If you thought 18 months was young for Luke Littler to get his first dartboard, guess what the child prodigy bought his nephew before the child was even born?
You can hardly blame the 16-year-old sensation for coming to the logical conclusion that an early start is crucial to success in the sport.
After all, no one currently embodies this better than Littler, who has taken the World Darts Championship by storm after starting to hit bull’s-eyes in nappies.
Becoming an uncle at the age of 16 to his 19-year-old brother’s son, George, is just one example of Littler’s fast-paced life.
“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 if his own darts-mad father had given him a board at birth, it’s hard to imagine what else Littler could have achieved in the sport thus far.
The current World Youth Champion, he became the youngest player to win a World Championship and followed that up with two more stunning performances to reach the last 16, where he will face Raymond van Barneveld on Saturday.
Such has been his impact that comparisons have inevitably been made with teenage prodigies in other sports, including the likes of Pele and Wayne Rooney.
“It’s just crazy people comparing me to these footballers who have scored more than 300 goals,” Littler says. “It’s crazy. When all I’m doing is throwing darts.”
Watching ‘Luke The Nuke’ on the oche, there’s something of 16-year-old Rooney about him. With his rugged appearance and stereotypical darts player’s physique, he looks like someone twice his age.
But speaking to him ahead of his next match on Saturday will put to rest any doubts about his date of birth. The answers to questions are exactly as expected from a teenager – let alone a teenager who has been catapulted from relative obscurity to national fame in a matter of days.
Littler says he is doing everything he can after being advised to do so by his darts idols such as Phil Taylor and fellow prodigy Michael van Gerwen.
But the teenager from Warrington and St Helens Darts Academy graduate is still impressed by the response to his performance at Alexandra Palace.
“My followers are growing on social media,” he says. “Being followed by people I looked up to. Like football players. It’s just been crazy the last two weeks since I’ve been here.”
Do they want to take a picture with me?
The Manchester United supporter’s new admirers include Rio Ferdinand and Donny van de Beek, who posed for a photo with the teenager after attending the World Cup.
But the real pinch-hit moment came on Wednesday when England duo Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale asked to have their photo taken with Littler, who was staying in the same London hotel that Arsenal used for their home games.
“I said, ‘Do they want to take a picture with me?’” Littler says. “They came out and said, ‘You’re killing it.’ I can’t believe you’re only 16. Keep it up’.”
A trip to Arsenal’s Premier League defeat by West Ham United followed for football-mad Littler, whose Christmas presents included tickets for a tour of Old Trafford after the World Cup.
If another teenager had raised a guaranteed £35,000 – and with a £500,000 prize still on offer – they would be expected to go shopping. But not Smaller.
“I always treat myself to a few tracksuits from Under Armour,” he says when asked if he had any gifts in mind. “And just buy myself a new jacket and get some Fifa points for my Xbox. That’s pretty much it.”
He admits that he would “like to start driving” – he turns 17 on January 21 – if only so that his father no longer has to transport him to tournaments.
But despite being sponsored by his local Skoda dealer, he says he hasn’t thought about which car to buy.
When it comes to Littler’s interests outside of darts, playing Fifa – now called EA Sports FC – “chilling” and “seeing my friends every now and then” represent the sum.
‘Darts is my life’
Despite being serenaded at every victory at Alexandra Palace with chants such as: “He’s got school tomorrow morning”, he has no plans to continue his academic education, having left Padgate Academy in the summer after taking his GCSEs rounded.
“Darts is my life,” he says, admitting he hasn’t even thought about what to do if the worst were to happen. “If things do go wrong, I’ll have to look for something else.”
A much more realistic challenge for Littler, judging by the past two weeks, will be to reach the top of the sport and stay there.
And he has the perfect role model in sixteen-time world champion Taylor.
“What Phil did was unbelievable,” says Littler about a player who dominated the darts world for more than twenty years. “The number of world titles he has won. But I’m only 16. I can only win what’s in front of me.”
That requires a dedication to his craft that, besides starting early, is the other secret to Littler’s success.
In a parallel universe it could be his older brother Lucas, who will be on the oche on Saturday. The pair played against each other every day as youngsters until the first coronavirus lockdown, almost four years ago.
“When the lockdown first hit, it just stopped,” says Littler. “While my father and mother pushed me to the plate for hours a day.”
As people were forced to stay home by law, that meant playing opponents on separate dartboards, something Littler’s brother did not participate in.
“He hit me almost every day and I got frustrated,” Littler remembers. “But then I started hitting him.
“It’s a shame he retired. He just lost interest because he didn’t want to play online with a camera and a scorekeeper. But it didn’t bother me.”
Littler credits the hours spent playing at home during lockdown for his rapid rise since then, and he continues to use the Scolia darts system, which automatically calculates each player’s score. This means that anyone in the world can challenge Littler to a game using the same system.
If the teen has his way, they could soon involve his own cousin.