"After that surgery I didn't reach a constant level, then you have to stop" - Roland Scholten saw injury throw a spanner in the works of his career

Roland Scholten was active with the PDC between 2000 and 2013. However, a shoulder injury put an early end to his career. The now 59-year-old Dutchman admits he actually over-trained.

Scholten, winner of the 2004 UK Open, was still active in the Premier League Darts in 2007. "But the problems with my shoulder actually started then. I played so much that period that my shoulder broke," he said to the'Double Top' podcast. "Then in 2008 I finally had surgery. After that, I tried for five more years, but I wasn't getting the results I had before, then you have to decide it's better to stop. It just didn't make sense to muddle on anymore."

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Scholten does know what caused his injury woes. "I was never the most talented player," he says. "I knew that if I wanted to perform at a certain level, then I had to train a lot. At some point, though, you have to be smart and realize that something like that can also overload your shoulder. I didn't realize that until too late then, at some point it just stops with your body."

"I had a little ball behind my shoulder blade, bigger than a cherry. It gave a burning sensation and sometimes I barely even had the strength to throw my darts at the board, on top of that I was particularly tired very quickly. In the end, I had to search for a very long time what the cause was. I consulted several doctors, even in Belgium, but it took a long time before anyone could help me. Finally there was a doctor at the hospital in Amsterdam who thought the dirt in my shoulder could be the cause. Through keyhole surgery, he would take that out."

Roland Scholten was the first Dutchman to win a PDC major in 2004

That surgery, however, went strangely. "Of course, I had also asked if he could do something about that little ball behind my scapula. He then told me to remind him of that on the day of surgery. Finally, an assistant came to see me and she removed that little ball. I thought it was very strange, was also quite uncertain, but you have to do something, so I ended up having surgery."

"When I came out of surgery, I felt better right away," Scholten continued. "In addition, the surgeon had scraped off part of my scapula to give my tendons more room, that way I would be able to move better."

However, that improvement did not last long. "My motor skills quickly deteriorated and the pain got worse again when I started playing tournaments again. Moreover, I no longer reached my old level, at least not on a constant basis. That's why I decided to call it a day in 2013," Scholten concluded.

Scholten became an analyst for TV after his action career. Thus, he first worked for RTL for many years and then briefly for Viaplay. Early last year, however, that station decided to end the agreement with Scholten.

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