Would you like to practice match situations you have never been in to avoid surprise? Would you like to change your throwing technique but you always fall back to the old one when you are practicing? These are only two things you can handle better when you have learned and used the mental technique of visualising.

The basics of visualising sounds easy: Sit down in a comfortable chair or lay down on your bed or couch, close your eyes and imagine yourself in the situation you want to practice. That's it. Maybe some of you now think that's bah humbug voodoo or just rubbish, but you can be ensured it is not, and every sports star in the world has used and is still using this technique.

The tricky thing is that it must be done correctly. Doing it right means doing it intense and aware. Let's say you have troubles doubling out against an opponent who is better than you. Whenever you get the chance you are surprised and you blunder. Take yourself some time to visualise. Close your eyes and see yourself standing in front of the oche. Try to imagine as much detail as possible. The more you can imagine the more you will benefit from your solitary visualising session. Now in your imagination, step forward and kill the double. Did you get it? If you are a good visualiser you may still face problems hitting it! If you hit everything in your visualising session then you are probably not imagining an intense enough situation.

Another example: You are working on a change in your throwing technique. Do you remember how your muscles felt when they first tried the new throw? Do you still feel this odd muscles strain on your old-style throws? If you can imagine the feeling when the throw goes wrong and the feeling when it goes right, you can visualise it, and analyse the difference in reality. This is the big advantage you have if you are a good visualiser: you can control yourself and even control your reactions. If you know the feeling of a 'perfect' hitting throw you can deepen it in visualising sessions which will help you to reproduce it during matchplay. This feedback is the main benefit from visualising, and of course the more often you visualise the better you will be able to control and use it.

Visualising is a lot like sport training. It should be done regularly, and the number of different situations or feelings you can work on by visualising is nearly infinite.

Here are only some:

• The "dreaded opponent" problem
• Tensed situations
• Problems with your throwing technique
• Nervousness
• Bad playing conditions
• Preparing against opponents you know well and play often
• Preparing against opponents you know but you've never played
• You have time left you could use for practicing but there are no darts to hand