22nd March -Competition Report- JDC Harley James Proctor Fife Open – Winner- Ringo Cussick

Saturday 22^nd March witnessed the wonderful JDC Fife Junior Open in memory of Harley Proctor.  The Academy was delighted that we had a healthy number of members go along to participate. These included Cameron Gordon, Gene Adams, Archie Ferguson, Jack Honeyman and Ringo Cussick. The competition was of an incredibly high standard, and special mentions go to Jack Honeyman and Archie Ferguson for finishing runner up in their groups and qualifying for the knockout stage. The headline news however is the fantastic overall victory secured by Ringo Cussick. For being such a special tournament, it was fitting that the final was an epic contest between Ringo and Connor Turner. Ringo burst into an early lead going 1-0 ahead with a 19 darter in the race to 6 legs. It was a sign of the standard of darts to come with Connor averaging over 77 and Ringo over 79! Ringo quickly added a second leg to open up a 2-0 lead with a break of throw, only for Conor to break back immediately and reduce the deficit to 1 leg, with the game now sitting at 2-1. Connor continued his fightback taking the next two legs to take a 1leg lead. Lesser players might have crumbled at this, but Ringo fired an 18-dart leg to level things up at 3-3. At this point we really must commend both players for the fantastic darts and the back and forth, it was truly wonderful. Ringo, however proved to be in inspired form and went into overdrive taking the next 3 legs to run out the overall winner. The statistics and averages were phenomenal but equally impressive was the mental fortitude and resilience Ringo displayed when going a leg down. This is an important lesson for us all whenever we throw a poor dart or lose a leg…just keep going! When asked at the Academy when he was back training Ringo said he was “really happy” with the trophy. He was asked how it felt when he went 2-3 down and he said he “knew he could do it”. Clearly the nerves didn’t get to Ringo the way they did to everyone else! Well done, Ringo. A special final and a special, well-deserved victory.