A Pilot Project for a Darts League
for the Blind is Met With Surprising Success
Story by Matthew St. Amand
Photography by Michael Pietrangelo
Sometimes, great ideas sound crazy at first. The idea for a darts league for blind and partially sighted people came up during a conversation between Sharron Jarvis and Peter Best, both of whom are legally blind. Sharron has some level of vision. Peter is totally blind.
“Last year, I was contacted by Shauna Boghean at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind,” Peter explains, “and she asked if I would meet with a woman who wanted to learn more about living as a visually impaired person.”
Peter is a longtime advocate for the blind and visually impaired in Windsor.
He met with Sharron at Branch 255 of the Royal Canadian Legion in late 2024.
“As we spoke, Sharron asked: ‘What kind of activities are there for blind people to do?’” Peter says.
He asked what types of activities were available in the Legion. “They have pool tables”, Sharron told him. Peter knew of visually impaired people playing pool.
“What else do you have?” he said.
“Dart boards.”
“Perfect!” Peter said.
Sharron thought he was joking. “You want to have a bunch of visually impaired people throwing sharp objects around a crowded room?”
“Why not?”
Years of advocacy have taught Peter to appreciate the absurd aspects of everyday life and that a sense of humour is an invaluable survival tool.
As it turned out, Peter’s outlook on life meshed with Sharron’s and his idea about the blind darts league soon did not sound so outlandish.
“I have been considered legally blind for the past forty years,” Sharron says. “The way I grew up was: You’ve got a problem? Learn a way around it. You can do anything you put your mind to. So, you have this eye problem—that shouldn’t stop you from doing anything. I’ve had a white cane for the last thirty years and only started using it last year.”
Sharron has lived in the City of Windsor for the past thirty-five years. She is married to a retired military man, she has raised two children and resided in a mesmerizing number of cities. After age forty, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Windsor and a few years later, completed a master’s degree. Sharron is now retired, but every day of her working life in Windsor, she rode the bus across the city to her job.
She has been so busy running a household and living her life, Sharron never had a chance to get involved with the blind community.
By the end of her conversation with Peter, the outlines of a blind darts league had formed. Peter agreed to research how to actually do it, and Sharron said she would approach Legion Branch 255 about using their facilities.
“I went online and found a group in Minnesota that used plastic darts,” Peter says. “In Europe, darts for blind people is popular—they have tournaments where competitors win hundreds of thousands of dollars. They have a technique that uses fishing string attached to the bottom of a dart board, so the thrower has a feel for its location. That was fine, but I didn’t have any string. Then I thought: ‘All right, let’s have a guide and play free-handed.’ That’s the difference. We use no adaptive devices, just a guide who points us in the right direction.”
As it turned out, the executive of Legion Branch 255 welcomed the opportunity to host a blind darts league.
Beginning last February, Sharron and Peter launched a pilot project for the league and found interest for it in the community.
“We had nine or ten regulars, all legally blind, who participated every Friday evening,” Sharron says. “We divided participants into three groups based on their level of vision.”
According to the International Blind Sports Association and International Paralympic Committee classification system, these levels are:
B1: From no light perception in either eye to light perception, but an inability to recognize the shape of a hand at any distance or in any direction.
B2: Ability to recognize objects up to a distance of two metres.
B3: Can recognize contours between two and six metres away.
“Each group had a coach/guide and a scorekeeper,” Sharron says. “The coaches are just wonderful! And, of course, safety came above all else.”
Once the coach/guide has the thrower lined up, he steps out of the way and says “Clear,” indicating that it’s safe to throw. Then the person throwing the dart says “Clear,” and makes their throw.
“There were a lot of misses, at first, darts going into the ceiling,” Peter said, “but it didn’t take long for participants to find their mark.”
Sharron remembers a great cheer going up among the spectators when a participant hit the board for the first time. Soon, though, the players dialed-in their throws and the games became competitive. There have even been a number of bullseyes. Peter threw one as he was filmed by local media for a TV segment.
To demonstrate the experience to sighted people, Peter explains: “I took three pairs of safety glasses to simulate B1, B2, B3 levels of vision. The B1 pair has black tape on the lenses. The B2 pair has Scotch tape across the lenses—it’s very fogged out. The B3 glasses have stripes in them to give a distorted look. We gave people the glasses, we set them up, and they threw three darts.”
“Everyone enjoyed the experience,” Sharron says. “We had two or three people who came out to join, but they could not continue due to transportation issues.”
The pilot project ended in May, but Peter and Sharron are meeting through the summer to discuss next steps.
“We are looking to resume the league after Labour Day,” Peter says.
There is no question the pilot project for the blind darts league was successful.
“The Legion has been so welcoming,” Sharron says. “We hope that other organizations might start similar programs. It’s all about accessibility. People with challenges are capable of so much. Sometimes they just need the right opportunity and the right place to do that.”
“We have had calls from as far away as Kingston and New Market asking for advice,” Peter says. “We are very grateful to Legion Branch 255 for letting us use their facility, and for the people who have come to watch us play.”
For more information about the blind darts league contact Sharron Jarvis through the Branch 255 of the Royal Canadian Legion at rclbr.on255@gmail.com or Peter Best at bestresolutions@outlook.com.
Published in the September 2025 Edition.
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