ADA News... Thursday Close-up: Darting to the top

ADA News & Information

January 26, 2004
As published in the News Tribune Online, Thursday, January 15, 2004
Thursday Close-up: Darting to the top

By Jim Dresbach
sports@newstrib.com

[photo]

Oglesby resident Jeff Kessel is one of the top-ranked dart throwers in the country. Last year, Kessel won several titles at the American Dart Association championships and is now looking to repeat his success in 2004. NewsTribune photo/David Manley

Throwing three darts and completing a 132-point sequence can be compared to a college or professional quarterback dropping in a perfect 20-yard sideline pass to a receiver who is being double-covered.
Oglesby professional dart thrower Jeff Kessel coolly nails that sequence all the time.

Kessel can throw a soft-tip, plastic dart like Greg Maddux can locate a fastball. The proof that he is at the top of his craft comes from the national championships he added to his resume in 2003.

The 28-year old pin-pointer nearly ran the soft-tip open division at the American Dart Association championships last July in Chicago.

At the ADA tourney, he won a team event, the 501 singles crown, finished first in mixed triples and second in doubles and walked away with the division’s Most Valuable Player award.

Four championships in three days was not a bad stretch of work.

In professional 501, the first player from 501 to zero wins, but a player must open and close the dartboard by scoring a double, and Kessel remembers how he won the singles title.

“When I was at nationals, it was split bull’s eyes where the outer bull’s eye was worth 25 and the inner bull’s eye was worth 50,” he says. “I was sitting on 154 and he (the opponent) was on six. He missed the double three. I went (triple) 20, trip 20, which is 120 and double 17 to win the national championship. I was just throwing great last year.”

There is some arithmetic involved, but Kessel notes that the easiest way to the goose egg has been with practice.

“I try to touch the dart board at least an hour a day,” says Kessel, who has been throwing darts for seven years.

“After the kids get settled down (Kessel has four children including 5-year old twins and a 16-month old toddler) at seven or eight at night, then I practice a lot. That’s how I think I got (to this level).”

Kessel’s practice field is not a local tavern; his throwing expertise is sharpened right in his living room. A dart board, the professional type seen in every local pub, is a permanent part of the living room décor in his home.

“I paid $850 for a used dart board six years ago that’s in my living room and I still play it and play it,” Kessel says.

“I practice at home; I can’t practice in a bar. My fiancée is immune to the bull’s eye sound. I can be very antsy at home. I can be on the computer playing euchre and the television is going and I’m practicing at the same time.”

The national champ has a living room practice game plan just like he would have a strategy at any tournament or league play.

The big yield throws like triple 20s and bull’s eyes come with repetition.

“Triple 20’s, bull’s eyes and triple bull’s eyes just come through practicing. The double 16 I practice all the time. In 501, I want to hit as many bull’s eyes as possible, of course, but sometimes your number needed (for zero) is on a crazy number. One day, I practiced until I threw a 100 hat-tricks (three bull’s eyes in a row). It took me eight hours to throw a hundred of them. I’ll throw five bull’s eyes and then (triple) 17 constantly.”

That constant tossing has earned Kessel national acclaim as a darter.

In the National Dart Association rankings, he is the No. 1-ranked 501 soft-tip open player in Illinois and second nationally with a per dart point average of over 37.

Here at home, Kessel just wants to be an ordinary league player.

“There are so many good dart throwers in the area,” Kessel says. “When I go to these tournaments, I’m just one of five of the better people in La Salle, Peru and Ottawa who could be going to nationals. You never say you’re the best because there is always somebody better.”

According to one of Kessel’s colleagues, Peru’s Kim Morrell, who is the local ADA franchise owner, the pro thrower indirectly brings the intimidation factor into play.

“There are a couple of people intimidated by him and don’t want to throw against him, but the majority of the league, if they have the chance to shoot with him, they’ll grab it,” Morrell says.

As a Kessel teammate, Morrell also admits that there is a bit of pressure to perform well.

“He shot on my team a couple sessions ago, and we’re all intimidated because we want to shoot as well as he does, but he doesn’t care,” Morrell says. “He doesn’t put any undue pressure on his teammates.”

Kessel’s 2004 goals include two trips to Las Vegas — one for the ADA championships and the other for the NDA tournament — to defend his championships.

“That’s why I’m going,” Kessel says. “I have to go. If I throw really, really well and I get the right breaks, I can beat these guys.”

Morrell sums up Kessel’s chances at repeat crowns with one word.

“Excellent; I wouldn’t be surprised if he does it again,” Morrell says.

“He thrives on (pressure-packed situations); I swear to God; he thrives on that. He loves the attention, but he’s good with it, and he handles it well.”