A darts-mad schoolboy is being tipped as the next Luke Littler after hitting his first 180 aged seven.<br /><br />Little Noah Kendall became hooked on the sport after watching the World Darts Championship on TV with dad Kev two years ago.<br /><br />His parents bought him a magnetic dart board when he was six and last year they splashed out on a full-size one which he keeps in his bedroom.<br /><br />The youngster practises hitting doubles and triples two hours a day and now plays for a junior team and last year was selected to represent Buckinghamshire county.<br /><br />Noah has even caught the attention of referees for his lightning quick totting up of players’ scores and adjudicates adult matches.<br /><br />Darts legend Russ Bray, who retired after this year’s Ally Pally final, said Noah’s ‘180’ call-out sounded “just like mine”.<br /><br />Noah is so confident of making it in the game he has already picked his own nickname – ‘The Double’s King’.<br /><br />Proud mum Helen, 42, a pastoral leader at a primary school, said: “He enjoyed watching darts with his dad so we bought him a magnetic dart board. <br /><br />“After watching him hit doubles a few times, we realised he had a good throw on him. <br /><br />“There was an academy he started going to which had a proper board and he was a natural. <br /><br />“Noah is also very good at Maths and can add up the scores and work out which numbers he needs to hit quickly.<br /><br />“He started scoring matches and practising his calls like they do on the TV and the older players love it. <br /><br />“The legendary Russ Bray even complimented him when he was on TV which made Noah’s day.”<br /><br />Noah says he loves refereeing but his dream is to follow in the footsteps of his favourite player, two-time Scottish darts legend Gary Anderson.<br /><br />He said: “I want to be a player or a ref. Or a commentator. I play to help my maths. I really enjoy the game and people say I’m good at it.”<br /><br />The schoolboy, from Northampton, reached the last 16 in a New Year’s Day competition against players several years older than him.<br /><br />He also won a handful of trophies with his local team The Milton Keynes Sharks.<br /><br />Helen, who also has a daughter Evie, 15, with site-manager husband Kev, 42, added: “He's the youngest in the group. Normally the club goes from six to 17. <br /><br />“It’s incredible, there aren’t many children that do that. <br /><br />“In the time we’ve been there, there’s only him and later than him going up to the group. <br /><br />“They all adore Noah, the club is so supportive of Noah. <br /><br />"He also plays for Buckinghamshire county, so he travels for that. He’s definitely the youngest there. <br /><br />“We love darts but we can’t play the darts. <br /><br />“Noah works really hard at it, he plays for hours and hours. If he hasn’t got school, six hours a day. With school, probably two hours. <br /><br />“He can score the games as well. He can ref the game as well, he can work it out as fast as the TV. <br /><br />“Last year he hit his first 180 which was a huge deal. He was chuffed to bits.”<br /><br />Helen hopes that Noah can become the next darts legend, and thanks to Luke Littler’s incredible rise to stardom, age is no barrier to success.<br /><br />She said: “There’s definitely the potential there for Noah to make a career out of darts. <br /><br />“You need big dreams, that’s what he talks about. Being on the world stage. <br /><br />“Luke Littler, from what he’s been able to achieve, has been able to open the door for Noah.”
