Alcohol according to experts and scientific studies can have a performance enhancing effect in some aiming sports like darts, archery, billiards, pistol shooting and snooker.
It depends how much you have drunk as to whether it assists in you playing better or worse. Too much alcohol and your hand eye coordination starts to go. Just enough can provide a loss of anxiety and nervousness and a more smooth action in your throw.
If you are a player who averages 25 darts per leg it is not going to make you into a player who consistently averages 18 darts per leg but if you are a person of a nervous disposition it might mean you can play at your optimum level of 25 darts instead of falling apart and maybe averaging 30 darts per leg.
So the trick is if you are using alcohol to prevent anxiety or nervousness in a game is to know the level that works best for you and drink enough to maintain it but not to go past it. Somewhere between 39 mg/100 ml blood alcohol concentration and 60 mg/100 ml blood alcohol concentration your hand-eye co-ordination becomes impaired.
The number or type of drinks you would need to get to 39 mg depends on your body weight, sex and level of body fat. It takes some experimentation to know when you have reached the optimum level.
One player I did play with for a while who has since passed on was quite scientific I thought in his approach. He had worked out how much he needed to play at an optimum level and would measure out a specific quantity of whiskey in a small container before he left home. He would then drink that in the carpark before play started in qualifying and that seemed to work for him. He only bothered doing that in the big tournaments not the everyday darts we play in leagues and local competitions.
With a single drink your blood alcohol level peaks about 45 minutes after ingestion.
While the use of alcohol whilst playing darts is legal in some other aiming sports it is not. At the 1980 Olympics two pistol shooters were disqualified due to taking alcohol to improve performance.
The best option of all is to be of such a calm disposition that nerves do not effect you and you do not require alcohol to play at an optimal level. It is also a lot cheaper and there is no hangover. Development of a strong focus and mental strength on the oche as well as improved technique and skill should be the main aim of players who wish to succeed at the higher levels of the game.
Some of the information in this post is from my own and other dart players experience and some is from an article by Thomas Reilly titled Alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs and sport published in 2003 in the book Drugs in Sport Third Edition. I obtained the book from the Point Chevalier library in Auckland if anyone would like to locate and read it.
