The first Canterbury secondary schools competition was held recently, with six teams from four schools entering, including two from Shirley Boys’ High School.
Shirley Boys’ High Spartans beat Ellesmere College in a playoff to decide the winner.
Teams from Christchurch Boys’ High and Kaiapoi High also took part.
Shirley’s Max Walker was the standout, landing a 180 during the tournament.
The 18-year-old has designs on making it big in the sport, having already featured in tournaments around the city with his club, Richmond.
“I’m practising every day and hopefully I can make it to the big leagues one day,” he said.
Darts at Shirley was the brainchild of social science teacher Michael Skinner, who has been organising lunchtime sessions and tournaments since 2014.
“I always had darts but it just wasn’t a massive number, there was probably five or six guys that were really keen every year,” he said.
“Since it’s been in the news, they’ve stuck around.”
Globally, darts’ popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, with the rise of English teen prodigy Luke Littler at the heart of it.
The 18-year-old is the sport’s biggest star, making the world championship final at 16 and winning it at 17.
The first Canterbury secondary schools competition was organised by Kerry Treymane, who has been involved in the sport since he was a child and is passionate about growing it.
“I got the kick in the backside from Littler when he burst on the scene two years ago. He was 16-years-old, and I thought, he’s 16, he’s year 12, there must be a year 12 kid in Canterbury at school who plays darts, there has to be,” said Treymane.
“It’s more than just a pub game, you’re getting kids that don’t normally represent their school at anything . . . You’re getting a whole different bunch of kids representing their school.”
“The sky’s the limit. Can you imagine Shirley Boys’ taking on Wesley College in Auckland for the New Zealand school dart championships?
“It takes a black curtain, five strobe lights, a dartboard set up with lights around it, and someone confident on a microphone, and you can do it.”
Walker hopes to further his success in the sport after leaving school at the end of the year, to push for national recognition.
“I’m going to try and get to some of the pro tours around New Zealand, I’ll go to South Islands in Oamaru early next year, hopefully I can play well and see what happens.”
