Major winners and record breakers usually steal the darting spotlight. They fill the headlines, command the fanfare, and make the highlight reels. But every so often, a story emerges that cuts deeper than averages and trophies – a story about courage, resilience, and sheer human willpower.
This week in Wigan, Jules van Dongen wrote that story. Known as The Dutch Dragon, van Dongen wasn’t returning to the PDC Pro Tour to chase records or prize money. He returned because he refuses to give up.
The 35-year-old American-Dutch player earned his Tour Card back in 2022 after finishing second on the European Q-School Order of Merit – a gruelling marathon of pressure, nerves, and endless tungsten warfare. Anyone who’s ever attempted Q-School will tell you that surviving it once takes guts. Losing that card and going back for another round takes something altogether different.
But this story isn’t about a ranking or a comeback through the system. It’s about a man facing down a cruel twist of fate that would have finished most careers. Van Dongen has been living with dystonia, a rare and incurable neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions. In darts, that’s a nightmare scenario.
The condition affects his throwing hand, particularly the muscles around his thumb, leaving him unable to release the dart properly. For him, throwing began to feel like wrestling with his own body.
“It feels like I have spaghetti in my hand,” he explained. “I can’t get a proper grip on the dart. My hand just does strange things-and I can’t control it.”
For a while, he tried to fight through it. But as the spasms worsened, it became clear that the problem wasn’t something practice could fix. The brain was simply misfiring. Darts, the sport that had defined him, was suddenly out of reach. Or so it seemed.
Then came the decision that stunned fans and fellow professionals alike. Jules van Dongen would switch to playing left-handed. It sounds simple in theory, but to an elite player it’s the equivalent of learning to write, throw, and think from scratch. Muscle memory, rhythm, timing – all gone. He had to start again, literally rebuilding from the ground up.
And that’s exactly what he’s done. Back from a break after the World Cup and World Series this summer, he wrote on X. “Unfortunately no cure for dystonia possible, so I have resumed left-handed training.”
This weekend, that training becomes reality. Van Dongen stepped back onto the Pro Tour stage, left-handed for the first time, knowing the averages might not flatter him, but the courage certainly will.
“I want to show my children that I’m a champion,” he said. “But the more I struggle, the more I realise I’m teaching them something else: perseverance. Never give up, never give up hope. I struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there – and I’m going to reach it.”
Sadly, Jules courage didn’t bring success. It takes skill to win titles, but it takes heart to stand up and start again when everything’s been taken away. So while the weekend headlines may belong to the winners, make no mistake – the bravest man this weekend in Wigan was Jules van Dongen.
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC / Winmau
