Darts is a sport that doesn't stop at any age group. It is precisely for this reason that the sport continues to enjoy great popularity and that darts are also suitable for children. Parents often ask themselves whether darts are suitable for children as children. The short and sweet answer: yes! Darts promotes several cognitive skills that can benefit your children even at school. In this article we explain why this is the case and what you still need to pay attention to.
Children want to emulate their parents when playing darts
As a rule, children orientate themselves on the behavior of their parents. If you are already the parent of a child and play darts, then sooner or later the question will arise as to what you are doing. The child will want to try it out themselves and throw the darts at the target. Before you allow your children to play darts, there are a few things you should consider.
Darts is often offered as an entertainment game at children's birthday parties. Not uncommon as a form of play with magnetic dartboards and the associated darts. It is not uncommon for children's darts to be available in Velcro versions. Most of the time it's just a matter of the children throwing blindly at the target and targeting the middle as the best field at a young age. At first this has little to do with the real sport of darts , but what is important for now is that the little protégés have fun.
Darts for children – steel darts are not recommended
Parents should forego the version with steel darts for the time being if they want to allow their children to play. However, we would also recommend a fixed age here. Here, as so often in parenting, it depends on the child's individual development. It may well be that children are able to handle steel darts from the age of eight or nine and others only at a later point in time. But you shouldn't give your children any steel darts beforehand. The risk of injury is too great due to the sharp steel dart tips. If the steel darts bounce back from the target, they often get stuck in the ground. Depending on how the throw is carried out, the darts can bounce back particularly far or fly away to the side.
This is probably the most important reason why steel darts are not the perfect introduction to dartboards for children. But above all because the alternatives with soft darts, magnetic darts or arrows with Velcro for darts are far less dangerous for children.
Not only the gaming equipment, but also the rules should be adapted
Due to their size and their lower strength and coordination, children initially have great difficulty throwing darts onto the board. For this reason, you should also adjust the throwing distance and the height of the dartboard for the little ones. As they get older, you can still ensure that the child gradually gets used to the regular height and throwing distance.
You should also pay attention to the weight of the darts. Even for the experienced dart player, there is a big difference whether he throws darts that weigh 14 grams or those that weigh 24 grams . This is even more extreme with children. In addition, children lack the strength to actually throw the arrows over long distances. Therefore, it is worth choosing a few soft darts that are fairly light. If you then realize that they are too light, you can still react. In the end, darts should just be fun for children and the development into a serious dart player comes naturally.
Reasons to let children play darts at an early age
There are many reasons for darts for children to get children started with darts at an early age. One of them is certainly the ability to connect the eye with the execution of a task. So when we aim at something and adjust our movement accordingly, it trains our entire body coordination. This can earn the children a lot of plus points even in physical education lessons at school. But that's not all. As soon as possible, it also makes sense to let the children add up the points on the oche themselves. Of course, this can take time, especially in the early stages. Nevertheless, and even we have felt this in adulthood, mental arithmetic is trained extremely well. In our case, we first had to notice that mental arithmetic was sometimes completely lost.
Darts for children promotes concentration
Added to this is concentration. Darts is largely a mental sport in which players have to be highly concentrated in order to achieve success. The positive aspect of darts is that children often don't see this concentration as a burden, but rather as fun - not like in school, for example. And over time, the positive side effect occurs that by playing darts together, parents and children become even closer and share a passion.
What options are there for children to play darts?
Overall, darts is still a fairly unknown sport in Germany. So it's not as easy as it is with football to simply put a child in the local darts club, as these only rarely exist. However, there are various ways to start playing darts early.
Find out about clubs in your area from the official associations online. Courses are sometimes offered to encourage young talent. If your child is already a teenager, then youth clubs and bars are also a popular place to try out the oche. And if none of these options exist, you have to take your own initiative. Organize regular darts evenings for children and introduce your friends' kids to the sport. In particular, the argument that mental arithmetic is immensely encouraged is usually successful in the end. So have fun and hope that in a few years we can help promote the next top star from Germany.
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