Junior darts launches JDC Virtual Platform

The official start of a five year agreement between JDC and the Gibraltar Government to hold Junior Darts Tournaments in Gibraltar might be walking through uncertain times with the present restrictions due to the pandemic not yet providing a clear picture on whether August events will go ahead. However, Gibraltar’s junior darts players can still enjoy participation in JDC events as the darts corporation launches its virtual platform.
JDC Virtual was launched last Friday with a complete playing package of darts for all abilities.
“From the first time thrower to the ambitious amateur, JDC Virtual has something for everyone. With no age limits the whole family can enjoy the latest JDC creation,” announced JDC as it prepared to launch..
“The JDC Virtual concept is a hybrid of the very successful JDC academy scoring model. Endorsed by the PDC and a system in place for the last 10 years. From humble beginnings this routine would become the bench mark for over 30 darts academies world wide and thousands of people trying out their skills on the routines.”
“JDC Virtual brings this model to the whole world in their own homes. Not only will this be an incredible area to practice and develop self improvement, the system also provides the ambitious amateur player to realise a dream of playing in a World Darts Championship.”
“JDC Virtual will give the player the opportunity to qualify for tournaments through the innovative scoring mechanism and bring hours of fun to those who are looking to improve.”
The platform allows for young players to continue enjoying the competitive game with a chance to qualify for the Amateur World Darts Championship from your very kitchen, living, corridor or balcony.
The JDC Virtual platform requires players to video their official scores LIVE to enable the qualification and the upgrading their success. Adding a little stage pressure to the routines that can only be done once at a time officially live. There are 6 attempts in each quadrant to see what the player scores in total which will then provide the level they are at. Averaging a score of 700 over the 6 Live attempts will unlock a passport to send players on their way to qualification. 6 passports to collect that will open up the entry ticket to the Virtual Amateur World Darts Championship 2020.
Starting on Monday the 27th Steve Brown will be hosting his own Facebook Live updates on the new The popularity of the JDC Virtual platform has already led its Chairman Steve Brown to launch a JDC Virtual Facebook page as from this Monday in which he will hold daily updates and interact with questions. The updates will only be a short update on anything new, any issues people may have and clarification on aspects of JDC Virtual.
Steve Brown commented, "I have been so excited to launch this product and have been overwhelmed by the activity and interest so far. I hope people will join me weeknights at 7pm to discuss all things Virtual".

Prior to the launch JDC Chairman Steven Brown provided via the JDC official website someone answers to questions on what the new JDC virtual brings.

Tell us a little about the concept and how it came about?

“ Like everyone else, we were in an unfamiliar position of not going to work and continue JDC business as usual. So we had a choice, sit it out and hope things get back to normal quickly or look for new ways to keep things going. Many conversations, video meetings and hours of thinking time we have created what we think is a great product”

So what is JDC Virtual? is it the JDC on-line?
“ No not at all. We have made a hybrid version if you like of the JDC routines that have been very successful and have been endorsed by the PDC for many years. The scoring is more difficult and has a serious element to it regarding self improvement and the potential for people to qualify for major tournaments. We still encourage players to shoot at the 57 targets in 3 sections but have increased the difficulty and included an ultimate GOLD grade. The fact that this system is designed for amateur players, adults and teenagers we needed to raise the bar on the routines.

So do the players get shirts like your academy students?
“ No. The shirts will remain exclusive to our academy system. JDC Virtual offers optional upgrades as players unlock their individual levels. So if I get to a particular level I can upgrade my success with a really nice pack if i wish. The Level I am currently at now will appear on my virtual homepage dashboard.
If I could just be clear, this is no replacement of the current JDC academies, tournaments or anything we have built up over the last few years. We are incredibly proud of our academy players and coaches.”

So how much is to to play the Virtual game?
“ Its completely free to play. All you have to do is log on, sign up and away you go!! We recommend a few practice games and then you can GO LIVE!!

When you say go live, do players actually have to play live??
“ yes and that’s the fun of it. To be able to move up the levels a player must post 6 Facebook Live broadcasts of their routine on their facebook page. One per day maximum on the live scoring. So I could get my first level done in 6 days if I wish. However I could be working away for example so I can do my six goes when I can. You can practice as many times as you like on the practice section we have created before posting a LIVE one.
The player when on facebook live, must save and post the routine to their facebook page for 24 hrs and TAG in the JDC VIRTUAL page.
Scores and broadcasts will be monitored from this and we are sure lots of the players will be watching other players online too”

You mentioned a World Championships, how does that work?
“ We are going to have a JDC Virtual Amateur World Darts Championship in November in Gibraltar. Senior and Junior tournaments with a healthy prize fund. A great opportunity for the amateur players to make a world championship. Qualifying players need to firstly post an average score of over 700 to unlock a passport. There are 6 passports to unlock. When a player unlocks the last passport they can purchase their entry ticket. The tournament is limited to 256 players.
Each round of six live attempts will achieve an average score. So the quickest you could qualify would be as little as 36 attempts. This would be great to see people being able to qualify from the kitchen or the lounge… i’m really excited by that”.

Any advice to people that may of not have used facebook live before?
Its really easy to do and so many people are familiar now with online activity. However we do ask for a little commitment regarding the broadcast. Instructions on this will be available to everyone. Going live does add a bit of pressure but that’s the point. A bit like your first time going to a gym, it can be a bit daunting. But after one or two goes you’ll be fine.

Finally what does the next few weeks hold for the JDC?
“We launch JDC Virtual on Friday and then we will have a Nations Challenge after the initial few days, a bit of fun around the world for players. Then we have some exciting developments on the Virtual Platform to work on and we still have work to do on JDC Academies, tournament rescheduling and other bits and pieces that have been on hold for us this past 4 weeks”.