Vice President of the University of Gloucestershire Darts team, James Pryer has set out his goals for the team ahead of the new season, stating that he believes they can reach nationals once again two years on from the university’s last appearance there.
Pryer has stated that Nationals is “100% the aim but for us there’s no real pressure, we’re in a league with much bigger universities than us, but I still feel like we have a very good chance and should make nationals.”
The UDUK season got underway earlier this week as UoG’s A and B team picked up a win over the University of Leicester.
The A team won 8-3 whilst the B’s won 6-5 thanks to a final game win.
James ‘On Fire’ Pryer said “with all due respect to Leicester, it was one we expected to win but not in the manner we did, it was really nice that the B’s were able to win as well I’m really happy for them, it’s going to be a tough season.”
He added that “everyone played pretty well, it was nice to not just beat them but turn the screw a little as well.”
Pryer proudly hit a 180, the maximum score in darts, during his singles match and had this to say, “I’d just said to Alfie, our captain, that I can’t find a treble and he told me it’s alright they’ll come and then the next three darts I hit three of them and that changed the tide a bit then, I started to play some better darts after that so I was happy.”
Leicester player, Janek Hill is part of the PDC Development Tour and has faced Pryer many times throughout his university tenure so far.
Hill is currently ranked 220th on the Development Tour as the vice-president sung his praises stating that “Janek’s a good player, we played him at national’s before, he’s always been a good player and I think it just shows you the levels really.”
The 20-year-old went on to pinpoint some key players for UoG for the season ahead, picking out Billy Maple and Alfie Element specifically.
He said that “Alfie’s the captain, and has won everything there is to win in UoG Darts, as well as the Midlands Masters which is a UDUK tournament, we all know what he can do. Jack (Payne) won the first UDUK Tour event of the season on Saturday in Warwick, and Billy is our president and can absolutely smash a treble, you’ve seen how hard he throws it and it’s nuts. I think we’ve got a really strong team.”
UoG face Swansea in the UDUK Challenge Cup next week, where nine players will travel over to South Wales with the aim of reaching the next round.
The Challenge Cup sees players take part in a “gallons” game where all nine players from both teams play together in a massive 18-person game.
Speaking on these games, Pryer said “I find it hard enough to get a rhythm when we play trebles games because you’re waiting for five other people to throw before you get another go. So when it’s nine on a team it’s a bit mad but that’s the fun of the cup, it’s something a bit different.”
Away games can be long old days for the darts team, as games against the likes of Loughborough and Warwick are fairly long trips.
Pryer said “I enjoy them, I think it’s a good part of the team building really, last year I had to drive us to Uxbridge so we could get the tube to Wembley Stadium to play against their uni but it’s good fun.”
New people are always welcome at the darts society with Pryer saying “we’re always open to new members, for a niche society I think we’ve done quite well and we have a lot of people. We do casual sessions at Francis Close Hall on a Tuesday night, we always get people asking if they can come down and try it out before they buy a membership and of course they can, we want as many people here as possible.”
If you wish to try your hand, or throw as it may be, then you can join the darts society here.
