Saturday 22nd March 2014 will go down in the history books for Manx youth darts as the very first competition was held at the Falcon's Nest Trustrum Suite.
Signing on was from 2pm and 22 talented young players pitted their skills against each other. We had 8 players in the senior section so we had two groups of four who played a round robin 501 best of three legs format and in the juniors we had 14 so we ran two groups of seven playing 301 one leg round robin. The top two from each group would then make up our semi finalists.
Shortly after 3pm we got underway, the talent we have on our tiny island was plain to see and was great to watch and be a part of especially as some of the players are only 8 years of age and have only been playing for three weeks so to turn up at one of the biggest comps we will be having was fantastic.
Juniors group A:
Leon Evans , Jaz Arthur , Rhiannon Taggart , Owen Qualtrough , Tegan Perry , Dylan Fick and Oliver Weit.
Group A and it's girl power time as the girls battle it out against the boys.
Rhiannon gained alot of experience and has a great attitude winning one of her six games ( 7th ).
Oliver played some excellent darts in winning his two games and anyone that can take the scalp of Tegan has a great action ( 6th ).
Leon was abit like his much loved Man Utd great one minute and then not so the next but that is just down to practice ( 5th ).
Jaz was looking like she was going to be the shock of the day as the 8 year old won her first two games and again gaining alot of experience on the day ( 4th ).
Tegan was the coaches one to watch and she was fantastic winning 4 of her 6 matches indeed beating semi finalist Owen in the group stages and on another day would have made the semi's herself ( 3rd ).
Dylan the pocket rocket was my player of the day this wee man was fantastic all day and so small we had to get the darts out of the board for him at times well played mate winning 5 out 6 ( 2nd ).
Owen is another great prospect and showed no nerves placing himself firmly in the running with 5 wins out of 6, one to watch in the future ( 1st ).
Juniors group B:
Max Arthur , Leo Dunnigan , Louis Faragher , James Leece , Calla Reed , Tyler Hannay and William Taylor-Quayle.
Of all the groups this was the group of death fantastic strength in depth as the scores showed.
Leo played some great darts and with just a slight bit of luck would have won at least three games but instead due to some fantastic finishing by his opponents he gained one win ( 7th ).
Max another suffering with inconsistency but that will get better with practice and another who could have won so many more if for some luck ( 6th ).
James has a good friend from the darts world in none other than James Wade and I'm sure he would have been proud of his model player attitude. He did everything right and gained some great wins ( 5th ).
William has such a fantastic throwing action very similar to MVG in the lazyness and ease proving he is a name of the future winning as many as he lost ( 4th ).
Tyler has been throwing darts for only two weeks and considering that he was so close to being my player of the day. Tye also winning as many as he lost which in this company was fantastic ( 3rd ).
Callan is a lad that will go far and with the great attitude and fun factor we have alot of time for him. Cal showed some class arrows in the group stages and 80 plus scores aplenty securing his slot with five wins out of six ( 2nd ).
Louis has everything you want and need as a dart player and is a name you will hear plenty of in the future and with Callan as a mate they will form a formidable pairs partnership in any competition. Louis won all six of his matches in the group stages and warmed up for the semi final with an 11 darter in his final group game ( 60,60,140,41 in two darts 9 double 16 ) ( 1st ).
Semi finals:
Callan Reed v Dylan Fick
Callan is fast out of the blocks but Dylan isn't letting him have any of it and as Callan feels the pressure Dylan steps in to take the first leg.
Callan shows the friendly side of the darts family by helping Dylan with taking his darts out for him even though he is 1-0 down ( love the attitude of these kids ). Callan seems to have been woken up with that first leg and powers through the second leg in 17 darts. So we go to a decider and Dylan starts to show signs of being tired with some loose darts and that with the power scoring of Callan proves to much as Cal takes his slot in the final with a 15 dart leg.
Louis Faragher v Owen Qualtrough
Owen proved he has a future in this game and if he had played anyone else in the semi final it could have been a different story but with a 14 darter and then bettered by another 11 darter which included a 180 it was Louis who powered his way to the final and showing no nerves.
Final:
Callan Reed v Louis Faragher
The great friends in the final and it is fair to say the final i think everyone wanted to see. Straight out of the blocks Louis shows his immense talent with an 18 darter he takes the first leg. Much more of the same in leg two as both players show why they both made it to the last eight of the recent Isle of man open youth comp against much older kids. Louis has darts to win the title but a slight snatch means him busting and up steps Callan and with no nerves what so ever takes out 61 to take us to a decider.
The best is often saved till last and with the best leg of the day Louis wins the title with yet another 180 and a 10 dart leg.
Seniors group A:
Owen Carvin , Will Qualtrough , Callum Brough and Anthony Collis.
Some cracking darts from these boys in group A.
Although Callum never won a game the experience gained is priceless and he was never completely out played ( 4th ).
Owen showed he can be a great prospect for the future in fact taking a leg of Anthony and giving him a scare and winning one of his three games ( 3rd ).
Will could be a fantastic player if he can iron out some small chinks in his armour, proving he has it when needed he beats Callum in the deciding leg to book his place in the semi finals (2nd ).
Anthony " Eagles " Collis looked the part with his MVG type darts shirt and his darts didn't disappoint winning all his games with some brilliant match play and putting himself forward as a definate favourite ( 1st ).
Seniors group B:
Brian Compton , Callum Brew , Cameron Dunnigan and Holly Crowe.
Brian gained some very valuable experience and i hope we see him in the future at the academy as he has a great attitude,he may have lost all his games but was far from being outplayed ( 4th ).
Holly was a dark horse with the academy coaches and she didn't let herself down with some fine darts and a name for the future ,she won one game but it could have so easily have been won 3 ( 3rd ).
Cam as he likes to be known showed his talent as he rattled of big scores a plenty, he wasn't happy with his over all performance but believe me mate you did yourself proud in your first competition winning two of his games gained him a slot in the last four ( 2nd ).
Callum " sticks " Brew another player looking great in his personalised darts shirt and another fancied runner with his coaches. Cal proving he is one to watch winning all three of his group games to go through to the semi finals as group winner ( 1st ).
Semi finals:
Callum Brew v Anthony Collis
This one was a fantastic match and one worthy of the final as they pounded the lipstick but in the end Anthony winning this mega game and a place in the final.
Will Qualtrough v Cameron Dunnigan
Another great semi final as these two big lads traded blows like heavyweights but we had to have a winner and it was Will who secures his place in the masters final.
Final:
Anthony Collis v Will Qualtrough
Best of three legs 501 although Anthony beat Will 2-0 in the group stages this one was to go down to the wire in an epic final leg slog fest.
Anthony was the quicker out of the blocks winning leg one easily.
Its a compleley different Will in leg two as he powers his way back into the title chase hitting double one when under serious pressure from Anthony.
Final leg decider and its fair to say the poorest leg these pair have thrown all day as the pressure mounts. Both lads struggling to hit the winning double and it looks like its going all the way to a double one nightmare for them both but finally Anthony strikes the double and wins the title of Senior manx masters champion in the last year he will be allowed to play as he heads up to the adults next year.
I have so many people to thank.
Thanks to the Falcon's Nest for supplying the room for us , John Denny and the IOMDO for letting us run the youth competition , David Clucas for not only supplying the fantastic trophies but keeping ourleague tables up-to-date and also presenting the medals to all the players. Ted Fick from Ted Fick plumbing and heating for the vouchers presented to the finalists. John Bowness from Nulook design for the boards for the juniors. Mark Curphey and Joseph Hanney for marking boards all day. Micheala Gell who not only marked a board all day but helped run the event to perfection.
Gary Jones for coming down and taking some fantastic pictures, all the kids for making our first comp such a memorable day Martin Timoney for helping us out big time when we had a disaster with the lights and finally Damion Taggart for all his help with transporting the boards from Ramsey helping set up the boards ,lights and seating along with Tegan Perry ,Jaz Arthur and Rhiannon Taggart but also taking them all back down again and taking them back to Ramsey.
