19th September

The highlight of last week’s Academy was the impressive finishing from all sections. In the juniors Jordan Edmonds 4 from 5, was in excellent form as was his sister Aimee who included a bull finish in her 3 wins.

The seniors ‘handicap week’ raised the bar even further as 14 year-olds Billy Day checked out on 88, Luke Goddard then finished a superb 150 surpassed only by 12 year old Ray Lockington who smashed a 170 finish. Sean White also had an excellent 27 dart 801 which included 6 consecutive ton plus scores but Goddard prevailed as the week’s top player with six wins from seven including a fine 15 dart leg of 501.

12th September

Unicorn Darts Youth Academy

The Academy was back in action last week after a month off then their collective successes at the Andover Youth Open last week. Top pairs partners in the juniors were Jordan Edmonds and Adam Lockington with 4 wins from 5 followed by Liam Bowman and Elle May and Amy Thorne and Regan Preston on 3 from 5.

In the seniors, Sam Pike topped the ladies singles with three wins while Arron Monk returned 5 wins from 5 in 24.80 when topping the Men’s A singles from Sean White 23.98 and Gary Thorne 22.10. In a closely fought B section Gavin Howard’s excellent finishing saw him win 3 from 5 from Billy Day, Karl Brooks and Jamie Gentleman on 2 wins each. Ray Lockington’s good form continues with 5 from 5 in the C section from the fast improving Shane Lock and Luke Goddard on 3 wins each.

 3^rd Andover Youth Darts Open   -   Album here

It was another clean sweep for the Academy in this year’s Andover Youth Darts Open with Sean White and Charlotte Burgess (pictured on the right - click album above for more photos) retaining their senior titles. Testament to these two performers was that they were never really tested throughout but the most noticeable achievement came from the junior groups and those making debuts in such competitions.

Ray Lockington showed great composure and clinical finishing in defeating team mate Billy Day in the boys under 14 final. They had to overcome the exciting talents of Jamie Gentleman and Luke Goddard in hard fought semi finals and there seems little doubt that these four will be vying for the Generation 180 award in years to come. With a strong London contingent and some talented Wiltshire youngsters there were other good performances from Rhys Collins, Connor Bestford, Regan Preston, Craig Pike, Jordan Edmonds, Adam Lockington and Ryan Morgans.

The under 14 girls was won by junior captain Molly Dawkins who won another close contest with Mel Oakley. Oakley in particular showed great character in earlier rounds defying double trouble to make to the knock out stages. Aimee Edmonds, remarkably won through to the semis on her debut and Amy Thorne and Elle May with just a little luck would have fared much better but will certainly shine again in the future.

A hat-trick of Andover Opens was achieved by Charlotte Burgess when defeating 14 year old Sam Pike in the under 21’s ladies final. Burgess continues to set the benchmark for Ladies darts and is a candidate for this year’s Unicorn award but her opponent’s steady development looks certain to develop a healthy competition. Elder sister Christine also performed well to reach the last 4 and with a better draw could have made the final itself.

Sean White’s defence of his title was steady rather than spectacular and always had that little bit extra in reserve despite some talented opponents from the Home Counties. Most pleasing was his professional and courteous attitude towards his adversaries and he is developing into a fine ambassador for the Unicorn team.

Arron Monk was out of sorts on the day losing to Surrey’s Kurtis Atkins in the semis and Adam Major disappointingly succumbed to the same player in the quarters. Greater things were hoped for Dominic Ware and Gary Thorne but it wasn’t to be their day but there was further encouraging performances and experience from the improving Jake Urwin, Gavin Howard, David McFadden and Karl Brooks.

Considering the unusually hot weather and the stifling conditions of a packed Entertainer the Academy acquitted themselves superbly on and off the oche and big thank you to sponsors DartsWorld, Andover Fork Truck Services, Ken White Distribution, South West Taverns, Sainsbury’s and Unicorn and to the coaching staff that worked tirelessly all day overseeing 240 games at the oche.

 More information can be found one the Various tables page