“Travelling to the Junior World Cup as a whānau is more important and that's what we have created with this team . . . whānau.
The players earned selection after impressive performances over the year.
Kaiwai is the New Zealand Darts Council youth pairs champion, has an Oceania ranking of two and world ranking of four
Black is the national youth girls singles champion and youth mixed pairs champion, John Wilkie Memorial open youth girls champion and has an Oceania ranking of 10.
Taukamo-Pohio is the national youth boys singles champion and is ranked No.1 in the world.
Along with leading the team, Eyles is the John Wilkie Memorial open youth boys champion, the Shot NZ Junior/Youth boys open singles champion and is ranked six in Oceania.
The Haweas have confidence in Eyles as a captain.
“He wasn't expecting it but we know that he is capable of doing great things and leading the team is one of them,” Matiu said. “He was over the moon and so was his whānau.”
“The whole team were selected through the JDC Order of Merit, which is run through Tao Matarau Junior Darts Academy,” Matiu said.
Practice makes perfect and the dart boards gets plenty of use.
“They practise when they can, but they also play two-to-three teams (club darts) a week.
“When there is a weekend tournament that they can attend, they will.
“The best practice is actually playing experienced players and they get that from tournaments and also the competitions they are a part of in Gisborne.
On Sunday night (NZ time), the New Zealand team members took part in the Mediterranean pairs open.
Pokai-Giddens and Horua lost in the first round, Kaiwai and Black got to the last 128 and Taukamo-Pohio and Eyles had made the last 64 at the time of print.
