Van Veen praises JDC and hails Littler for raising darts’ profile among young people
Gian van Veen feels Luke Littler’s rise has played a massive part in increasing the popularity of darts among young people – and said it’s good for the game as a whole.
Van Veen was beaten by Littler at last year’s World Youth Championship and then saw the English teenager reach the PDC World Championship final before going on to lift the Premier League title on his debut.
At 22, van Veen’s rise has been steadier than Littler’s – but the talented pair are likely to clash many times in the future as they push their way up the PDC rankings.
“The youth is the future of the game, as you can see now with Luke Littler coming through,” the Dutchman told DartAsylum.
“I think Luke is a massive help, especially for the UK with all the JDC academies. So many players are wanting to play darts because of Luke Littler. I think that’s a massive help for the sport.”
Van Veen was recently in Bristol to help launch the latest JDC academy – and has been impressed by the young talent coming through the system.
“Especially here now with the JDC, it’s massive, especially for the kids from 12 or 13 years old or even younger, to have some other kids around them playing against each other and becoming better players – and especially to enjoy the game,” he said. “It’s really massive for the sport.”
Having taken up darts at 10 when he played in a tournament at his local football club, van Veen would rush home from school to get on the dartboard.
And he said enjoying the game must be the priority for any youngsters taking up the sport.
“You have to enjoy it,” he said.
“You have to enjoy practising at home or playing with your friends. If you don’t enjoy it, it’s not going to last. You could play as well as you want – you could hit the 104 or 107 averages but six months later you don’t pick up a dart anymore because you don’t enjoy it, it’s not going to work. So enjoying the sport is the most important thing of all.”
The Dutch No 5 was impressed by what he saw on his visit to Bristol.
“I saw some players who were like 12, 13 years old who were hitting straight 60s, straight tons,” he said. “I was like ‘wow, I wish I could do that at that age!’ But as long as they enjoy it, they should be fine. There are some proper players here!”
Written by Steve Cotton
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