Luke Littler’s former darts coach has spoken about the teen ahead of the World Championship final. (Image: BBC / Getty.)
former coach has revealed that he had to “get rid of” the finalist from his academy before the 17-year-old became a household name.
Littler is in another Alexandra Palace final, 12 months after losing to on his tournament debut, with the teenager .
His rise has been remarkable, but those who knew Littler while he was playing in youth matches believed that he was destined for the top, even though it forced him to be kicked out of his club.
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When asked by the how he handled Littler as a promising star, Karl Holden of St Helens Darts Academy said: “It might sound bad but we sort of got rid of him out of the academy.
“He knows we didn’t mean that in a nasty way, but it was more like ‘Don’t come here no more you’re just too good’. When he was 13 he was just too good for the Under-21s. He was never going to achieve anything there so we were saying ‘Go and beat all the men in the world’. And that’s what he’s doing, hopefully tonight, every one of them.”
When asked what makes a champion at the highest level, Holden explained: “You need bottle, you need composure, you need to put the hours in as well. He has spent thousands of hours losing against proper seasoned competitors in darts and county players.
“You need to learn to win and to win you have got to learn to lose, and when you lose you don’t like it. That’s when you start winning.
Luke Littler had to leave his academy to pursue pastures new. (Image: Getty)
Where to buy Luke Littler’s darts
Luke Littler is heading to the latter stages of the WDC, and you can emulate the 17-year-old with a set of his Target G1 Swiss Point darts for £99.95. You can also upgrade to the gold Prodigy darts for £129.95.
There is also a more affordable Loadout 90% Tungsten darts for £45.90. If you need something to throw them at, Amazon has reduced the Luke Littler Cabinet & Dartboard Set to £59.99.
“If you know you have to hit that double, if you’ve not got the confidence then [you’re] done. You need to hit that double or you won’t hit it in darts, you simply won’t do it.”
Holden coached Littler since he was nine years old and admitted that it would be a “dream” to watch the Warrington star become world champion on the Ally Pally stage.
“Hopefully he can go that one better this year because I do believe he is better than last year,” Holden added. “Everybody can’t wait for it because I think them two are the two best players of this tournament.
How do you coach Luke Littler? ??????”We got rid of him!” ??????
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport)
“Every dart player has a dream to be world champion but I think I’m well past that stage now so I think for our committee, [at St Helens Darts Academy] it’s a dream for us to produce a world champion, I don’t think there can be a better feeling than that.”
And even though he was kicked out of his darts academy, just a few years later Littler is vying for the sport’s biggest prize – the Sid Waddell Trophy.
He is favourite to beat on Friday night and Littler knows he has the backing of his former club, even though they forced him to cut ties with their outfit.