‘Don’t come here no more’ – Luke Littler’s darts coach reveals why they had to ‘get rid of him’ from the academy at 13
LUKE LITTLER was kicked out of his darts academy aged 13 – for simply being too good.
The 17-year-old sensation became the sport’s youngest world champion after beating Michael van Gerwen at Ally Pally.
It came a year after losing in the final to Luke Humphries in what truly kicked off his meteoric ascent to the top of darts.
But Karl Holden – coach of St Helen’s darts – was there to witness Littler’s early start to greatness.
And even on the stroke of becoming a teenager, Littler was too good to play against kids his own age.
Holden told BBC Sport: “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. It was 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 was just saying, ‘Go and beat all the men in the world.'”
Littler has indeed gone on to defeat every man he’s faced – including legends of the sport like Van Gerwen.
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And he even has his eyes on surpassing the great 16-time champion Phil Taylor.
Littler said: “I want to become one of the best of all time. It will take however many times. Phil Taylor won many.
“I know Michael has won 100-plus titles. But for myself, I want to win as much as I can.”
He added: “Obviously, the World No1 could be on the cards this year. If Luke Humphries doesn’t defend all of his prize money.
“But if he goes on to win everything this year and defends his prize money, then fair enough to Luke.
“Also I cannot wait, I think I am in the World Cup with Luke.”