A darts-mad schoolboy is being tipped as the next Luke Littler after hitting his first 180 aged seven.
Little Noah Kendall became hooked on the sport after watching the World Darts Championship on TV with dad Kev two years ago.
His parents bought him a magnetic dart board when he was six and last year they splashed out on a full-size one which he keeps in his bedroom.
The youngster practises hitting doubles and triples two hours a day and now plays for a junior team and last year was selected to represent Buckinghamshire county.
Noah has even caught the attention of referees for his lightning quick totting up of players’ scores and adjudicates adult matches.
Darts legend Russ Bray, who retired after this year’s Ally Pally final, said Noah’s ‘180’ call-out sounded “just like mine”.
Noah is so confident of making it in the game he has already picked his own nickname – ‘The Double’s King’.
Proud mum Helen, 42, a pastoral leader at a primary school, said: “He enjoyed watching darts with his dad so we bought him a magnetic dart board.
“After watching him hit doubles a few times, we realised he had a good throw on him.
“There was an academy he started going to which had a proper board and he was a natural.
“Noah is also very good at Maths and can add up the scores and work out which numbers he needs to hit quickly.
“He started scoring matches and practising his calls like they do on the TV and the older players love it.
“The legendary Russ Bray even complimented him when he was on TV which made Noah’s day.”
Noah says he loves refereeing but his dream is to follow in the footsteps of his favourite player, two-time Scottish darts legend Gary Anderson.
He said: “I want to be a player or a ref. Or a commentator. I play to help my maths. I really enjoy the game and people say I’m good at it.”
The schoolboy, from Northampton, reached the last 16 in a New Year’s Day competition against players several years older than him.
He also won a handful of trophies with his local team The Milton Keynes Sharks.
Helen, who also has a daughter Evie, 15, with site-manager husband Kev, 42, added: “He's the youngest in the group. Normally the club goes from six to 17.
“It’s incredible, there aren’t many children that do that.
“In the time we’ve been there, there’s only him and later than him going up to the group.
“They all adore Noah, the club is so supportive of Noah.
"He also plays for Buckinghamshire county, so he travels for that. He’s definitely the youngest there.
“We love darts but we can’t play the darts.
“Noah works really hard at it, he plays for hours and hours. If he hasn’t got school, six hours a day. With school, probably two hours.
“He can score the games as well. He can ref the game as well, he can work it out as fast as the TV.
“Last year he hit his first 180 which was a huge deal. He was chuffed to bits.”
Helen hopes that Noah can become the next darts legend, and thanks to Luke Littler’s incredible rise to stardom, age is no barrier to success.
She said: “There’s definitely the potential there for Noah to make a career out of darts.
“You need big dreams, that’s what he talks about. Being on the world stage.
“Luke Littler, from what he’s been able to achieve, has been able to open the door for Noah.”
Little Noah Kendall became hooked on the sport after watching the World Darts Championship on TV with dad Kev two years ago.
His parents bought him a magnetic dart board when he was six and last year they splashed out on a full-size one which he keeps in his bedroom.
The youngster practises hitting doubles and triples two hours a day and now plays for a junior team and last year was selected to represent Buckinghamshire county.
Noah has even caught the attention of referees for his lightning quick totting up of players’ scores and adjudicates adult matches.
Darts legend Russ Bray, who retired after this year’s Ally Pally final, said Noah’s ‘180’ call-out sounded “just like mine”.
Noah is so confident of making it in the game he has already picked his own nickname – ‘The Double’s King’.
Proud mum Helen, 42, a pastoral leader at a primary school, said: “He enjoyed watching darts with his dad so we bought him a magnetic dart board.
“After watching him hit doubles a few times, we realised he had a good throw on him.
“There was an academy he started going to which had a proper board and he was a natural.
“Noah is also very good at Maths and can add up the scores and work out which numbers he needs to hit quickly.
“He started scoring matches and practising his calls like they do on the TV and the older players love it.
“The legendary Russ Bray even complimented him when he was on TV which made Noah’s day.”
Noah says he loves refereeing but his dream is to follow in the footsteps of his favourite player, two-time Scottish darts legend Gary Anderson.
He said: “I want to be a player or a ref. Or a commentator. I play to help my maths. I really enjoy the game and people say I’m good at it.”
The schoolboy, from Northampton, reached the last 16 in a New Year’s Day competition against players several years older than him.
He also won a handful of trophies with his local team The Milton Keynes Sharks.
Helen, who also has a daughter Evie, 15, with site-manager husband Kev, 42, added: “He's the youngest in the group. Normally the club goes from six to 17.
“It’s incredible, there aren’t many children that do that.
“In the time we’ve been there, there’s only him and later than him going up to the group.
“They all adore Noah, the club is so supportive of Noah.
"He also plays for Buckinghamshire county, so he travels for that. He’s definitely the youngest there.
“We love darts but we can’t play the darts.
“Noah works really hard at it, he plays for hours and hours. If he hasn’t got school, six hours a day. With school, probably two hours.
“He can score the games as well. He can ref the game as well, he can work it out as fast as the TV.
“Last year he hit his first 180 which was a huge deal. He was chuffed to bits.”
Helen hopes that Noah can become the next darts legend, and thanks to Luke Littler’s incredible rise to stardom, age is no barrier to success.
She said: “There’s definitely the potential there for Noah to make a career out of darts.
“You need big dreams, that’s what he talks about. Being on the world stage.
“Luke Littler, from what he’s been able to achieve, has been able to open the door for Noah.”
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FunTranscript
00:00 [sound of wood hitting the floor]
00:28 Hi, my name is Noah, I'm 8 years old and this is my coal.
00:33 [sound of coal being thrown]
00:38 These are my favourite darts, they're 22 grams and I love them.
00:42 [sound of darts being thrown]
01:04 Mummy's not the best at darts and Daddy is some days where he's really good and some days that he's really bad.
01:12 And what about your sister Evie?
01:14 She's probably quite good, she's the second best in the family I would say.
01:20 And how long have you been playing?
01:22 Two years.
01:24 This is my first trophy I ever won.
01:27 [sound of darts being thrown]
01:55 So how would you finish 1-4-5?
01:58 Trouble 20, trouble 15, tops. And another way, trouble 20, trouble 19, double 14.
02:05 How would you finish 1-3-2?
02:07 Bull, bull, double 16.
02:10 How would you do 1-57?
02:13 Trouble 20, trouble 19, tops.
02:17 What's the highest checkout?
02:19 170.
02:20 How would you do that one?
02:21 Trouble 20, trouble 20, bullseye!
02:25 [sound of darts being thrown]