The Future of Darts: Youth Darts & Junior Darts Corporation

For generations in the UK, darts has been commonplace for adults and children, even before youth darts was a thing. It is in homes, on television, and covered as part of the sports report on the news. If you got good enough, you were brought into bars before being of age, before any rowdiness was afoot. It was almost a double rite of passage. The skill set earned you entrance to compete with adults in a game you loved, likely while someone was sneaking you a drink. It was clandestine, likely because it was illicit. Youth darts games with kid-friendly environments just didn't exist.

This has happened in America too, but to a much lesser degree and with higher drinking age requirements. It wasn’t long ago that the path to playing darts at a young age (before youth darts was a thing) was getting an invite from a family member to go to a pub if the bar was quiet. If you were lucky enough to grow up with a dartboard in the garage or basement, perhaps you had fun with friends or on holidays with your family. I remember my dad having one on a closet door and using a record album cover to shield me from bounce outs that happened all too often at an age where I couldn’t reach the board readily. Looking back on it, I was definitely too young.

When I became a parent 10 years ago, I never imagined wanting to bring my daughter to any of the darts environments that were available to me in NYC, let alone the country. It didn't seem appropriate or safe for youth darts games. I couldn’t be the only darts playing parent with these thoughts.

About the same time in the UK, PDC professional Steve Brown was in a similar quandary in thinking about his own children. He took a function room above his father’s pub and refashioned it as a place where children could play. He opened his original youth darts academy in 2010, and in short order opened another due to demand. By 2015 with greater global interest and backing from the industry, the Steve Brown Darts Academy was rebranded as The Junior Darts Corporation (JDC).

It would be foolish not to recognize the young man who has allowed the spotlight to shine on the youth darts game. There is no better case study of the prolific possibilities of what the JDC offers than Luke Littler. In much the way that Fallon Sherrock helped prop up the women’s game a few years back at the World Championships, Luke Littler has done the same thing for youth darts with his run to the final at the age of 16.

To give perspective for those not in America, darts is not something that gets covered by the media, aside from maybe a few national newspaper articles around the World Championship and some local coverage in New York City around US Darts Masters.

Littler’s grasp of the game at a young age put it in the papers and television for two weeks, and not just in the sports section either. He became a hot commodity for youth darts on talk shows and lifestyle segments. He made Forbes' 30 Under 30 Europe. The story has been inspiring, giving interest and hope to kids around the world. It has also guided the cultural thinking about youth darts participation.

With Littler's success, the inquiries for youth darts coaching started to explode, but I was apprehensive about taking on kids and going about it improperly. Along the way, I asked a few of the top US players when and how they got their kids involved in youth darts, and their answers were all different. There was no standard. Should they throw from a shorter distance? Should the board be at a lower height? Is there a different board for kids? What is the proper age for kids to get involved with sharp, pointy arrows in the first place?

In my mind, the youth darts players participating in Europe were all part of some vast machine looking to crank out as many Littlers as possible. My preconceptions of the JDC being a mill wasn’t going to cut it. I couldn't simply rely on my notion of a reality far away. It was time to educate myself.

I reached out to the JDC a few months ago looking to learn their ways and get certified through their youth darts coaching accreditation program. To my delight, they were prepping a trip stateside to spread their love of the game. What better lead-up and cross-promotion of the adult and youth darts game than during the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden. Game on!

My conversations with JDC CEO Darren Barson have been inspiring and illuminating. Youth darts is not solely about creating the next Luke Littlers.

“It’s about changing the mindset of how people think about darts. It’s about changing the culture and creating safe environments for children to play and enjoy the game. We are here to help promote youth opportunity in the game.”

That is their mission.

For too many older players, the game is inextricably tied to the pubs. This is not the case for the younger generations in youth darts leagues. This is the culture switch that Darren is championing, and it is happening now across the world. The JDC currently has 77 academies (and counting) across Europe, Australia, and Asia, as well as two tours as part of what they do for youth darts. The Foundation Tour is an opening foray for children to compete against others from other clubs and countries, and then the Advanced Tour is for the children who are more seasoned and skilled and have JDC tour cards. Both youth darts tours have an age limit of 18.

For those starting out, yes, there is a dartboard that helps promote practice in youth darts. The Winmau Green Zone Dartboard is a fun, inclusive way to engage newer players. It also comes with a handicapped approach to keep kids interested in youth darts competition. The JDC also has a partnership with GoDartsPro, an online platform that provides guided, age-appropriate, goal-oriented lessons to give kids something to focus on. The great part about this is that it is more than concentrating specifically on cricket or 501. These JDC challenges encompass the entire board with a points system that leads to rankings based on how well you do.

This is not a top-down approach, though. It is started and nurtured by the grassroots efforts of parents, players, and volunteers who love the game and want to give their kids fun, engaging, educational youth darts opportunities. While the GoDartsPro provides a template, each academy has the flexibility to go about sessions as they see fit.

To get a better feel for how a JDC accredited youth darts academy is run, I spoke to Joe Wheeler, the founder and director of the Faringdon Darts Academy in England. Much like many active and attentive parents, he wanted to provide an opportunity for his three kids to play darts in a safe, controlled environment. A player himself, Joe too recognized his desire to have his kids participate in the game he loves, but in an appropriate environment for youth darts.

“The children need a place where they can relax and express themselves,” he said. “It needs to be fun first.” This was refreshing to hear.

Joe runs his youth darts academy out of his local football (soccer) club, a space akin to a VFW (a Moose lodge in the US). The academy is not a job, but a passion — one that children in his community have high demand. They have 4 boards and administrate them once a week with the help of other parents who are all too eager to help. In many instances, youth darts academies rely on volunteers and benevolence to have the resources to make it happen. Like all communal activities, when kids have a passion, it is easy to get a community to rally around it.

So many adult players of all levels get so wrapped up results and accolades, that even grown men and women sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees. Joe Wheeler has his youth darts academy set up well. FUN COMES FIRST.

The Championship Darts Circuit is also involved with the youth darts game here in North America. The CDC is the affiliated organization for American and Canadian youth to have a pathway to compete in the JDC Youth World Championship, JDC World Cup, and the PDC World Youth Championship.

Erin Quinn, the Director of Youth Operations since 2017, is JDC accredited as well. She has escorted the North American contingency to Gibraltar a few times. Etiquette, sportsmanship, and how the youth darts teams behave off the oche while visiting are paramount to her. She wants to make sure that regardless of outcomes, the international darts community recognizes the American and Canadian CDC youth as respectful and responsible young men and women. 

“It is more than just the darts. It is math. It is competition. It is camaraderie,” says Quinn.

The CDC has recently combined their two tours into one: the Junior Evolution Tour where youth darts players up to 23 years old can compete with hopes of earning the tour points to qualify for overseas competition. These kids and families rely on funding to make their darting dreams come true. The trips are expensive, but potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to travel intentionally to play for youth darts.

The American Darts Organization has been hosting a National Youth Championship since 1987 with separate boys and girls events since 2017. Some youth darts champions include players who have gone on to compete on the CDC Tour (Kevin Luke) and even the PDC (Danny Lauby Jr.).

For the first time, the JDC will be hosting a youth darts coaching accreditation day in New York City to coincide with the US Darts Masters at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden. I will certainly be there looking to expand the breadth and depth of my teaching. I believe we have a World Champion in the making in America, and for all we know that future champion is a child who has yet to pick up a dart. They don’t even know that such fun opportunities exist, even for youth darts. Like many of these organizations I work with, I want to help create opportunities for youth darts and allow players to dream. Dreams are where it all begins.

Stay tuned for Dr. Manhattan's Darts Academy - NYC...

Here is a list of things that I have compiled from players, parents, and organizations, as well as from my own experience with my daughter that I believe are paramount for youth darts:

• Youth darts games NEED to be 100% under adult supervision at all times. Darts are not to be touched, thrown, or played with unless a responsible parent or coach is present and watching. Before darts are thrown, go over all the rules, etiquette, and safety regarding having no one in front of the board, how the exit after darts retrieval, etc. As it says on all steel-tip darts packaging: Darts are not a toy.
• 10 years old is an appropriate developmental age for kids to play with a steel tip board. Physically, children have the strength to get it to the board for the standard distance and height. Mentally, they are doing age-appropriate math based on what they have learned in school. If you feel more comfortable, you can even use soft tip darts on your steel tip board for youth darts games. They will stick. (I do this with my daughter). There will be bounce outs though, and you may need to replace the tips more often. (FYI: soft tip points will poke holes in drywall and perhaps other wall types. Backboards and dartboard surrounds are highly recommended.)
• Start with nomenclature. Before playing any youth darts games, teach your children about how a dart is constructed and what all the parts are called. A-Z Darts has plenty of deep dives on dart flights, dart shafts, and dart points — plus more to come in the future.
• Make your children do all of the math for the both of you while playing any sort of youth darts games. I recommend doing it the old school way with a dry erase board, and it shouldn't have to be up at the wall of the dartboard. Ideally, it should be behind the oche. It’s ok if the game takes longer. This is an important part of them learning the game.
• A safe, stable step-up should be kept at the wall for them to retrieve their own darts safely. Instruct them on how to pull them out of the board safely so that they don't fall down towards their faces. If they need help, help them. If there are darts on the floor, those darts should be picked up last, after the ones in the board are retrieved. This is so they are not bending down while darts may be hanging precariously from the board. Youth darts must be handled safely for the sake of the kids.
• Don’t stress too much on form. If they are engaged, allow them to stay engaged. Avoid the desire to correct their posture. Allow them to just get comfortable gripping the dart the way they like, and throwing the dart the way they want to. If they truly appreciate the game, it won't be long before they try to emulate their favorite players from clips on Youtube.

Remember, youth darts needs to be fun FIRST AND FOREMOST.

Respectfully,

Dax

Dr. Manhattan