Bullseye

For steel-tipped thrower Keith Hare, it’s been a long time coming waiting for Trussville to get some breweries—for the beer, yes, but also for the opportunity to have a perfect space for a Birmingham Darts League “home bar” for the patrons and dart enthusiasts in the Trussville area.

“We used to have a league in Trussville years ago back in the bowling alley, but that’s it,” said Hare, who has been throwing darts competitively since the ’90s. “Now, getting off work at 5:30 and then getting [downtown] that time of day is too difficult.”

Hare, who likes the game for its competitive nature and the fact that it requires strategy, has been driving 20 miles to get to downtown Birmingham to play at most of the “home bars.” Having two new breweries in Trussville — Slag Heap Brewing Company, located at 227 Main Street and newly opened this summer, and Ferus Artisan Ales, opening soon — gives many players, including several of his team members, the opportunity to have a “home bar” much closer to them.

Even though the Birmingham Darts League, formed 5 years ago, has had bars participate from all across the metro area, League Commissioner Andy Shu is excited to see the city of Trussville able to easily join the mix. As this season draws to a close, he said he will be talking with Slag Heap Brewing Company about getting involved. Since Shu took over the league two years ago, he said it’s continued to expand and add more teams from more areas of Birmingham.

Each year, there is a fall and spring season, where Shu helps to manage all the teams with similar levels of experience to compete with each other at the various bars. Usually people show up early before throwing nights to grab a beer and get to know their team or opponents, which allows the darts enthusiasts to form a community. 

There are also “blind draw” nights sprinkled between seasons, where everyone’s name is put in a hat and competitions are chosen at random. A lot of newcomers check it out on these nights and get a feel for if they’d like to join a league or not.

“It’s [for] work colleagues, friends. We’ve got a team that’s basically all family and cousins that just come out and throw,” Shu said. “Then there was a group of public defenders for a while. … It’s a lot of fun.”

It was only Hare’s team’s first or second time in the league when they went undefeated and won the championship. Although he said winning is the goal, what Hare really likes about the league is the community and how he was able to spend time with people he hadn’t seen in years. 

“You meet friends and make friends, and you have them for years,” Hare said.

Fellow Birmingham Darts League member and longtime thrower Zsolt Andrasko enjoys the “laid-back and good-spirited” atmosphere that breweries and non-traditional bars provide for darts league members, especially ones like him who are on the more competitive side. 

“It’s a lot of a mind competition,” he said, “not just a body competition on who shoots better. It’s fifty, fifty.” 

Andrasko, a veteran to the game, said the sport brings his friends together for several hours every couple of weeks and challenges them mentally and physically, all while drinking a beer or two. Members of the team face another team in singles and doubles matches of different styles.

“I believe about 50 percent of the teams are really competitive, and they have little rivalries between a couple teams, but it all depends how seriously you take it or how seriously your team or players want to take it,” he said. 

Shu, who has also been throwing competitively for the last decade, said everyone in the league is still mostly friendly and laid-back, with opposing players, some from the suburbs of Birmingham and some from Trussville, quickly getting to know each other during the seasons. He said they sometimes end up being on the same team in years to come.

“I always tell everybody, if you’ve never thrown before or only thrown a little bit, you’re welcome to join the league, and you’re not going to be put up against a guy that’s been throwing 30 years or something like that,” he said.

Only four teams competed in the first season of the Birmingham Darts League, but it’s gotten more popular each year, with a total of 12 teams competing in the last season. Shu makes sure teams on similar levels play each other, and reevaluating is done at the beginning of each season. 

Even though Andrasko and his team were nervous to join the league, he said there’s no need for Trussville newcomers to be intimidated. The first match they played, he said, still remains their team’s favorite because they felt welcomed and lifted up in a strange environment, even after a big win.

“The guys are so encouraging and if someone has a great round, they cheer them on. If someone has a bad round, they cheer them up, also,” Andrasko said. “If someone wants to play, I would absolutely encourage them to play because of the atmosphere.”

The amount of people involved per season varies, Shu said, but typically there’s about a dozen teams, with each team consisting of five to 12 people.

Shu said he gets emails from interested people all the time, and based on where they’re driving from and their skill level, Shu puts them on a team he thinks they would enjoy. 

Individuals from Trussville are encouraged to sign up or make a team by emailing Shu. 

To learn more, go to birminghamdarts.com or emailbirminghamdarts@gmail.com.