(NOTE: For updates on this Trial League, click here for Week 2.)

Here’s an interesting update. Dennis Genberg Jr., one of the members of Anabu Darts Club (ADC) and also a club officer, happens to be a member of the American Darters Association (ADA). (Just a note, if you will try to explore their website, you have to have a VPN if you are based in the Philippines.)

Founded in 1990 as the sanctioning body for a nationwide centrally controlled dart league in the United States, the ADA operates two types of nationwide dart leagues–one utilizing a unique system called the NEUTRALIZER, which allows members, regardless of their ability, to compete equally; and the other, the traditional “scratch” Open League format.

ADA’s American Dart League is the only league that offers both traditional steel-tip and electronic soft-tip action in the same format. ADA is currently the largest soft tip/steel tip league in the United States, and currently operate in 30 states, all managed by trained professionals to ensure the best-organized darts program in the country.

So, Dennis happens to be good friends with Karl Remick, Vice President of ADA, who is also the son of ADA founder Glenn Remick. Dennis and Karl crafted a “trial league” involving players from the ADC, under ADA rules/system. Around 14 players of ADC–those who can commit to really play at least one game per week to adhere to the league schedule–were given complimentary membership to ADA over the next two months. The teams will compete round-robin format, utilizing ADA’s “NEUTRALIZER” system: for this Trial League, it will be a set of 11 games involving ’01 (501 and 701) and Cricket games.

So, the teams were formed and registered, and league schedule was determined (every Sunday over the next eight weeks). Overall, the idea is that once the system and league organization and management have been proven to work well, the program will be gradually widened to include other darts clubs or groups in the area, and eventually, to a bigger pool of players (the tricky part is the scheduling of the league games).

This is a particularly challenging endeavor because the scoring, the system, and everything in between must be done according to ADA’s system. There is also an official ADA scoresheet, which tracks the score of each team, in each game of their 11-leg match. In fact, I admire Dennis’s patience as he painstakingly tracks and lists each and every point, the number of darts thrown, etc., of each team, in every game. This determines the PPDA and MPR of the teams. We are slowly getting the system, and are logging the points here and there, but it takes quite a bit of getting used to. I believe we will be able to seamlessly track this and score every game properly by the third or fourth week. For now, we’re depending on Dennis to score the whole thing.

For the time being, the ADA/ADC Trial League is being done every Sunday at Dennis’s place in Southplains Executive Village in Dasmarinas. And below are the teams competing:

1. DGMR: Michael Ruiz and Dennis Genberg Jr
2. Team Casper: Jesus Emmanuel “Mark” Bacalando and Reynaldo Villanueva
3. BSTPN: TheRonin and Ronald Allan “Basti Boo” Porras
4. Real Life Partner: Leah Moreno and Marvin Moreno
5. Generation Bulls: FuriousLegit and Nida Fernandez
6. Cobra: Brian Hedderick and Juancho “Choy” Caguia
7. Race Team 7: R-jay Fernandez and Reynaldo Racelis

We don’t have all the best players at ADC because of scheduling conflicts. But we hope to include everyone soon enough.

For now, we’re done with Week 1. So far, the league standings are as follows:

Updates next week. Here’s hoping for a successful league!