Archived News

To of Blackburn Academy's JDC Virtual Teams are currently on track to qualify for the World Championships to be hosted next year in Gibraltar. Team Panthers made up of Academy Players and Team Jaguar made from Academy Coaches are hitting above the overall mark required to qualify. They are looking at improving their performance in season 2 which commences on the 11th January. Mean while Team Tigers and Team Cougars will be combining for Season 2.

"2020 has been a year which none of us could ever of imagined, and has affected us all in someway. For us at the academy, having our doors closed since March with only briefly being able to reopen in September for a couple of weeks has been really difficult for all involved. We spent over £5000 to move venue, rebuild and ensured we was covid secure, with our risk assessments praised by the local Public Health Protection Teams, however we still are unable to open our doors due to our venue being a wmc. It's a real shame and our students are struggling. I have pressed our Local MP on this and she has sent my argument to the Sports Minister. Any WMC or pub that is used by community groups should be allowed to remain open if they are fully covid secure and maintaining all the rules. Many of our students have not even picked up a dart since march despite the Academy putting on Weekly Virtual sessions and competitions for them. This is because some don't like virtual, some don't have the equipment required to play at home. All the work we have done with our students is endanger of being wasted as their progression is being halted and reversed. We were one of the safest and most organised places to be. However, all we can do is wait for when the day comes that we can reopen. In the mean time we shall keep providing online activities for those who want to take part and planning for the day we can open again. 

It has not been all gloom for us this year with 2 more students qualifying for the Junior World Championships, Gaining a new bigger venue for us to keep growing once we can get back to how we was, we won the JDC Community Award, We gained grants and more Sponsors and Partners which will only strengthen our progression, We are committed more than ever and will do what ever we can for youth darts within Lancashire. We do however require more volunteer coaches and mentors along with committee members so if anyone out there would like to get involved please get in touch with myself. 

Our main focus now is to safeguard the academy and try to get our students back on the oche throwing again. Although we are all not out of the woods yet there is light at the end of the tunnel and I hope 2021 can be the year we can start getting back to normal again. 

Id like to thank all the people who support the work we do and have done over the the years along with all our sponsors and partners, parents, students and of course all our wonderful volunteers and ambassadors. Thank you and keep safe as we look forward to seeing some of you at the academy sometime in the new year. 

Academy Elite Students Jack Valentine and Jacob Hibbert have successfully Secured their passport within the JDC Virtual Event to qualify for the JDC Junior World Championships next year in Gibraltar. Both Students where on form throughout the event and deserve their places in the worlds. Director Keith Brunt had agreed to sponsor the 2 students with his business Sense of Zen for the event and will be there to support them. We all wish them all the best in the worlds as they represent our great academy.  

What a fantastic day everyone had that attended the Blackburn Youth Organised Dimitri Van Den Bergh Exhibition at the Two Gates. 100 tickets were sold for the event with more being sought despite being a total sell out. Dimitri played all of the academy students on stage as well as members of the audience with 2 of our students winning Dimitri. Everyone had a great Sunday Afternoon and Dimitri even took the time to practice with the students before the Exhibition started and was impressed by 7 year old student Leo the Lion Lynch after getting a 180 against Dimitri. His Manager Mac Elkin also gave great words of encouragement to the students and praised the work the Academy does. The Academy raised over £1000 with this event which helped provide more opportunities for the students. 

The First ever North West Youth Championships took place this weekend created and hosted by Academy Director Keith Brunt with youths attending from all over the UK including Surrey, Newcastle, St. Helens, Carlisle and Yorkshire. The day was superb and many good reviews where given online. Even Pro Players Darryl Fitton, David Evans and Diogo Portela came along to show their support for the  event and engaged with the participants. This will be annual event hosted by Blackburn Academy which will gett bigger and better each year. 

Blackburn Academy Students attended the Big Bang Tungsten event in Wigan hoisted by Mark Dean and took on some Pro players on stage in front of the audience. Students got to play against the likes of John Lowe, Devon Petersen. Joe Murnan and Steve Beaton. It was a great night and Mark Dean kindly donated a dartboard to the Academy signed by all the players. 

BBC Radio Lancashire have contacted the Academy and asked if they could do a live 2 hour show on the Academy with the run up to the BDO World Trophy being held in the town later this month. Academy Director Keith Brunt was over the moon with this as it will be more great and positive coverage of the Academy and the hard work that goes on here. Keep an ear out for us. 

Blackburn Academy will appear with a full page article in the world wide Darts Planet.TV Magazine next month and will then have our own featured section in each monthly Magazine. Darts Planet have been so impressed with the academy they want to support them by covering us in there magazine and also donating money to the Academy for each magazine or product purchased from them online using coupon code BYDA17 at checkout. This is a brilliant and kind gesture from them and we are looking forward to appearing in this fantastic darts mag. So please help support us and buy your copy using the code and read all about us each month. 

Tony Oshea has became Blackburn Youth Darts Academy's 3 Official Ambassador. We are proud and excited to have Tony joining the team along with Darryl Fitton and Alan Warriner-Little. Together the 3 of them will really be beneficial to the academy in helping it grow from strength to strength. They are 3 great guys who all have a real interest in youth darts and the future of the game. Even though Alan and Darryl call the trio the three stooges, We thing they are 3 of the best Stooges ;)

The Academy are now actively seeking more volunteers and coaches to help at academy sessions. If anyone can spare 1 or 2 saturday afternoons each month then why not email keith@blackburnyouthdartsacademy.co.uk

Is great to be a part of a fantastic team and to give something back, contributing to the future of the sport. 

The group stages of this years Green Zone Grandslam are nearly complete and it look as though the majority of the qualifiers going through to the knockout stages will be the under 10's green zone warriors. We have seen some great darts with plenty of ton+ and even some quality 180's and high check outs along the way. Who will be this years Finalists as they compete to become the GreenZone Champion. 

A few Students entered this months Adult competition at the Two Gates Social Club in Darwen that takes place on the last Firday of every month. However, it was Student Charlie Maynard, that impressed many entrants on the night hitting four 140's and beating numerous adults including ex academy student Jordan Hoole to get to the quarter finals. 

Unfortunately Charlie bowed out in the quarters losing 3-1. 

Charlie has been with the academy since 2017 and is one of the longest attending students along with Dylan Hadfield. Both students have came on leaps and bounds since attending the Academy. Charlie currenly a yellow shirt is getting close to graduating to a green shirt whilst Dylan is a Blue shirt 

Students and Officials created a storm when they went on tour to Blackpool for the Kevin Painter Exhibition. The spectators and Kevin himself loved the students and the Academy after making a good impression when some of the students took to the stage to compete against the Professional Darter. 

 It was a wonderful moment when Academy Director recieved an email to inform him that Blackburn Youth Darts Academy had been Nominated and Shortlisted for Grassroots Club of 2019. This is a fantastic peice of news and a proud moment for the Academy and its  officials who work tiredlessly for the students and for the future of the sport. The winners of the award shall be announced at a special event next month. Keep your fingers crossed for us everyone! 

Tickets are now on sale and are selling fast for the Academy;s next darts exhibition which takes place on Sunday 13th October 2019 12:30pm till 6pm. All VIP tickts are now sold out and just standard tickets remain at just £10 each. All spectators will be in with a chance of playing against the 2 times world youth champion as well as enjoy his moves as he dances on the oche. Official walk ons will take place along with a raffle, sports auction and lots of quality darts. Why not get your tickets now to secure your seat before its too late. Ths is one exhibition you really dont want to miss out on. email keith@blackburnyouthdartsacademy.co.uk to book your tickets today.

Now that the Academy's Premier League is over, the next big event is on its way. This time its the Greenzone Grand Slam. Students will be drawn into groups and the top of the groups will proceeed to the knockout stages of this event. Who will take home the Grand Slam Trophy and the cash prize in the Finals night. This will be a handicapped event based on students gradings sfter season 2 of this years JDC routine. 

9 year old Student Harrison Kirby has been growing from strength to strength since joining the Academy 1 year ago. Starting on white shirt Harrison has managed to achieve Blue shirt grading just missing out last season by 1 point on achieving a red shirt. Harrison has been hitting black shirt scores lately which is remarkable for his age. Not only has harrison progressed in the routine, got to the premier league finals, the st helens comp final but he has now set a new record for the 9 dart bullseye challenge with a staggering 58 points after hitting 4 bulls. Harrison is defiantely a strong player and a name to look out for in the future. 

After months of playing matches in the Premier League, the top 4, Harrison Kirby, Dylan Hadfield, Matthew Emett and Zac Care took to the stage for the finals night. Amazing darts where thrown by all in front of a crowd but it was 8 year old Zac Care which was crowned theis years Premier League Champion after hitting numerous 140's and getting a 150 checkout on the night . Zac took home the Prmier League Trophy along with a Fifty Pound Note. Zac then did a exhibition playing members of the crowd who were pulled out via a raffle. Zac played brilliantly all night and shared the highest checkout prize with Matthew Emett whom also achieved a 150 checkout. 

Students, Parents and Officials enjoyed the Annual Academy Christmas Party by having a parent and student darts competition along with lots of fun, music, food, presents and even a visit from Santa himself. 

Director Keith and Head Coach Barry made their way down to Bristol to watch and support 14 Year Old Student Nathan Care compete in the JDC Junior World Championships. The Draw was made and Natahsn group was nicknamed the Group of Death due to the standard of players in the group including the European World Champion Brad Philips. Despite this Nathan won the Group stages after beating Brad with a 12 and 14 dart legs hitting a a record average of 115.6 which sent social media into a frenzy. Nathan made it into the last 32 however unfortunatly got beat by the 2 times world champion Rusty.

This was a fantastic achievement for nathan not only to Qualify but by getting such a win and avaerge in his first ever major event. 

Blackburn Youth Darts Academy's Director Keith Brunt and Coach Andrew Jones, travelled down to the JDC HQ in Bristol to complete the Level 1 International Darts Coaching Qulaification. The Academy is aiming to have all coaches qualified to Level 1 whilst Director Keith is looking forward to gaining higher levels when they are available in the future. 

These qualifications are a great asset to the academy and show that the academy is a professional outfit with all necessary qualifications, checks and legalities in place. 

Students enjoyed a full day and night trip to Yorkshire. Firstly they attended a youth competition in Bradford during the day competing against many talented youngsters, before heading to Barnsley for a darts exhibition featuring Andy the Pieman Smith and BDO Wrorld Champion Glenn Durrant along with hthe World Trophy which students got to hold. Some students got to play against the pro players and one lucky student was given a signed shirt by a lady who won it in the auction paying quite a sum for it. The shirt had over 50 signatures on it. Yorkshire made us  feel very welcome.

Blackburn Youth Darts Academy ran a Adults only Fundraiser night packed with entertainment. The sell out event raised more than £700 for the Academy and everyone who attended enjoyed the vocal and funny side of the brilliant female impersonator Miss Sugar as well as the bingo, raffles, auction and open the box. Lots of laughs where had by all efore everyone took to their feet for a dance. We can wait for the next evening of entertainment to take place on 2019. 

Blackburn Academy enjoyed a fantastic evening at the Preston Guild Hall for the Grand Maters of Darts Eric Bristow Memorial Trophy. Blackburn obtained free tickets to the event and Ambassador Alan Warriner-Little came into the crowd and took the students and officials behind stage to meet all the players and have photos with them. They met Ted Hankey, Tony OShea, Colin Lloyd, Trinia Gulliver MBE, Wayne Mardle, Peter Manley and Bobby George. All the kids really enjoyed this and one student Kieran Thompson was lucky enough to have the event sponsors invite him up on stage to play against Colin Lloyd. Kieran won Colin hitting the double with the first arrow.  

Academy Captain and Lancashire Youth Player Nathan Care has won the first ever Jack Dowding 9 dart Bullseye challenge after he saw off all of the competition entrants which included youth players and academy coaches from numerous academies present on the day. The challenge was won by Nathan achieving the highest score on the day with 44 points. Blackburn Academy Coach Andrew Jones was unlucky and close behind with 43 points. A great effort from all our academy who took part and congrats to Nathan who played exceptionally well all day in all comps and unfortunately got beat in the semi final of the green zone comp. 

Blackburn certainly had a busy weekend attending the JDC first Green Zone Development Tour the morning after their trip to the Grand Masters of Darts. All students played well in this competition and really enjoyed the day meeting students from other academies such as Tamworth, Stafford, West Midlands and Paignton. 

After Careful consideration by  the Academy Director Keith Brunt a decision was made to move the Academy from the Beechwood Club to the Cabin End.  The new venue is perfect for growing the academy further with the option to run more coaching sessions throughout the saturday and also to introduce a youth league and various competitions to the area.  

Keith and head coach baz have been working very hard to get the new venue ready, building our own free standing dartboard set ups that look the bees knees. The venue has sky sports, a full pa system, more seating and are more flexible for room availability.  We cant wait for our official opening day on Saturday 24th March 1pm. 

After Keith met up with Alan Warriner - little at the JDC conference a couple of weeks ago, keith decided to contact Alan and ask him to become the Academy's 3rd Ambassador which Alan was Honored to accept. This is another great step forward for the academy and we cant wait to have him visit one weekend. 

JDC VISIT 

Keith and Baz went down to Bristol a couple of weeks ago to the JDC annual Conference, it was a great day and theymade lots of great contacts. They had a fantastic meeting with Michael Van Gerwen, Chris Mason, Alan Warriner - Little, the PDC, Sight right inventor and Darts Connect CEO amongst other acdemy Directors and JDC officials. Lots of good ideas were shared and friendships made. They cant wait to meet up with all these great guys again soon. In the evening they all went out to Steve Brown's Bar 501 and all played a little darts comp together using the fantastic Darts Connect which Blackburn Academy will be bringing in this year.