"With all the media I was doing, I was kind of thinking to myself: do I really want to be doing this?" – Ryan Searle nearly buckled under attention at the World Darts Championship

Ryan Searle reached the second round at last week’s Belgian Darts Open, where he narrowly lost 6-5 to Dutchman Danny Noppert. He did win his opening match against Ricky Evans, and afterwards “Heavy Metal” was strikingly honest about his lack of effort at the start of this year.

While many players talk about form, confidence, or fine margins, Searle was unusually candid in assessing his season’s start. The Englishman was quite clear: “To be honest, I’ve just not really been putting the effort in to start the season," said Searle in Wieze. "I normally start with a new set of darts, so that gets me on the board and I’m practising loads. But obviously I switched to a new set just before the Worlds at Minehead, and I had a run at the Worlds which was fantastic. I’ve just lost a bit of effort since then.”

That change began around the World Darts Championship, where Searle played with a new set of darts from manufacturer Harrows and put together a strong run. “That Worlds was fantastic. But I’ve just lost a bit of effort since then. It’s hard — it’s a busy season, you’re doing a lot of travelling — I’m just trying my best to kind of hold in there really.”

According to Searle, the busy schedule partly explains it. “It’s hard — it’s a busy season, you’re doing a lot of travelling.”

Perhaps even more striking than his analysis was the reason behind it. Searle admits he feels comfortable — maybe too comfortable. “I’m living a comfortable life and maybe something needs to change to give me a kick up the backside to push forward.”

He even outlined his daily routine, which many elite athletes would find hard to imagine. “When I win matches like that, practising 10 minutes a day, with my personality it’s hard to make me put more effort in.”

Yet he remains notably competitive, even with that limited preparation. “I know I can play some half-decent stuff without really putting any effort in, and that’s not good enough really.”

For Searle, real motivation currently lies with a select number of events. In particular the World Matchplay and the World Darts Championship stand out.

“The next tournament I really care about is the Matchplay, so I’ll be trying to get on with Gary and we’ll be having some practice sessions together and get ready for that.”

He currently views the events in between more as a kind of “bridge.” “It’s just the tournaments in between — I’m just sort of cruising along.”

He says the current ranking system plays a role as well. “It’s hard with the rankings the way they are now. It’s only really the Worlds that makes a massive difference if you’re at the top end of the rankings. The Matchplay is my favourite tournament, and the Worlds is where you can make a massive difference to your life.”

In his search for motivation, Searle looks with admiration at players like Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. “I don’t know how people like Littler and Humphries do it. They’re in a very comfortable position — they don’t need to play darts anymore, they could retire tomorrow and it wouldn’t make a difference to them.”

He sees room for improvement in himself there. “Maybe something needs to change to give me a kick up the backside to push forward.”

Beyond his performances on the oche, his involvement with the Cure ADOA Foundation also came up. During the last Worlds, Searle actively worked to raise the foundation’s profile — with great success.

“That was massive. I’d like to say fair play to Paddy Power because they didn’t have to do what they did, putting the signs up before my semi-final against Luke Littler. They could have just ignored what I said, so fair play to them. We’ve raised over €50,000 for the charity. The year before I brought it up at the Worlds, I think they raised about €5,000 over a year. So to ten times that is massive for the charity.”

He also expressed his appreciation for title sponsor Paddy Power. “I think they’re the best World Championship sponsor the PDC has ever had.”

According to Searle, the impact of that effort can’t be underestimated. “That tiny bit of exposure is massive for the charity. They’re over the moon and I’ll be pushing to try and earn some more money for that.”

His strong Worlds campaign, where he reached the semi-finals, also thrust Searle into the spotlight. But that attention isn’t necessarily something he enjoys. "To be honest, before the semi-final even started, with all the media I was doing, I was kind of thinking to myself: do I really want to be doing this? It’s non-stop, it’s relentless — you’re getting asked the same questions over and over and you’re saying the same thing literally on repeat.”

He doesn’t even rule out that the pressure affected his semi-final performance, in which he lost to Littler. “I don’t know whether that was a subconscious thing where I didn’t play well against Littler in that semi. It’s obviously gutting, but that’s something I’m looking to put right in the future.”

Despite everything, quitting isn’t an option for Searle for now. He is, however, aware of a potential future sticking point. “I don’t want to get to a point where I retire from darts and feel like I’ve underachieved — maybe if I’d been a bit more focused and put a bit more effort in, I could have achieved bigger things.”

Still, the lure of his current lifestyle is strong. “I just like being comfortable. It’s easy just putting no effort in and doing okay. It’s a fine line for me, but like I say, until the Matchplay comes around and the Worlds, we’ll see what happens then.”