‘I began the JDC above dad’s bar – now we’ve got 60 academies the world over’

Steve Brown began out with a room above his dad’s bar in Bristol – now he’s serving to youngsters all all over the world who need to be the following Luke Littler.

Brown can be a well-recognized title to darts followers. The 42-year-old spent over a decade on the PDC circuit from 2006 to 2018 and was ranked within the prime 30 within the Order of Merit. He even made the last-16 of the World Matchplay.

But he sacrificed all of it to deal with the following technology of darts gamers. Littler, 17, is testomony to what Brown has achieved. Known as ‘Bomber’ throughout his time on the oche, Brown is the founder and chairman of the Junior Darts Corporation. Formed in 2010, the JDC gives a pathway for rising darts gamers to make it into the skilled ranks.

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At its coronary heart the JDC is a neighborhood venture that provides youngsters a secure house to strive darts for the primary time. The likes of Littler, Keane Barry and Leighton Bennett have all benefitted from the system, which started largely because of Brown’s personal son.

“When I started the JDC, I was still playing in the PDC and my son wanted to get into the sport,” he advised us. “I grew up with the standard technique of enjoying darts within the pub, however I wasn’t so eager on that journey for him. So, I transformed my dad’s operate room above his bar right into a secure place for youths to play.

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“I knew he had a few friends who played darts, but they didn’t play in a pub either, they played in each other’s houses. I told the local newspaper what I was doing, and they mentioned it in the local press. In the first week 30 kids turned up and they had their own shirts, their own darts, and their own nicknames!

“Likeminded parents didn’t want to take their kids to the pub, so it was a bit of a eureka moment that this must be going on everywhere.”

Time has proved Brown proper. The JDC now operates over 60 academies everywhere in the world, from the United States to New Zealand and Iceland. A brand new China HQ is because of open in February.

There are over 1,000 youngsters within the JDC system. The organisation even has its personal World Cup and World Championship, which Littler has gained twice. While the crème de la crème of youth darts take part on the Advanced Tour, which resembles customary match play, inexperienced persons are merely inspired to have enjoyable.

There is a colored shirt system – much like colored belts in martial arts – plus a handicap darts board, created by Brown, that enables youngsters of all skills to study and enhance at their very own tempo.

“What I noticed when I first started is that the academies were all playing tournament formats,” Brown explains. “Kids have been enjoying in them, shedding within the first spherical, after which sitting out the remainder of the session, which was no good to anyone.

“So, I had to come up with a way of everyone who pays their fees for the week playing the same amount of darts or leaving with something.”

Backing from the PDC has helped the JDC develop worldwide. They now have 4 full time members of employees and supply alternatives to aspiring darts gamers from as far afield as Mongolia.

Littler’s astonishing run to the ultimate of the World Championship has taken issues to the following degree. “In my own social circle there are people who you’d never previously have associated with darts who are now fans,” Brown says.

“They’re all Luke Littler fans. He’s captured the imagination of not just the country but the world as well. He’s introduced new eyeballs to the sport.”

Brown first turned conscious of Littler when the teenage prodigy was solely 12. It was an expertise he didn’t neglect. “During lockdown I was still on the ProTour and playing online tournaments to keep my arm in and remain competitive,” Brown explains.

“I played Luke in an online competition – he must have been 12 at the time. I was speaking to his dad as he was there to make sure that he was fine. I spoke to him and he said: ‘he’s playing really well at the moment.’ I thought ‘well, he’s 12 years old, how good can he be?’ He absolutely smashed me!”

Littler didn’t take lengthy to dominate after becoming a member of the JDC circuit and has gained the final two World Championships. Brown anticipated huge issues from {the teenager}, albeit not fairly so quickly.

“If you’d have asked me a year ago whether Luke would’ve made the final of the worlds I’d have said no,” Brown admits. “But over the last 12 months he’s played on the MODUS and in WDF events and dominated everyone.”

The Littler impact has been enormous for darts ­– and Brown sees it as a golden alternative for the game to vary for the higher. “We’ve been ready 14 years for a second like Luke. He triggered an enormous splash and he’s completed so properly. Every spherical he went by means of the curiosity grew and grew.

“We need to double down now to try and change the cultural footprint of darts, because we’ll never have a better opportunity. Darts has always been a second sport to most. But now people are putting down their football boots and picking up darts instead.

“That’s a trend I’ve seen over the last six months to two years. More and more of that is happening and it will continue to grow.” The emergence of Littler is the jewel within the crown for the JDC. But the person behind all of it hasn’t actually had an opportunity to mirror on what he has achieved during the last 14 years.

“I don’t really get time to think about how it makes me feel,” Brown concedes. “Maybe one day when I’m retired I will. Having this as a distraction probably, ultimately, cost me my career. But darts has been so good to me.

“I went through a spell at school where I played football and all the popular kids used to laugh at darts. I was embarrassed to tell my friends I was a darts player.

“When my son started playing, I didn’t want him to go through that embarrassment. I wanted to make a cool space for the kids to play and give back to the sport that had done so well for me.”