We are writing mid-October. Van Duijvenbode is one of the world top players at the Belgian Darts Gala in Hasselt. He became a father a few weeks earlier to a son named Levi, and is having trouble with his arm. The Dutchman ostentatiously explains this to one of the security people and later to our man on site.
“Has it changed much? Yes, I even have an injury from it. I am fully treating that. It’s a very different position and he’s a bit heavy, I also hold him a lot when he cries. I already have problems with my back and shoulder, but hopefully I will get rid of that soon. The rhythm is also very different, as is the training rhythm. You’ll be fine, but you have to find a routine.”
In the attic
However, that shoulder – or rather the shoulder blade (“That is much worse than the shoulder,” said Van Duijvenbode during the Grand Slam of Darts) – has been an issue for some time and has caused headaches in recent weeks. He forfeited some floor tournaments and threw much lower averages than we are used to from him. At the European Championship against James Wade even barely 75.
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“The control of my shoulder blade was completely gone,” ‘The Titan’ told ViaPlay afterwards. “My arrows often went in completely the wrong direction. I felt like I had been suffering from it for some time, but when I returned from the World Grand Prix, things went completely wrong. I had some sleep on the plane and when I got home I went to the osteopath. I could barely throw my dart at the board, it was that bad. In the meantime we have found what the error was, not the cause. Things are already going much better than three weeks ago, but still not good enough.”
Van Duijvenbode – who said he had pain with every throw – went into more detail at De Telegraaf. “The physio tells me that I am four to six weeks ahead of what is expected in my recovery. I thought: I’ll put tape on the sore spot, put a spray over it and then I see myself as having a chance of winning at least two rounds. If I had thought: I’m not going to win that first round anyway, I wouldn’t have participated. It all feels better, but it’s just not there yet. If you then notice that he (Wade, ed.) is not that good at all and gets opportunities to simply win, then you put pressure on him again. And that shoulder can’t handle those cramped throws yet. You just take mental blows from injuries and that doesn’t do your confidence any good. I have no worries, but I do hope that this will be ready within two weeks.”
With the World Cup just around the corner, Van Duijvenbode wanted to do everything he could. Even sleeping alone in the attic. “If I have to throw this way, it won’t be much the rest of the year,” he said. “I don’t assume that, because I’m making so much progress and I’m really doing everything I can…I have to be honest: I don’t often get down, but when they released those diagnoses and said that I would be okay in December If things went well, I would have been in a bit of a rut. But now I’m weeks ahead of schedule. I probably lose because I haven’t been able to train for three to four weeks and have been sidelined. I also missed four Pro Tours for the first time in my life, didn’t I? I don’t normally do that… My whole life is put aside for it. My work, my child – of course I just take good care of him – absolutely everything will go aside to solve this as quickly as possible. Mentally it is also difficult, I must admit… At one point I had the feeling that my bed was not good. I don’t like it, alone in the attic in the cold. I probably also caught a cold because of it. That it is also not good for that muscle? It’s just giving what you can give. I have to get rid of this.”
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Not cheap
Two weeks later there was no recovery. Things did not go smoothly at the Grand Slam and so questions arose again about the physical condition of ‘The Titan’.
“I did some research on Google about my injury and it said that the recovery could take up to two years,” he said in Wolverhampton. “Hopefully it won’t take that long for me, but it doesn’t look too good. It hurts a lot. Over the past period I have already spent between 3,000 and 5,000 euros on treatments. I now have a brace, which feels reasonable. But I don’t see myself throwing an average of over a hundred over a long match this way. But I think I can do a little better under these circumstances if I put in more training hours.”
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