Kendrick Koordom (18) a darts player from Macassar has a chance to compete overseas but needs financial help to make this a reality.
It was the execution of his 44-dart shot at the World Cup Youth Qualifiers in Bethelsdorp, Gqeberha on Sunday May 5, that secured him a spot in the 2024 Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Youth Darts Championships to be hosted in the UK.
“Winning the qualifiers in Gqeberha has brought me so much closer to my goal of becoming a professional darts player,” he says.
What makes Kendrick’s achievement even more remarkable is that this win comes despite battling Tuberculosis last year which forced him to stop playing darts for more than half the year. But during his recovery he says he found comfort and strength in the prospect of playing darts again.
He returned to the game at the beginning of the year. “I told my teammates when I got back at the beginning of the year that this year is my year!”, he adds excitedly.
This will be his first time travelling overseas although he qualified to go overseas with a team in 2020, his world was shattered when he could not go on the trip because he did not have an unabridged birth certificate.
Going on this trip will be a dream come true. “Firstly, it has been my dream for a long time and any donation that can bring me closer to that dream will help me a lot. I want to put Africa on the map and show the world that we have young talent that want to compete on a world stage,” he says with determination.
Apart from showcasing his talent on a global stage, his other goal is to show the young people from his community that hard work and perseverance bear fruit irrespective of your age or impoverished circumstances.
Nicole Alcock, managing director of African Dart Group (ADG), which Kendrick joined in 2022, says he has an exceptional amount of raw natural talent even without having undergone official training in the sport.
It absolutely broke her heart in 2020 when he could not go overseas with the team. “He cried at the airport when he was told he could not board the flight,” she says about this huge disappointment.
She admires Kendrick’s fighting spirit despite all his hardships. “He is an incredibly humble young man who does not allow setbacks to hold him back and he has a vision as to where he wants to go in darts. As the ADG we have taken him under our wing and for us to see him win after everything that he’s been through we were in tears when he won.”
“To think that less than a year back he was so sick that he couldn’t even walk; he has now been given a second chance,” she adds.
The trip will be hugely beneficial to him, she says. “When they go overseas, he will get to meet his peers and his heroes, it will open his eyes to the opportunities out there and it will also build his confidence in the sport.
“I see this as the first stepping stone of his career in darts and this is a chance for him to showcase his talent so that people can see the level of talented darts players that Cape Town and South Africa is producing,” she adds.
“Kendrick is a young man with big dreams, and I have no doubt that he will achieve those dreams he just needs the proper support to help get him on the world stage,” she concludes.
The championships will be in Wigan on October 14, to be followed by the finals at Butlin’s Minehead, on November 24. The funds Kendrick needs for the trip to Wigan amounts to R60 000 to cover his flights, accommodation, visas, transport and food. Without sponsors or donors he is solely responsible to raise the money.
Contact Nicole on WhatsApp at 084 555 4614 or at Nicole@africandartgroup.com to donate or donate to his BackAbuddy page at www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/kendrick-goes-to-uk
