And for most parents, the thought of their child grasping a pointed object in their hand may raise an eyebrow or two.
But for ‘‘Mighty’’ Michael Cassar, that was very much the reality since day one.
‘‘I first got into darts through my mum, she represented Victoria and Australia over her years in the sport,’’ Cassar said.
‘‘I’ve had a dart in my hand ever since I could remember, I started competing in tournaments when I was eight years old.’’
Now a part of the Australian Professional Darts Championships tour, Cassar is out to take his game to never-before-seen levels.
Since his career took flight it has been studded with accolades, but he said his Victorian Open crown topped the lot.
‘‘Winning the Victorian Open back in 2010 when I was about 18 felt good, and I was also the youngest person to represent Victoria at the time,’’ he said.
Cassar had to hit the brakes on his darts career for five years when he moved to Shepparton due to work commitments, in addition to the lack of an established competition in the area.
But he got his arm back into action again three years ago when Rob ‘‘Maximum’’ McKenna initiated the Shepparton Darts Association on Purcell St.
McKenna has known Cassar since forming the SDA and said the Mighty One was a straight shooter, no bull.
‘‘He is amazing for a bloke of his ability, some other players of his calibre can be a bit up themselves, but he is really just a really down to earth guy,’’ he said.
‘‘He just raises the standard of everyone else, the averages of the players since we started three years ago have gone up significantly.’’
McKenna recognised the tremendous commitment of being part of the Australian Professional Darts Championships tour, both financially and time-wise.
‘‘We fully support Mick on his journey on the DPA (tour), it is a huge cost to travel throughout the country with the tour,’’ he said.
‘‘The SDA has managed to contribute $1000 towards his journey so far, and we will look to carry on supporting him as much as possible.’’
Cassar hopes to build on previous performances on the tour and burst into the top rankings.
‘‘I’ll be competing next month as part of the DPA which runs all year round,’’ Cassar said.
‘‘I am hoping to crack the top 16, and just build on previous performances and hopefully improve each time.’’
