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 Colin Lloyd, popularly known in the media as Jaws, is a
force to be reckoned with on the dart circuit. A quick player, Lloyd intimidates his opponents with his speed accuracy and unerring knowledge of the game.
Lloyd was ‘baptized’ with the nickname Jaws early in his
professional darts career when he seemed insatiably hungry to win, like a shark, eating up the competition.
Lloyd is an inspiration to dart players all over the world.
He’s young, only 30 years old. He’s got his start in darts only 11 years ago at home and playing with his mom and
older brother in leagues. He quickly posted impressive wins and climbed the ranks to the top 10 of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) ranking. He
got there fast, demonstrating to players all over the world that it could be done.
Lloyd comes from a relatively large family. He is the youngest of five kids his
parents raised. He has two brothers, Glen, at 39, still enjoys a game of darts, and Martin at 37, and two sisters. Seena is 38, married and has a daughter
Samantha. Karen is 35 and has 3 sons. His entire family supports Lloyd’s dart career.
Growing up, Lloyd lived in the town of Colchester in the village of Aldham and
in the county of Essex. Nine years ago he moved in with his sweetheart, Deta Hedman, and they have been together ever since. They have three cats
and are very happy with their relationship.
It wasn’t until the Eastbourne Open in 1998 that Lloyd felt he could play the
game professionally. He won that tournament and all the ‘Big Boys’ were there. Before that year, Lloyd worked construction. But that same year, he
got on his first airliner and flew to Montreal to compete in the Quebec Dart Player’s Open where he lost in the semi finals to John Part. But with the
Eastbourne win and the points earned in Montreal, Lloyd qualified for an invite to the PDC World Matchplay held in Blackpool that year. He was on his way
into the professional game of darts.
Since then, Lloyd has added professional wins at the 2004 Montreal Sarantos
Retsinas Memorial Quebec Dart Player’s Open, the West Tyrome Open in Ireland, the Holland Open and the Antwerp Open in Belgium for the third
consecutive year. Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Steve Brown have all won the Antwerp Open 2 years in a row, but Lloyd is the only one to have
won it three years in a row and he is the current champion. He has also finished in the semi finals of the 2004 Saskatoon Golden Harvest North
American Cup and in the semi finals of the World tournaments the World Matchplay in 2003 and the World Professional in 2002.
Lloyd loves to play darts in North America. He finds that the Canadian and
US dart players love the sport, but don’t have the league structure, like a Super League, to develop players to the very top level of competition. The
strength of the game is in the depth of the competition and he feels that North America hasn’t yet developed the depth of players needed to break into the
top ranks world wide. Of course, there are exceptions. John Part has definitely advanced his game to the best in the world.
Lloyd is still a regular guy. His fame and fortune haven’t gone to his
head…yet. He’s easy to talk to and very approachable. When he’s playing a match, he’s all business, but off the board, he’s a real nice guy.
Lloyd loves Chinese food, old Clint Eastwood ‘spaghetti western’ movies like Fist Full of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. His favorite actor
is Gene Hackman, but he doesn’t have a favorite actress. They’re all his favorites! Lloyd enjoys playing golf and visiting with family. He doesn’t read
much but enjoys watching soccer, golf, boxing, cricket and tennis on television. Lloyd drives a Calibra sports car. His favorite drinks include
Carlsberg beer, Rum, and all types of lagers as ‘settlers’ before competitions. During competitions, Lloyd sticks to water. He fears no one on the board.
“Everyone’s tough,” according to Lloyd. “I think Phil Taylor’s the toughest to beat and John Part is number two.”
Lloyd practices at least 1 hour each day just to keep his rythm right. Then,
two nights eaqch week, he joins Rod Harrington at their local pub for two 3 hour sessions. The first 45 minutes at the pub is just throwing at the board
to warm up. Most players do not do this, warm up, and start playing straight away. Lloyd and Harrington believe that not warming up can lead to a change
in the throw. In all sports, players will warm up before they start their proper game. The next 45 minutes is dedicated to shooting out shots from 81 to
100. Finally, the last 90 minutes are spent having a proper game like they would at an event.
Lloyd throws a 17 gram nickel tungsten dart with pear shaped flights. He is
working with Rod Harrington who is setting up exhibitions for him, but exhibition work is still infrequent, around 1 or 2 per month. There is still a
large demand for the old guard like John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson and Keith Deller. Exhibitions can be arranged through Harrington at
rodharrington@btopenworld.com.
Lloyd would like to do more exhibition work in Canada and the US. He
usually comes over for the Montreal and Saskatoon tournaments and the PDC Las Vegas Desert Classic. All carry a large enough category of PDC
ranking points to make the competitions worth attending. Next time you have the opportunity to see Colin Lloyd, take a moment to stop and introduce
yourself. You will find him a very likable guy, and don’t be afraid to ask him to speak North American.
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