Bowles throws away negative self-talk as he targets success
start again.
“It’s also about not letting people outside of you, that is your opponent, influence your performance. It’s called gamesmanship now, apparently!
“Don’t get angry and confused when your opponent decides to go to the toilet halfway through your match; use the time as an advantage – practice, keep your focus, don’t let it affect your game.
“This has resulted in my overall performance going up. I’m getting more consistent with my scoring and finishing with Terry on board.
“I can only improve because every loss will be turned into a learning curve and every win will be a step in the right direction.”
For his part, McElhinney explained how techniques like Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can enable sportspeople to reach their potential and help them remove any limiting beliefs and attitudes.
He said: “It’s often underestimated just how important a role the mind plays in determining our sports performance and ultimately, our level of success.
“In many sports, games are won or lost before a ball is kicked, a punch is thrown or a dart has left a player’s hand.
“That’s because, even as a professional or amateur sportspeople, our minds are good at finding reasons for failure-success sabotage; self-doubt, past failure, tiredness, negative beliefs and even superstitions can all conspire against us, creating a state of competitive anxiety.
A misconception is that sports mind coaching is only for those that are struggling, who have lost their edge, are lacking in belief, confidence or self-esteem – but that’s not the case.
“I work with sportspeople who want help with taking their game to the next level or who are searching for more consistency.
“Working with John has also made me realise how many different and diverse issues darts players face before, during and after a game that can either enable them to play well, stay consistent or possibly regress them back to playing like a novice.
“My job is to help the players find the correct recipe, add the right ingredients, get the timing right and not allow anyone to spoil their cake.
“Knowing my NLP tools, and other sports