In community centres across the island, youth dart players are excitedly practising doubles, tallying scores, and competing for a chance to qualify for the provincials and, if they are lucky, a national title.
Last May, at the 2024 Youth Darts National Championship in St.Hyacinthe, Quebec, Newfoundland, twelve players qualified for Nationals at the Provincial Youth Dart Playdowns held in Gander, NL.
Newfoundland players were grouped into four categories: senior girls, boys, and junior girls and boys. All provincial areas were well represented at the national tournament, with four players from the Avalon Peninsula: Ella Kennedy, Grace Howlett Autumn Kennedy, and Tobie Lundrigan. Five players from the Burin Peninsula region, including Emily Burin, Kianna Clarke, Liv Lundrigan, Logan Connors, Jordan Crocker, Evan Matthews and Reed Colbourne from Doyles, represented the province's Western region—and Colby Burke, who represented Labrador City.
Brian Joy, Youth Director for Youth Darts Newfoundland, said last year's impressive provincial qualifying numbers for the Nationals was the best year ever for Newfoundland youth dart players.
He said the most challenging part in dart competitions is doing the math subtraction when tallying your score, for example, counting 200 down to a double. He said that at previous tournaments, when players noticed kids from other provinces, such as Alberta or Nova Scotia, for example, they knew the board well and knew what to shoot for to give themselves the best possible chance to finish the game.
“Last year, we had a tournament meeting heading into the Nationals, and we told the kids what to work on, and that strategy was effective. Newfoundland captured the silver medal, and we had two national champions, one in the senior boys and one in the junior girls.”
Newfoundland won the Silver Medal in the Nodor Cup at the Nationals. Colby Burke was the National Senior Boys' Champion, and Autumn Kennedy was the National Junior Girls' Champion.
Newfoundland also had six dart players who qualified in the senior and junior categories for the Worlds Tournament in Budapest, which took place from October 9 to 13. These players included Colby Burke, Grace Kennedy, Liv Lundrigan, Jordan Crocker, Kiana Clark, and Logan Connors. However, only Burke Lundrigan, Crocker, and Clarke made the trip.
The result is significant, considering only six youth dart leagues exist across Newfoundland’s eastern, southern, and western regions. One continually looking for members is the Youth Darts St.John’s, sponsored by the Waterford Hospital Lions Club.
“The challenge with having so few leagues is the kids aren't to the level where they're confident to play against people for bigger prizes or more significant stakes. They are learning the game, which is the proper way to go about it, but it's getting kids to buy into the leagues.”
The other challenge is that there needs to be more high-level tournaments on the island for youth dart players to hone their skills.
“The disadvantage that we have is that we're on an island and we are isolated, whereas the other provinces, especially Central and Western Canada, can travel to a high-level youth tournament every second weekend,” said Joy. “We can't because leaving the province to participate in a tournament is expensive. It cost us $1300 per child last year to go to the Nationals, whereas you can take a flight from BC to Alberta or Saskatchewan for $300 bucks.”
He said most of this cost is covered by business sponsorship and fundraising by individual leagues.
The added benefit of the Youth Darts Provincial Playdowns in Gander is that single players who don’t belong to a league can still compete in their age category. There are also a variety of online dart-playing platforms where kids can connect with a webcam, view each other's dart boards, add their scores, and play in tournaments to get the level of practice they need.
Despite the challenges, two new leagues started on Newfoundland’s west coast, and there are others he is encouraged to get going in the central parts of the province; Joy said the potential for creating great youth dart players from this province is possible.
As a dart player who has been involved in the game for 40 years, he said it is an outstanding individual game for kids to get involved.
“For me, it's the one-on-one aspect. You have no one to blame but yourself when things go bad. When things go well, you can praise yourself for the hard work you put into the game. It’s also a great social game. When the opportunity came up for me to take on the youth director role, I got more kids involved in playing darts, building their confidence and meeting kids from all over Canada. The opportunity was too good to pass up. It’s a great game for kids from a self-esteem perspective.”
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