St Helens' own Michael Smith pulled off an incredible victory in the PDC World Darts Championship Final (WDC) on Tuesday.
But success like this doesn't come overnight, to reach the top of any sport takes years of hard work and dedication. For Bully Boy, the journey to the top started in St Helens Darts Shop, as a teenager.
The shop was opened by Karl Holden around 17 years ago, after finding himself out of work after the closure of a local glass factory. Following his dad's passion for darts, the now 53-year-old said the idea just "took off".
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He told the ECHO: "I was speaking to Jay Chisnall, brother of darts player Dave Chisnall (Chizzy), and he said there was nowhere for the kids to play. The landlord of the Woodlands Pub told us the kids could play there on a Monday night, we had seven the first week, and seventeen the second."
Around this time Michael Smith got involved with Karl's shop and training, as a teenager. According to Karl, Michael "wanted to be the best in the world" from day one.
Karl added: "I first met Mike when he was around the age of 14, at a junior darts tournament that I would've been running on the day. I spoke to him in depth about darts and he said 'I want to be the best player in the world'.
"Obviously he's done very well since that day. He used to come here regularly, we sponsored him for equipment and that sort of thing, and helped him get to venues when he couldn't drive. And obviously he's just got better and better- and when you're that good you don't need my help, or anyone else's help."
The team at St Helens Darts Shop now work hard to nurture and support the next generation of local darts players with their training academy, and owner Karl believes Michael Smith's massive WDC win will inspire even more young people to get involved in the sport.
He added: "I think it will get more kids into the sport, we already have a lot of kids playing here. A lot of them are from St Helens, Wigan, Warrington. But I think we'll definitely be busy the next few weeks at the academy for sure."
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