Mac Elkin reveals De Sousa's battle with number dyslexia: "From time to time, he gets a little upset by the ridiculing"
PDC
Mac Elkin heads up the Sportsman Management Company who look after many leading names including Jose de Sousa who recently signed a new long term deal with his manager.
In the latest issue of Darts World, he spoke about De Sousa including about his battle with number dyslexia (Dyscalculia) which is behind many of his miscounts and affects him also when he is given abuse.
“He knows people laugh and even understands why. But genuinely, he knows all the checkout shots. It’s just that in his mind, José often registers a number in his head differently to what it actually is," said Elkin to Darts World.
“Counting never used to be an issue because he only played on an electronic board. The machine does all the scoring, you just throw and not worry about the maths.
“At the moment, it bothers me a lot more than José but there will soon reach a point it affects his mentality. From time to time, he gets a little upset by the ridiculing so yes, deep down he admits it can hurt - he just tries to laugh it off."
absolutely ridiculous story and no excuse. if he 'knows his outs' then he's not calculating anything he's just hitting targets. if he isn't sure, then ask. he's not a rapid thrower anyway and he takes a second to try to figure it out himself when he isn't sure. why not use that time to ask someone who can actually count if you have a specific disability that means arithmetic are hard for you? ryan searle asks the refs when he isn't sure about a number because of his poor eyesight. jose should do the same. de sousa is a lovely thrower but there is no excuse for these mistakes when there is a professional counter a few feet away from you. it's cost him a few times in the past and there isn't a match that goes by without some counting howler. he needs to sort himself out and make asking the ref part of his game so he doesn't lose a big tournament unnecessarily.
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