New indoor dart league begins this winter on Long Island
The team from McCarthy's Pub in Centereach competes in the semifinals of the Long Island Tavern Owners Dart Association playoffs on Dec. 21. Credit: Steve Trebing
The LI-Kick coed adult sports organization is launching a darts league emphasizing socializing and camaraderie over competition, pitching it as "a perfect fit for you regardless if you can hit the bull's-eye or can barely hit the wall."
The league, which will play at the Great South Bay Brewery on Thursday nights beginning Jan. 6, is different from other Long Island darts leagues because all the teams will play at the same location simultaneously on a total of 10 mobile, stand-up dartboards, says LI-Kick owner Sal Farruggia. Other Long Island leagues typically have two teams rotate to face off at one location at a time because venues may only offer one or two dartboards each.
Jess Miller will be the league director of LI-Kick's new dart league that begins in January at the Great South Bay Brewery in Bay Shore. Credit: LI-Kick
The new league will welcome players of any ability who can sign up as teams or as individuals or friends and be placed on a team, Farruggia says. Play will be geared to beginning and intermediate players; advanced players may not find the competition level challenging enough for them, according to LI-Kick.
The dart league is the ninth sport to be added to LI-Kick’s roster, joining coed adult activities such as soccer, dodgeball, cornhole and more. "We’re on a mission to transform social lives all across Long Island," Farruggia says.
The league will feature four games — Cricket, 501, 301 and baseball, says league organizer Jess Miller, 36, of Deer Park, who works in food and nutrition at a hospital. "In winter, there’s not much to do. It’s something to get you out. It’s an awesome way to meet new people," Miller says.
Cost is $50 per person or $200 per team, and teams can entail four to seven members. People must register in advance. The league can accommodate 20 teams, Farruggia says. Entry includes an LI-Kick T-shirt and there will be still-to-be-determined prizes for winners, he says. Sign up is at li-kick.com/play/darts. The league will be following the venue's Covid-19 requirements at the time of play, Farruggia says.
Teams registered so far include monikers that are creative plays on words such as "Dart Bag." Kenny Schroeder, 38, an operations engineer from Huntington, and his wife, Ginger, 35, an administrator, are signed up along with friends Ginger met through an LI-Kick kickball team.
"This will be exciting," says Ginger, who has played darts before but never in a league. Kenny says he’s looking forward to "drinking some beers and playing darts with some friends."
SOME OTHER WAYS TO PLAY
Dart Players Association of the North Shore
This league plays at bars in the Huntington, Northport and Greenlawn area on Tuesday nights. Three divisions offer a variety of competitive play, and the league keeps a detailed website with player and team stats. Bars pay fee for their sponsored teams for compete. A new season starts in February; for more information, visit dpans.com.
Long Island Brewery Dart League
Ten teams, most sponsored by Long Island breweries, compete for a trophy. Teams are made up of customers and brewery employees that play “home” and “away” matches on Wednesday nights. “We want to give everybody a chance to see all the microbreweries around Long Island,” says league commissioner Adam Syrlik of Ronkonkoma, who plays for The Brewers Collective brewery in Bay Shore. Venues run primarily along the South Shore from as far west as Hicksville to as far east as Holbrook. A new season starts in February. For more information, visit longislandbrewersdarts.com.
Long Island Tavern Owners Dart Association
This league’s teams are sponsored by local bars in the mid-Suffolk County are around Smithtown, Ronkonkoma, Centereach and Oakdale, and they play Monday, Tuesday or Thursday nights. Bars include, for instance, Jax Lounge in Ronkonkoma and McCarthy’s Pub in Centereach. Players kick in $10 each and the sponsoring bar picks up the rest of the entry fees. The next season begins in January. For more information, call 631-467-4909.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
