Deadly Vibe Issue 60 Febuary 2002
Hailing from the Perth suburb of Maddington, Beau and Kyle Anderson are two young Aboriginal boys making their mark in the very precise world of darts.
Younger brother Kyle, 14, first got interested in the game after watching his father compete at the Maddington Tavern. He started playing at six and has been competing since he was nine.
In 1999 Kyle was on the winning West Australian darts team that took out the national title for U18 in Sydney. He was also awarded the Australian Junior Darts Championship Encouragement Award.
The next year Kyle partnered his brother Beau to win the Australian junior boys doubles title in Geelong, Victoria. Kyle was also runner-up in the Australian boys singles competition.
In 2001 Kyle travelled to Brisbane for the national titles where he was part of the championship-winning mixed doubles team, and runner-up in the singles competition.
Kyle follows his favourite darts player, Englishman John Lowe, on cable television.
“I like watching the World Darts Championships, which are televised from England. There are so many people watching when they play ” they must be under so much pressure!”
Currently playing A-grade darts with three associations, Kyle hopes one day to play in England’s professional league and to eventually become world darts champion.
Big brother Beau, who is 19, also has a knack for getting a bullseye. He first developed an interest in the game when he was eight and remembers his father’s cousins coming over to play.
“I asked Dad if I could play with them and he said “˜When you get older’.”
Beau started in C-grade competition at 12 and graduated to A-grade two years later.
“When I was going to Maddington High School and representing Western Australia at the national titles, the kids would ask me what it was like travelling over to the East,” he recalls.
Now a childcare worker at the Morley Vacation Centre, Beau plays darts for South Suburban Darts Association at the Thornlie Football Club and is currently ranked 35th in Australia.
Like brother Kyle, Beau has won his share of trophies.
In 1997, 1999 and 2000 he was a member of the winning mixed doubles team at the national titles. In 1999 and 2000 he also won the Australian junior boys singles and junior youth masters titles.
He was also a member of the winning Australian junior boys doubles team with brother Kyle in 2000. This was the first time two brothers had won an Australian doubles title in darts history.
A highlight for Beau was being presented with the Western Australia Achievers Award for darts at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sports Awards in November 2001.
Beau’s favourite international darts player is Welshman Richie Burnett, and he is fond of local athletes Patrick Johnson and Kyle Vander-Kuyp.
Asked about his ambitions, Beau is aiming just as high as his little brother.
“I would like to win the senior World Cup in singles and play the professional league in Great Britain someday,” he says.
And what about that father who got both of them into the sport? Well, Norm Anderson is a representative player who has also been competing since he was a youngster. He represented Western Australia at the national titles in 1990, 2000 and 2001, and is currently ranked 37th in Australia.
A teacher at Yulebrook College (where Kyle is currently a student), Norm says he introduced darts as a school sport as a way of improving the students’ aptitude for arithmetic.
“I’m very proud of the boys,” he says. “Many players tell me how advanced their games are for their age. It makes all the older players wish they’d started playing when they were younger! I taught the boys how to play when they were young, and all of a sudden they caught up. If they stay focused and committed they could be anything.”
(story (1/9/2000 end)
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