The National Dart Foundation of the Philippines (NDFP) is a national dart organization.

An association is defined as an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure. A dart association is a formal organization of individuals whose common purpose is darts.

Dart associations are formally organized dart groups, with set of officers, in a specific area or locale. The size, strength, leadership and resources of dart associations vary from locale to locale, some are more developed and some still in the developing stages.

Dart associations are the main organizers and movers of the dart activities in their areas, such as weekly tournaments, weekend tournaments, major tournaments and dart leagues. The dart association is now the main source of player support for participation in major tournaments nationwide. More organized dart associations, such as the Dart Federation of Kutawato have expanded into organizing dart groupings in Maguindanao and spearheaded dart development activities such as outreach programs and dart clinics to schools and local government units.

Dart associations are well entrenched in the provincial cities rather than in the Greater Manila Area. Mindanao cities have well developed dart associations from Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cotabato to Zamboanga City. It is ironic that as you stretch farther from Manila, the dart associations are more organized.

The expansion and growth of darts is in the expansion and growth of dart associations. The national dart setting has changed since 1998. The National Dart Circuit (NDC) has ceased to exist. The National Dart Foundation of the Philippines strongly believes and supports the formation, development and strengthening of the local dart associations. The dart associations should create and establish the local dart infrastructure. They should take the initiative to train competitive players, create new players, propagate dart leagues and present major tournaments at least once a year.

The formation of federated organizations came about as the expansion of darts in a locale became unmanageable due to conflicting interests, activities and the existence of multiple dart groupings. The federation thus became the umbrella organization of dart groups in a specific area. The Baguio Benguet Dart Organization (BBDO) is an organization representing the Baguio-Trinidad area and is composed of different dart groups such as the Baguio Dart Association, Inc. (BDAI), YMCA Darters, Pines City Darters, City of Baguio Darters (CBD), University of Baguio Darters, etc.

Federated organizations also function as the dart associations in their areas. Dart activities in their areas are more active and they present their own major tournaments. In 2002, the Dart Federation of Kutawato (DFK) hosted the P150,000 Mindanao Open and P75,000 Araw ng Cotabato City. BBDO presented the Baguio Open and the Iloilo City Dart Federation (ICDF) organized two P100,000 Dinagyang Open tournaments.

Dart teams are a loose grouping of dart players handled by a manager. The team manager is the central figure in organizing, managing and funding of the dart teams. Dart teams are either corporate, such as teams sponsored and managed by Robson Sportscraft, Terton Craft, and Burlington; individual’s dart teams, such as Stealthrow and the Amber dart teams.

The dart managers are preponderant in the Greater Manila Area. Most of the top players in the country are members of the dart team cliques. The historical development and the expansion of darts in the Metro Manila Area are through the team manager system. In the pre-2000, the team manager system was very strong but has since declined mainly due to the logistics of maintaining dart teams. As the team manger system continues to decline, the development of local dart associations should replace the team manager system and provide support for dart players.

Institutional darters are the dart groups representing a corporation, school, barangay etc. Corporate darters are darters who have been exposed to darts in the company setting through the company-sponsored dart activities. They continue to play darts after company-sponsored activities are over and seek competitive levels of play in major and weekend tournaments representing their companies.

Barangay dart groups are players who continue to play darts after the exposure to darts from the SK-sponsored dart activities such as the inter-barangay dart leagues.

Illustrated below is the classification of the National Dart Foundation of the Philippines (NDFP) and some examples of the groupings.

National Organization:
National Dart Foundation of the Philippines (NDFP)

Federated Organizations:
Dart Federation of Kutawato (DFK) – Cotabato City
Baguio Benguet Dart Organization (BBDO) – Baguio / Trinidad
Iloilo City Dart Federation (ICDF) – Iloilo City

Dart Associations:
Association of General Santos Darters (Agendarts) – General Santos City
Cagayan de Oro Darts Association, Inc. (CODA) – Cagayan de Oro City
Olongapo Darts Association (ODA) – Olongapo City

Marikina City Dart Association (MCDO) Makati Dart Association (MDA)
Pampanga Dart Association (PDA) – Angeles City, Pampanga

Dart Clubs / Team Managers:
Dartstorm
Robson Sportscraft
Terton

Institutional Darters – Corporate, Government, School, Barangay, etc.
NEA, PAL, Wyeth Dart Club, PLDT, University of Baguio Darters, etc.