Congratulations to Mike Nelson of Little Falls Minnesota for winning the Masters Cricket Singles title at Team Dart 2011 in Las Vegas Nevada.
A couple of  weeks ago the 2011 NDA Team Dart Event was held in Las Vegas Nevada. The competition this year in masters was extremely tough. Not only were some of the best players from the USA there but also some of the best from France, Canada, Spain, Germany and a couple other countries. Just placing in the top 4 at this event is a cool accomplishment but winning it is just plain HUGE.

Mike has been playing at a high level for many years but in the last few years he’s really stepped up his game. Mike’s success is proof that if you put in the hard work and practice practice practice you can make it to the top. I’m very proud of Mike and wish him many more titles in the future.

Good job Mike and a big gobble gobble to you!

Mike Pictured with Teammates Jay, Justin & Chad

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The City Playoff Tournament for Theisen Vending was held this weekend at the Dog House Bar and Grill in Maplewood. Judi Heston from Theisen Vending and Mike Wegwerth from the Dog House went out of their way to setup a Chuck-A-Luck to help support the dart players of Japan. Thank you so much to Judi, Mike and everyone that contributed money for such a great cause. We will now have another $216 going to the IDART Relief Fund to help the players of Japan. Thank you all so much for your support!

As you may know the recent events in Japan have hit close to home, many fellow dart players were directly affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami. There have been several efforts already to raise money to support our friends and fellow players in Japan.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Asia Dart Associations 7th Annual Tour in Taipei Taiwan last weekend and we once again we took this as an opportunity to help out our fellow dart players in Japan. The event ends with a dinner party, prize giveaway and games. At our table was US players Rob Heckman, Bob Wiles, Chris White, Bob Hudzik, Scotty Burnett, Carolyn Nessmann, Joe Zhou Mei from China and a Palo from Portugal.
Our table was fortunate to win the two top prizes which were Arachnid wall mounted dart boards. After seeing Rob Heckman give away his dartboard to good friend Gemma Chiang as a thank you for showing us around Taipei and being such a great host I had an idea. On behalf of our table and Team USA I wanted to donate my dartboard to an auction type event to raise money for the Japan players.

Rob is such a good ambassador for the sport and such a great spokesman I was sure he would do a great job of soliciting donation. Man did he ever! The high bid was 30,000 NT Dollars ($1000 USD) by Ms. Rabecca Wang but the donations didn’t stop there. Many people just came up and starting handing Rob money. I watched as people from every Country came up and donated money. We then had all the Super One Players from each country come up and sign the dartboard case for the winning bidder.

Next is where I really lost it, I’m not ashamed to say I was sobbing at this point. Rob had all the Japan players and family members come up on the stage to accept the gift. Top Japan Player Mitsumasa Hoshino gave a short speech accepting the gift, I really have no idea what he said but there weren’t too many dry eyes in the building. We never even counted the money but Rob estimated that there was well over $5000 USD. To think that a simple gift of a dartboard and some generous people can do so much amazes me. We all joined together for a final picture. As I hugged Japan player Asako after this picture picture she said “Pray for Japan” so I would like to pass on her message, please Pray for Japan. This by far is my proudest moment in darts and something that I will never forget.

I hope that the giving continues and we can support our friends in Japan even more in the future. Please visit www.dartbook.tv and donate to the IDART Relief Fund, all donations will directly support our fellow dart players in Japan.

Rick Espinoza