VARIABILITY IN TIMING AND RANGE OF THE “TIME WINDOW” OF RELEASE IN DARTS THROWING: A COMPARISON BETWEEN EXPERTS AND NOVICES

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate differences in the variability of timing and range of accurate release timing between dart throwers of different skill levels. Each of 8 expert players and 8 novices made 60 dart throws. The movements of the dart and index finger were captured using seven 480-Hz cameras and the data analyzed in 1-ms intervals. The estimated vertical error on the board was calculated as a time series. Two variables to assess accuracy in the vertical plane and two variables to assess release timing were quantified on the basis of time-series error. The timing errors were smaller for the experts than for the novices. The “time window” at which release would result in hitting the target was longer for some experts than for the novices. However, other experts exhibited less variability in release timing instead of a longer timing window.