The Cromwell man has taken his love of the game from the garage to the packhouse, converting an unused packing shed into a darts room to rival any professional set-up.
Complete with eight LED-lit boards, digital scoring and a grandstand, the space is the perfect spot to host the inaugural Central Lakes Darts Tournament today.
Van der Velden organised the tournament in a bid to grow the sport in the region and entice players out of the garage and into a club.
After just two months of planning, about 50 players from throughout Central Otago, Queenstown and Wanaka are expected to take part today, and eventually he hopes to have a Central Lakes regional team.
In typical Kiwi fashion, van der Velden invited New Zealand professional darts players Warren ‘‘Wazza’’ Parry, Desi Mercer and Darren Dummigan to attend— not really expecting a response — and they accepted.
With Alert Level 2 restrictions in place, the public will not be able to watch this year’s action, but van der Velden already has plans for next year’s tournament to be bigger.
In the meantime, he is encouraging people to get involved and join a club.
‘‘Darts anyone can play — there’s a lot of diversity but all the people have a similar interest,’’ he said.
‘‘I started out playing in garages with my mates — and those are the people we are trying to get to come along and get involved,’’ he said.
-Shannon Thomson
