The Dunedin 14-year-olds have qualified for the junior section of the World Darts Federation World Masters in Budapest, Hungary, next month.
It will be the experience of a young lifetime to fly to the other side of the world and heave darts at a board.
They had to qualify through ranking points, but that was the easy part.
Raising the funds was like a fulltime job.
Sophie went down the cheese roll route, selling 500 dozen.
‘‘It wasn’t selling them that was the hard bit,’’ her father, Michael, chipped in.
‘‘It was making them.’’
Jacob sorted out some sponsorship which involved less cheese.
Both teens are travelling with family and are planning a holiday afterwards.
As for the darts, they are going to be up against some older competitors with more experience.
‘‘I’m not too worried about how I go,’’ Sophie said.
‘‘I’m just taking everything in and learning from it and improving my game.’’
Jacob has been wrestling with the mental side of the game.
‘‘But other than that it has been going OK.
‘‘I listen to music as I practise, and then I play specific games in my head.’’
That visualisation is really working for him. He has nailed ‘‘seven or eight’’ maximums.
Sophie has registered a 180 just the once. But the World Masters would be the perfect time to spike a few more.
