The Namibia Darts Federation (NDF) will focus on youth development programmes to scout future darts players.
NDF president Barend Kruger said this during an interview with this publication while speaking on the federation’s plan for the year. “Our upcoming competition, the Oranje Open, is slated for Oranjemund from 26 to 27 April and we are expecting about 15 teams to compete at the tournament - both male and female. We are expecting teams from Walvis Bay, Windhoek, Walvis Bay and other parts of the country,” he said. On international competitions, he said they must use this tournament to also scout players who will represent the country at various tournaments.
“This is quite an important tournament for us as a federation as we are going to use this competition to select players who can compete at various tournaments abroad. Also, it’s for us to expose the younger players who are coming and have been looking to make their mark by representing Namibia at various international competitions,” he added.
In terms of youth development, the president said they have come up with various initiatives to get the youths more involved since the sport is played mostly by people over the age of 35.
“We have introduced this session every Saturday in Walvis Bay where kids come to play as we are trying to scout younger players.”
“We have also tried introducing the sport in various schools in Namibia as a way to get them involved in the sports as we have fewer youth who are involved in darts and by us taking this to them is a way we want to get to the community and engage them, so they join,” he added. The federation will host more than 20 tournaments this year, including international events. The federation will also stage its Annual General Meeting at the beginning of next month, while the first youth trials will also be staged in May this year.