What is Dartitis? The condition that has left Nathan Aspinall and other darting stars unable to play
DARTITIS is a cruel psychological condition that has left many darting stars helpless at the oche.
Called the ‘yips’ or ‘jitters’ in other sports, darts players can be affected by a psychological issue that results in the loss of fine motor skills, muscle memory and severely damage their performance.
High profile players have been on the end of it and have been left in tears on stage – or unable to play at all.
Nathan Aspinall appeared to struggle with the condition when he faced Luke Littler in the World Darts Championship on New Year’s Day.
SunSport brings you all the information on the psychological effect dartitis can have on players.
What is Dartitis?
Dartitis is a mental condition in which the brain stops a player from releasing a dart.
The name is a portmanteau and was coined by Darts World editor Tony Wood in 1981.
This condition sees darts players of all levels struggle psychologically – and it is suggested it comes from a fear of missing.
At the highest level, dartitis has affected many of the sport’s best players, including five-time world champion Eric Bristow, who said he suffered with the condition for a decade.
Women’s star Beau Greaves, Kevin Painter and Mark Webster have also been on the end of the condition, while one of the most high-profile episode affected Berry van Peer.
During the 2017 Grand Slam of Darts, the Dutchman was left unable to throw his darts in a match against Gary Anderson.
Van Peer was in tears while on stage, with the crowd throwing their support behind him and Anderson and referee Russ Bray among those to console him on stage.
During the World Darts Championship in 2023, Van Peer revealed all about his condition and how he deals with it.
On his road to recovery, he said: “Getting over dartitis was mostly just practising, keeping all the positives thoughts, like results from years ago, and removing the negatives thoughts.
“I found a way of visualising what I’m going to hit. So if I have a 76 checkout to go for, I’ll visualise that I’m going for treble 20, double 18. That helped me a lot.
“Breathing patterns have helped a little bit too. Confidence is a lot, especially mentally.
“Practice was hell really. Me and my brother always practice together. He just stood there waiting for me to finish my throw, he couldn’t care less.
“He was like ‘I will just wait’. Sometimes it took so long.
“People would say to him ‘you practice with Berry all the time, isn’t that annoying?’ And he’d be like ‘why, I had all the time in the world, I don’t care if he takes an hour to throw the dart or 10 seconds, it doesn’t matter’.
“He’s always supported me and has played a very important part in my life.”
On what caused his dartitis, Van Peer explained: “It’s a strange story. I was over alert so I would get scared from everything around me.
“If you just walked by me and said ‘hey’, I would be like ‘oh Jesus, where did you come from?’
“Once that started, it was hard to tell my brain it was nothing.”
‘The dreaded D-word’
Nathan Aspinall, who is currently ranked 12 in the world, revealed he first started having these problems during a Premier League darts match back in 2023.
He blew a 4-0 lead against Peter Wright and could be seen struggling on stage.
Aspinall, 33, revealed he has since used a sports psychologist and now has techniques which help him overcome the condition.
In Sky Sports documentary ‘Game of Throws’, Aspinall said his issue with the condition would reduce him to tears.
He said: “All of a sudden out of nowhere I couldn’t throw my effing dart.
“I just couldn’t let it go. It ended up getting worse and worse and worse to the point where I was in tears.
“Because I knew what it was. The dreaded D-word that no darts player ever wants to hear or get. Something called dartitis.
“It’s basically the fear of missing. There’s somewhere deep in the back of your head saying ‘you’re going to miss this’ so you stop.
“I lost the game 6-5, I went upstairs after the game and I was in the toilet and I was absolutely smashing ten lumps of s*** out of the hand dryer. I lost my head.”
Aspinall also appeared to be suffering with the condition during his quarter-final clash with Luke Littler on New Year’s Day.
The Asp could be frequently seen pulling out of his throw and taking a deep breath to compose himself.