“Can you hear the darts hitting the board?” asked Mike Hurtwitz. He was referring to the sound of Team England’s darts coming through the PA system at ABC Billiards in O’Fallon MO where Team USA played. Since 1982, the American Darters Association has played against England in the Darts Across the Sea challenge. Team USA hooked up their phone to the bar’s speakers so everyone could hear what was going on at the England’s location.
A total of ten ADA Members represented Team USA this past Sunday. The two women and eight men that qualified to play for the 2010 Team ADA line up was; Chrissy Akins, Heather Lechner, Brian Obercht, Mike Smith, Duane Timmermann, Derek Dressler, Jon Rimert, Tony Akins, Mike Hurwitz and Paul Schaeffler with Karl Remick as their Captain. Team USA wore ADA Championship Polos with Team USA on the front and the players first and last name on the back. “We all looked really sharp! It was great to represent Team USA!” exclaimed Mike Smith.
The telephone challenged started at 1pm for the USA team and 7 for team England. To start the event, ADA VP and USA Team Captain Karl Remick threw the first 12 darts for team USA against Jeff Billingham for team UK. Jeff’s score was higher so England started the event. “It is tradition for the captain to throw the opening darts to determine which team goes first” said ADA CEO Gloria Remick. Gloria assisted with opening the event by relaying the scores for Karl’s darts and Horace Handly conveyed England’s scores for Jeff.
The event included 11 games that consisted of 901 Triples, 601 Doubles and 501 Singles. Since this event is played at two different locations there is a little bit of a wait for each player to shoot, the Captain to relay the thrown darts and then the score to be calculated. “That’s the hard part, the waiting” said Paul Schaeffler player for team USA. Paul went on to say, “but I really enjoyed being a part of Team USA and I like this event.”
The USA team played at ABC Billiards in O’Fallon MO and team England played at The Princess Alexandra in Northampton, England. Each team captain was responsible for manning the phone and relaying the scores to the scorekeeper. USA could not have asked for a more professional set up. ABC Billiards has their steel tip boards displayed on a stage with comfortable oversized chairs and bar stools for the spectators.
The final score was England 7 to USA 4. “We have a great relationship with everyone involved in Darts Across the Sea in England and we look forward to continuing this event for future years to come” said USA Captain, Karl.
Thanks to everyone for their involvement and participation in this event. Special thanks to Kelly Overkamp for opening ABC Billiards early and hosting our event.
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