Daniela Bata-Bogdanov

Could you just tell us how you got into darts scoring and marking?

My journey into darts began as a player. But when you lost the game, you had to stay at the board and mark the next game. We had no digital aids back then, so it was harder than today.

In 2013 the PDC held qualification tournaments for the World Championship for the East of Europe. One player wanted us to statistics for him during his games: how many checkouts he had, how many darts he threw for the double etc. Other players then wanted the same thing.

Barbara, who was then tournament director spoke to PDC Europe and was allowed to bring five or six of us from Hungary to score matches. The guy who kept statistics for every single player at the tournament is now my husband by the way.

So I stood at the board, with very good players like the Rodriguez Brothers, Mensur Suljovic and other Hungarian and Croatian players. In the beginning it was hard, but it was the best place for me to learn how to score, how to behave on stage and not to be afraid of those games and the players.

And then in 2018 I got a big chance to be on stage in the Eurotour in Leverkusen.

A lot of people are afraid of marking the score. Do you have any advice for those people starting out?

Absolutely. The key piece of advice I'd give is to practice as much as you can in a low-pressure environment. Imagine you're just playing with friends or practicing at home. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes. Don't focus too much on the pressure of the situation. Whether it's in a pub or on a stage, the numbers don't change. It's all about getting comfortable with the process.

And if somebody who starts out really wants to learn how to how, could you give other tips or tricks?

I don't think you can be a good scorer without playing darts yourself. You learn the remaining scores, especially when you get to the doubles. You start to know the combinations.

Also count along when you watch a game on TV. Disregard what you see and what the commentators say. Just look at the game and count along.

But in the end, it's all about practicing. The more you score, the better you become. When I started, I also had to count, like 20 + 20 is 40. But now many years later I don’t count, it’s like I have a pictures in my head. So, practice, practice, practice!

A lot of players, whether it's in darts or in other sports, have a routine prepare for a game, some small things they do to get into the zone.

I don’t really have a routine. It’s just like any other job you do every single day. Before you go to work in the morning, you don't have a special routine for that.

We just check the games we will be scoring, who wins the bull, will we be standing on the left- or right-hand side, checking if the water is already on the stage or things like that. Simple things really.

Are there any players that you and really enjoy writing for? Or are there players who drive you crazy, for instance by taking very strange routes?

As a marker it shouldn’t really matter who the player is. You do have ‘old-school’ players who for instance throw at the 20 all the time, so you don’t have to think as much. But this may also become a little bit boring. Personally, I like it when a player plays quickly and keeps you on your toes. I always love to get challenged.

Do you have any funny anecdotes?

It’s small things. Like one time I was on stage with one other marker. We were very tired, and he forgot that it was his player who was throwing. So, the player came up and asked: “are you sleeping?” That was a funny moment.
Sometimes if you are busy and especially during very challenging games, you forget the cameras and when too many things happen at the same time, you may just curse in the microphone.
The German Super League is one of the hardest tournaments, because it lasts 5 or 6 days.
We start at 10:00 o'clock in the morning and we finish at 7-8 o'clock in the evening. I was so tired that I called ‘100 and something”.
But when these things happen, we laugh with it, because that’s the best way to enjoy your job.

Maybe just one final question on scoring. How do you feel about initiatives that help people learning how to score?

I'm always happy to help if I can. I don’t think there is no one way to teach someone how to score. When you start playing Darts people can give you advice and tips & tricks. For scoring I think that is harder. But anything that helps people get closer to scoring is a good thing.

That’s it. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview.

I'm always happy to share my experiences and good luck with your ebook.