In November 2017 the darts practice guru Mikko Laiho contacted me to cooperate around some ideas he had. Mikko had been working with Winmau for many years and he got an idea of the MasterClass practice solution. We joined forces and started to work together based on GoDartsPro and Mikko’s coaching and practice concepts. We relaunched GoDartsPro with Mikko’s new games and concepts in September 2018. We chatted and talked darts almost every day about new ideas for better darts practice solutions.

During the time we worked together we created the GoDartsPro MasterClass and the MICO-factor concept for GoDartsPro (and quite a few other games and functions as well). Mikko was especially proud of how the MasterClass and the MICO-factor concept were added to the website. He was utterly convinced that these two training systems used on a regular basis will really make a difference to a darts player’s gameplay.

Then on April 29 2019, I got a call from a close friend to Mikko telling me that Mikko suddenly and tragically had passed away. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I got the call. I remember it like it was yesterday. The shock was of course immediate. We had just talked the days before about our new launch later that week. I had not only lost a great colleague but also a close friend that I really enjoyed talking to and someone who shared my passion for darts.

Thanks to Mikko’s family I can continue to publish Mikko’s extraordinary treasure of darts practice games and ideas. Mikko’s spirit and ideology for better darts practice will forever be a big part of GoDartsPro.

Now, five years later I’m still working on the path we set up together – creating great darts practice games and training concepts. I’ve still got our thousands of emails and messages we shared while working together filled with game ideas and discussions regarding effective darts training. There are still many training games that Mikko invented and used as a professional darts coach available to develop as interactive games on GoDartsPro. I also got a google-translation of the book he wrote “Enemmän dartsista!” (“More about darts”) with many ideas about darts training.
So more great games from Mikko will appear on GoDartsPro even in the future.

I still miss our discussions and sometimes argues (Mikko was a very “hot-blooded” person and could swear in Finnish for a few minutes when he disagreed about something…) and every now and then I think “I wonder what Mikko would have done (or said)” when I’m not 100% sure about something.

I am so thankful for the time Mikko and I worked together. He taught me so much about darts and also deepened my love of the sport. Gone but never forgotten.
Rest in peace my friend.

Anders Östman
Founder of GoDartsPro.com