A 16-year-old student from Irlam took on dart sensation Luke Littler in front of thousands of people as part of a major live Netflix show.
Kasey Smith, an A-Level student from Irlam was selected to complete against the world number one in ‘Beat Luke Littler’ which was filmed at Manchester central last Friday (October 31).
Although Luke won their one-leg contest, Kasey came away with an experience she believes will be invaluable as she builds a career in darts.
The teen spotted the opportunity on social media and decided to apply for fun. But it soon got serious as she was selected from more than 25,000 applicants, becoming the only female contestant from the city to make it through the auditions.
She said: “I thought, oh, it’ll be funny to apply and see where it gets me. And then I ended up being on the show.
“It was an incredible experience, and I’m glad I got picked for it because now I’m used to the crowd and the energy.”
Kasey said she enjoyed the walk-on, where she signed autographs and experienced the atmosphere of a major televised event for the first time.
Having only started playing darts in July last year, after being encouraged to try a local academy, Kasey has quickly developed a passion for the sport and is already competing at youth county level.
However, her ambitions extend beyond personal success. She was determined to use her Netflix appearance to encourage more girls to take up a sport traditionally dominated by men.
“I didn’t care about winning. I didn’t care about losing. All I cared about was getting my name out there and promoting girls’ darts and getting more females into darts”, she said.
Kasey is planning an ambitious year ahead, with competing in the professional PDC Women’s Series, the junior girls’ series and the Youth Girls Grand Prix.
In hopes to support a new girls initiative at the Greater Manchester Darts Community Hub, she gave a message to other girls considering taking up the sport and said: “Don’t stop, because you never know – you could be the best out of them.”
