day represent sent the academy in the Dundee Darts Association leagues or indeed the county or national sides!
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