A Fort Saskatchewan teenager is crossing the pond to take part in the World Dart Masters in the Netherlands next month.
13-year-old Jaxson Danis has been playing darts since he was just eight years old at the local legion.
"My parents started playing legion darts and I started going to their tournaments," said Danis. "From the get-go, I started to love it."
He started to get more involved in playing darts and, before he knew it, Danis discovered that he had a knack for hitting difficult shots.
"When I was eight, I started throwing at boards and hitting big scores," said Danis. "My dad was like 'oh you're pretty good, you could probably become one of the world champions when you're older.'"
Danis is a natural when it comes to throwing darts. All you have to see to confirm that is his massive collection of over 80 pins that commemorate a time that he hit the most difficult shot in darts---180 points.
To get 180 points in one turn you must place three consecutive darts in a tiny spot on the board. Danis' mother, Sherilyn, says hitting that score as often as Danis does is unheard of at that age.
"There are some adults that play all their life and never hit one," said Sherilyn.
Danis is currently the top-ranked junior boys' dart player in the province and represented Alberta in Toronto for a national event earlier this year. It was there that he met some other boys on his team and became friends with them.
In fact, some of those friends also qualified for the World Masters and will be following Danis to the Netherlands. In total, 12 Canadian boys, including Danis, will be going to the event.
"10 [of the kids] are from Alberta and they are his buddies," said Sherilyn. "To go to an event like this with your buddies is pretty cool."
He actually qualified for the World Masters back in 2019, when he was only 10, after winning a World Darts Federation event and earning an invite. Unfortunately, COVID delayed the tournament until now.
"If there was no pandemic, he would have gone in 2020," said Sherilyn.
Obviously, winning the World Masters would be an amazing accomplishment, but Danis is focused on having a fun time.
"[I'm most looking forward to] meeting new people," said Danis.
The World Dart Masters is set to go in Assen, Netherlands from December 8 to 11.