By: Connie Cao

Beads of sweat course down Michael Smiths’ neck as he throws the dart to his victory in the World Dart Championship 2023. Smith is among the best dart players, but many don’t know his name. But the sport of darts is gradually gaining popularity as researchers’ study how it encourages perfectionism.

Over the past four decades, athletes have begun perfecting their skills. Michael Smith, an English Dart player, has improved at a staggering pace by hitting the triple-20 section 47 percent of the time. Smith ended the final with a season’s best average of 110.05 and crucially won a six-point buffer against Clayton and Aspinall in the league table.

The preciseness of free throws of professional athletes has shown tremendous improvement in athletes. Free throws began at under 84 percent but surged 92 percent by 2022. The average free shots accuracy ranges from 82 percent and 90 percent for 2022.

Antonia Zaferiou says that athletes perfect by practicing the same motion repeatedly. Athletes train their muscles and angles to act in a sure way to create the best opportunity to win possible.

For many, perfectionism can come quickly. Today, athletes are playing with upgraded technology that can boost their chances of winning. Darts are noticeably thinner for many, so it would make it easier for other darts to be thrown onto the board.

The thickness of the darts averages 1.8 mm, said Lee Huxtable, a designer at Winamu. Even with this upgraded invention. How far can athletes take their skills?

Studies demonstrate that many athletes perform worse because of compression shorts and jet lag. Taylor, a 16-time world champion, predicts that athletes won’t be able to improve as much for the next two decades.

“I don’t think players will improve a great deal more over the next 20 years,” he said in an email.