HUYBRECHTS OPENS UP ON “DOWNWARD SPIRAL” IN DARTS CAREER

KIM HUYBRECHTS has opened up on the “downward spiral” that left him fearing his darts career was heading nowhere.

The Belgian ace admits even victories stopped bringing him joy during a miserable run that saw his confidence completely shattered. 

But after changing management and stepping up his work with former top player Erik Clarys, Huybrechts believes he is finally turning a corner. 

He told the Darts Draait Door Podcast: “Darts-wise, things are going pretty well for me. 

“We’re back in an upward, more enjoyable phase of my career that was really needed. And timing-wise I don’t think it could have been better. 

“That negativity… For two, three years, I was really in that downward spiral.  

“You keep thinking: it’s against me again. Or that checkout is going in. And if they miss it once, you don’t capitalize. So it’s never fun or positive or good. 

“If you do win one, you think: I finally got a bit of luck, but soon it’ll be over again anyway. 

“Erik really talks to me a lot. Mainly addressing my weaknesses, in his view. We still do a lot of finishing work. And we’re also working very hard on the mental aspect. 

“It used to be much smaller in scale. We’d get together once a month.  

“Now we do it two or three times a week and really dig into where it goes wrong, why it goes wrong, and how we can fix it.” 

The Hurricane has made a steady start to the campaign, reaching the last 16 at two ProTour events and the third round of the Belgian Darts Open and German Darts Grand Prix.   

Huybrechts has started paying more attention to his fitness after realising long tournament days were taking their toll. 

He added: “We’re now working with dietitians and looking to hit the gym a bit. Is that fun? No. 

“When you barely win rounds for two or three years, you’re never in those tournaments for long, so you don’t consider how important that physical readiness is.  

“But if you now go deeper, you notice that at a certain point you’re not just tired, but mainly mentally tired. 

“You’ll see matches where I average 98 or around a hundred, but by the third or fourth round it starts to drop. We’re addressing that now.” 

Huybrechts revealed his main priority at the start of the year was simply protecting his PDC Tour Card but his ambitions are now starting to grow again. 

He continued: “Our first goal in January was to secure that Tour Card as quickly as possible. 

“If you’re around 60th, everything depends on the Worlds and who picks up points there. But three months later you suddenly have a completely different mindset. 

“We’re still thinking about that Tour Card, but now you suddenly have other goals we didn’t expect this soon.  

“Erik always says I’ve got an arm that shouldn’t be missing those tournaments. Matchplay, Grand Prix, I should be there every year. 

Huybrechts blasted the current ranking system, claiming it leaves struggling players with little room for error. 

He said: “Over the years they’ve made the system a bit impossible for people in a difficult phase of their career, but also for new players. 

“The protection of the top players is part of that.” 

The Belgian believes the huge prize money on offer at televised events heavily skews the rankings. 

He said: “A Worlds or Grand Prix is so decisive in terms of prize money. 

“You can perform almost all year, but if someone behind you wins three or four rounds at a Worlds, you’ve fought all year for nothing.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.