Fitness Without the Gym: Effective Workouts

• Tom Meijers

  Darts editor

Rafael van der Vaart will assist darts player Raymond van Barneveld. ‘Barney’ has not been able to deliver top performances for years. In the coming years, the Hague darts legend wants to fully focus on his sport one more time. And the five-time world champion needs help with that.

The 58-year-old Van Barneveld acknowledged this after his early elimination from the World Cup. “I still have a few good years ahead of me and I want to make the most of them.”

Former top footballer Van der Vaart (42) wants to help him with this: “I can’t promise anything, but I will do my best.” He saw with sorrow how Van Barneveld had struggled in recent years. “That really hurts me. I’m really a fan of him.”

Van Barneveld is happy with the extended hand. “Super sweet. It’s really great that he wants to work for me.” Barney is looking for someone who will give him a kick in the ass and, for example, take him to the gym.

Van der Vaart laughs: “If anyone doesn’t go to the gym, it’s me. But I told him that I will do my best with my network.”

“Raymond has put darts on the map in the Netherlands,” says Van der Vaart. “Raymond, like me, is a born talent. And then you become lazy.”

Yet Van der Vaart does not think that laziness is the biggest problem with the five-time world champion. Van Barneveld carries the whole world with him and that has to change, says the 109-time Dutch international: “You shouldn’t take it all so seriously. We are talking about darts.”

“It’s mental. I’m convinced that Raymond throws everyone off the board when he’s relaxed. Maybe he should drink four bacos before a match again, like before.”

Van der Vaart sees himself as the opposite of the darts player. And that is why the collaboration could turn out well. “He often gets into trouble with himself and thinks way too much. I’m actually someone who doesn’t think, just ask Estavana (his girlfriend and handball player Polman, ed.).”

The former Ajax player also likes to play darts. In 2019 he took part in the Danish Open and the Danish Masters. Former professional tournaments of the now defunct BDO association.

But a career as a darts player is not in the cards. “I threw with my son yesterday. I got 3-0 with an average of 26,” laughs Van der Vaart.

Van der Vaart and Van Barneveld have known each other since 2013, when they won a couples tournament together at HSV. “Our bond has always been good,” says Van Barneveld. “I’m open to everything, but I’ve also tried everything.”

“It remains an individual sport, you are often on your own,” says the man from The Hague. “Hopefully Rafael’s help will provide relief, but I don’t dare say yet what exactly it will look like.”

“We’re going to have coffee soon and then things will become concrete,” he explains. Last week it became clear that Barney was missing out on the first major of the year, the Winmau World Masters.

Not because of his poor form, but because he gives two lucrative demonstrations at FC Twente and expects to earn more from them than at the prestigious tournament in Milton Keynes.