Student Spotlight

We are proud to shine a spotlight on Matthew, a talented Year 9 pupil who is achieving remarkable success in the world of darts.

Darts Journey

Matthew started playing casual darts late February 2024, after getting a dartboard for Christmas 2023. This started off as an occasional throw, but he soon came to realise how much he enjoyed it

Achievements

Matthew has progressed to the quarter finals and semi finals of The Vault – a high level round robin competition, which he recently won, along with the ADC Under 65 Average Finals in Cramlington August 2024.

Matthew plays in various pub leagues, currently with 3 Player of the Matches and 6 180's, with the highest checkout of 146 for the entire Thursday night league, and in 9th position overall out of 272 players and with 21 Player of the Matches in the Monday night league.

Matthew’s current position of the 2025-2026 season is 4th, winning seven of the nine matches played along with two Player of the Matches, and is currently a member of the Cleveland County Youth Darts Team, recently playing on Sunday 16th February 2025 and winning 3-0. 

Matthew has played four youth games to date, winning three of the four, along with 3 Player of the Matches, and is a member of the Cleveland County B Seniors Darts Team, playing and winning his first game on Saturday 14th September 2024.

Matthew was recently selected for some senior games, with three more wins under his belt, followed by his debut for the Cleveland County Seniors A Team with another incredible win.

Matthew has just joined the St Marys Darts Academy in Hartlepool, which is JDC accredited (Junior Darts Corporation) and will also be travelling to Coventry for Easter Weekend to take part in his first JDC Foundation Tour event

Matthew has also 'reeled in the big fish', taking out 170 during a Vault at the Malleable in April 2024!

Other Awards

Matthew has also won several other titles, including:

• Ray Barclay Foundation Competition Winner
• North East Under 18s Plate Winner in Blyth
• ADC North East Under 65 Average Finals from Vault 8.0. Winner of competition (seeded 17 from 32). 
• Lakeside Open Youth winner in Redcar
• Dan Dinning Memorial Cup Winner of youth competition at Billingham Social Club

Future Aspirations 

Matthew would like to continue with his amazing darts journey and hopefully one day play on stage at the 'Ally Pally' (Alexandra Palace, London), also aiming to get a JDC tour card to enable him to play junior competitions worldwide.

Darts has been amazing for Matthew, giving him something to focus on whilst also significantly improving his maths abilities!

Matthew's passion and determination makes him poised to excel even further in his darts journey and we look forward to witnessing his continued growth and success.