Last week, Canadian darts star Dawson Murschell broke onto the darting forefront after defeating James Wade in the first round of the US Darts Masters. For many this was unexpected, and as his mentor Jeff Smith told me when I spoke to him for this interview, that is not all as far as the promising youngster can go. To many he could well be the future of mainstream North American darts; a product of the successful US Darts Masters last week in a sense. Just after the event, I had the opportunity to speak to Dawson himself.

I asked the youngster what got him into darts, “What first got me into darts was my family and the atmosphere and attitude of the players in my local youth league. I was bullied growing up through school, and my grandma offered to take me to our local youth league. All of the players were very supportive and nice and that’s what kept me coming back.”

“I’ve tried to avoid having idols though because I know I will have to play them all at some point eventually,” a candid Dawson told me. “I’ve had many through the years. My uncle, Ken Macneil, Jeff Smith etc. But I prefer to think of other players as my competition instead and it has been that way since I started.”

To many, Dawson had been unheard of until his appearance at the event in Las Vegas last week, so I asked Dawson to tell us a little bit about his darting career up to that point, “I’ve played the full Development Tour this year with some good results. I finished second on the men’s Canadian Order of Merit a few times and won a few BDO ranking titles.”

Murschell has also recently been mentored by 2016 BDO World Championship finalist Jeff Smith so I quizzed Dawson as to what Jeff has taught him, “Jeff never really taught me much about form. We had always had a similar throwing style which is partly why he started mentoring me in the first place. He has said that I remind him of a younger version of himself so it’s been fun.”

Jeff, who I spoke to for this interview, was complimentary of the youngster, “I was Dawson, and he has a similar drive and determination. He carries himself well, and is willing to learn. It will depend on him whether he does well or not, he has everything going for him. If he continues his work ethic, he is going to get better and better. When you have the support of your family and friends, the sky is the limit.”

The lack of funding and general support for top darts players in North America is a barrier that all North American stars face. “It’s definitely been harder to progress in North America because the fields aren’t what they are in Europe. We have some fantastic players, just not as many of them as in Europe so it’s hard to play top players all the time and develop the consistency required to play the Pro Tour. Plus, the geography of Canada makes chasing tournaments and points very difficult because everything is so spread out. Sometimes you have to fly 6 hours for a ranking tournament in your own country (Which I have done dozens of times),” Dawson told me.

As I previously mentioned, the US Masters last week was where Dawson broke on to centre stage, so I asked Dawson how he reflects on his experiences and what he wishes to learn from them, “I’m happy with my run at the US Masters, although oddly enough, not satisfied. Part of me wants to be happy with the result, and the other part is frustrated that I didn’t win the tournament. I played decent on stage but I know I can play a lot better. I guess it all comes with the experience.” Murschell is certainly confident he can progress and, in doing so, is setting the bar high.

Finally, with the next stage of his career beckoning, I got the youngster to tell me his aims and ambitions for the future, “I’ve never really been able to define a set goal for my darting career because I always want to achieve more than I have. I would obviously love to be world champion one day and world number one. But I know that once I’ve achieved those goals, I will want more and more.” A big thanks to Dawson and Jeff of course. Thanks for reading and catch you later!