Kaya’s Journey

Kaya got into darts thanks to his Uncle’s Paul and Mark. Only playing for fun but it was clear he had potential and started showing a keen interest at the age of 13. In early 2024 Kaya came down to the Craven Heifer with his Dad, Engin and Uncle Paul to watch them play. He was throwing a few darts before the match started and every single player in unison said “Get him signed on”.

At the tender age of 14 and with limited experience playing the game competitively, it was clear straight away that he had talent. Kaya got the bug and throughout 2024 began to practice every day and play in the Burnley District Darts League on Thursday nights. Kaya was racking up wins each week and off the back of that, one his teammates put Kaya’s dad in touch with someone at Blackburn Youth Darts Academy and managed to get him a trial session in June 2024. All it took was that one trial and Kaya was offered a place in the academy. Within a short space of time, he is now regarded as one of the most promising young talents in the academy which has led to him being signed up a player management company called Darts Plus, generally given to players with true potential.

Kaya is now playing in weekly tournaments in Burnley and the surrounding areas. These tournaments are called Vaults and consists of 24 players. He is now making the latter stages of these tournaments playing against players 2,3,4 times his age. Played in his first Vault in August, Kaya has won 4 and several times finished runner up. He also enters other local tournaments and recently won the Annual Darts Tournament at the Glen View Pub which had 32 entries.

The Future

Most of the darts academies are affiliated with JDC (Junior Darts Corporation) which is located in Coventry and it is for 10 – 18 year olds.

We first took Kaya to JDC European Open in September 2024 and there were 4 events in total. Kaya managed to get to semi-final in one of the events and overall Kaya finished the tournament 11th on the order of merit out of 96 players. This was Kaya’s first major tournament and off the back of his placing, he qualified to play in Super 16 finals . This tournament is reserved to the best 64 players in the UK and Ireland.

Overall , to say Kaya started playing darts at the beginning of 2024 , he has come so far and achieved so much in short space of time. He can only get better with the right people around him.

Why are we sponsoring Kaya?

Chris, Director of 360, has known Kaya’s Uncle Paul for over 25 years and met his father Engin off the back of that friendship. Chris considers himself as a “Pub Player”, scoring what us northerners joke as the “Blackpool Hotel” score of 26 most of the time. It was a blessing that Kaya signed for the Craven Heifer because it meant Chris didn’t have to.

We have all seen the sensational success of Luke Littler and Chris wants to be part of the journey that gives Kaya every opportunity to achieve what he is more than capable of. The JDC is based in Coventry, so the sponsorship contributes to travel costs, hotels and tournament entry fees. We want to give Kaya and his family as much support as possible because like any sport, the commitment is massive in terms of the time and money invested to get the best training and to attend as many tournaments as possible.

We wish Kaya all the best for 2025! Maybe see you at the Ally Pally in 2026!