If you thought 18 months was a young time for Luke Littler to be given his first dartboard, guess what the young prodigy bought his baby nephew before the baby was even born?
You can’t blame this 16-year-old sensation for taking the idea that starting early is crucial to success in sports to its logical conclusion.
After all, no one represents this better right now than Littler, who took the World Darts Championship by storm, starting from hitting the bullseye while still in diapers.
Becoming an uncle to his 19-year-old brother’s son George at the age of 16 is another example of Littler living life in fast pace.
“I bought him a magnetic dartboard before he was born,” Littler says. “Try to get him on the board with me and my brother.”
Even though his darts-crazy father gifted him a board when he was born, it’s hard to imagine what more Littler could have achieved in the sport to date.
The current World Junior Champion, he became the youngest player to win the World Championship and followed that up with two more superb performances to reach the last 16 on Saturday where he will face Raymond van Barneveld.
Such was his influence; Inevitably comparisons were made to young prodigies in other sports such as Pele and Wayne Rooney.
“It’s crazy how people compare me to players who have scored more than 300 goals,” Littler says. “This is crazy. While I’m just throwing darts.”
Watching ‘Luke The Nuke’ on TV, there’s something of 16-year-old Rooney about him. With his rugged appearance and stereotypical darts player physique, he looks like someone twice his age.
But speaking to him ahead of his next game on Saturday removes any doubt about his date of birth. The answers to the questions are exactly as expected from a teenager; let alone someone who catapulted from relative obscurity to national fame in a matter of days.
Littler says he took it all in stride after being advised to do so by his darts idols such as Phil Taylor and fellow prodigy Michael van Gerwen.
But the Warrington teenager and St Helens Darts Academy graduate is still stunned by the response to his achievements at Alexandra Palace.
“My followers on social media are increasing,” he says. “I am followed by people I look up to. Like football players. “It’s been crazy since I’ve been here for the past week or two.”
Do they want a photo with me?
Among the Manchester United fans’ new fans was Rio Ferdinand, as well as Donny van de Beek, who posed for a photo with the youngster after attending the World Championship.
But the moment that really excited me came on Wednesday, when England duo Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale asked to take a photo with Littler, who was staying at the London hotel Arsenal uses for home games.
“‘They want to take a picture with me?'” Littler said. “I said,” he says. “They came out and said, ‘You’re tearing it apart.’ I can’t believe you’re only 16. Keep going like that’.
Football-mad Littler followed Arsenal’s Premier League defeat against West Ham United, whose Christmas gifts included tickets for a tour of Old Trafford after the World Championship was over.
If another teenager had placed a guaranteed deposit of £35,000 on themselves and the £500,000 reward was still on offer, they might be expected to go on a shopping spree. But not Littler.
“I always treat myself to Under Armor sweatpants,” he says when asked if he has any gifts in mind. “And I’ll buy myself a new coat and earn some Fifa points for my Xbox. That’s all.”
He admits he “would love to start driving” so his dad doesn’t have to take him to tournaments anymore – he turns 17 on January 21.
But despite sponsorship from his local Skoda dealer, he says he has no idea what car he could buy.
In fact, when it comes to Littler’s interests outside of darts, playing Fifa, now called EA Sports FC, “relaxing” and “seeing my friends occasionally” represent the total sum.
‘Darts is my life’
Despite being serenaded with chants of “There’s morning school” at every victory at Alexandra Palace, he has no plans to continue his academic studies, having left Padgate Academy after finishing his GCSEs in the summer.
“Darts is my life,” he says, admitting that he hasn’t even thought about what he would do if the worst happened. “If things go wrong, I’ll have to find something else.”
Judging by the past two weeks, a much more realistic challenge for Littler will be to get to the top level of the sport and stay there.
And Taylor, a 16-time world champion, has the perfect role model.
“What Phil did was incredible,” says Littler of a player who has dominated darts for more than two decades. “The amount of world championships he won. But I’m only 16 years old. “I can only win what is in front of me.”
This will require maintaining dedication to his craft as well as starting early, Littler’s other secret to success.
In a parallel universe, the person standing in the dirt on Saturday might have been his older brother Lucas. The pair played each other every day during their teenage years until the first coronavirus lockdown almost four years ago.
“The first time he went into quarantine, it stopped,” Littler says. “While my mom and dad were pushing me to the board for hours a day.”
In an environment where people were forced by law to stay at home and played with opponents on separate dartboards, Littler’s brother could not afford to do so.
“He beat me almost every day, and I got angry,” Littler recalls. “But then I started beating him.
“It’s a shame it stopped. He lost interest because he didn’t want to play with the camera and scorer online. But I wasn’t bothered.”
Indeed, Littler attributes the hours he spent playing at home during lockdown to the meteoric rise he has seen since, and continues to use the Scolia darts system, which automatically calculates each player’s score. This means anyone in the world with the same system can challenge Littler to a game.
If the young man does what he wants, they may soon add his own nephew to their ranks.