By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Marlborough – For lifelong resident Becky Wainwright, the game of darts is not just something she plays casually in the basement. Wainwright is central area director of the Minute Man Dart League (MMDL) and president of the Route 20 Summer Dart League. She also runs a “Luck of the Draw” every Sunday night at the Lazy Dog on Main Street. For Wainwright, playing darts is a passion that began about 15 years ago.
“A friend of mine played and got me into playing,” she said. “He took me to a tournament, where I bought my first set of darts, but didn’t play. I came home and started playing. After that I was hooked.”
In 2007, Wainwright got involved with the board of directors for the MMDL. Established in 1974, the MMDL is the largest dart league in the world with over 460 teams from the North Shore, Boston, South Shore and central Massachusetts. In 2009, she became central area director and began running events and Luck of the Draw competitions both independently and for the MMDL. There are currently 82 teams in the Central Area that include Natick, Framingham and Clinton out to Douglas, and every town in between (Worcester as well).
The MMDL is nonprofit, although it plans on sponsoring and running a $25,000 tournament in October in Nashua, N.H. Also, it is bringing back the Witch City Open, a tournament the MMDL ran for years but discontinued. This is a big name tournament that will be played not only by people in the U.S., but other countries as well.
The Route 20 Summer Dart League was started in 1998 by Wainwright and a friend. Competitions took place at the Sitting Bull Pub in Maynard until 2002 when the league was moved to Marlborough. The league started with six teams and has grown to include twelve.
Wainwright's team, which consists of eight players, is named the Deadly Talons. Initially, they met at The Little Pub and when it closed, they moved to the Marlborough Eagles. While the team does not practice much together, Wainwright spends a great deal of time doing so at home.
“Unlike most sports, darts is a game that anyone can play regardless of age or physical make up,” Wainwright said, “I really enjoy playing and watching games.”
“I play on Sundays,” she said. “I play other events during the year, including some weekend tournaments as well. All my closest friends play and have dart boards up at their homes, too. We have dart parties once or twice a month at someone's house. In the big picture of darts mine are not all that great.”
Wainwright spends her days working at Macy's and her free time throwing darts with her friends.
To find out more about the Minute Man Dart League visit http://mmdl.org/.