Biography
He comes from good darting stock and for teenager Arron Monk, the sky is the limit!
Dad Colin has a good pedigree….at the Lakeside World Championship, he reached the semi-finals twice and the quarter-finals on four occasions, so it’s no surprise that the darting bug has been passed down through the Monk genes.
The deal with Unicorn has proved to be a massive boost in the young man’s career, as has winning the prestigious New Kids on the Oche tournament at the end of 2008.
It was a Darts Reality TV show but it was where Monk proved that he was the real deal!
The event was promoted by the Professional Darts Corporation and the great Phil Taylor was there to mentor the players when it was staged at Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex – the same venue which hosts Championship League Darts.
Eight of the brightest young talents in UK darts were invited to take part and Monk came out on top! The event was shown on NUTS TV.
After topping his group, he breezed through the semi-finals – beating Michael Smith, before coming up against Unicorn stablemate Joe Cullen in the final.
Monk won it by 3 legs to nil to claim the top prize, worth nearly £5,000 – which was having his entry fees paid into all the PDC Pro Tour events during 2009.
It has been a terrific platform for Monk to hone his skills and gain valuable experience, playing week in, week out against the very best players in the world.
“That was a huge boost for me, coming with the Unicorn deal and it is up to me to make the most of it,” he said.
He has already claimed some notable scalps on the Pro Tour, with his best run coming in Scotland, when he reached the last 16 of a Players Championship event. Arron beat John Part and Colin Osborne but eventually lost to Steve Hine.
And he has already played Dad Colin once in competition. “It was a tour event in Scotland and Dad won by 3 sets to 1 but he was lucky and I will get my revenge next time we meet!” he said.
And Dad doesn’t disagree! “He is certainly better at 19 than I was at the same age,” Colin said. “He can go on to achieve whatever he wants to in darts.”
The pair still practice religiously for two hours every Wednesday night!
Monk junior has already made big strides in a short space of time. He started 2009 ranked at No.335 in the world…..he is now in the top 150 and that rapid rise will continue. He should easily claim a place on the new PDC Tour card when it starts in 2011 and he is already targeting a place in the top 16.
It started young for Arron when, back in the day, his Dad would take him to tournaments all over Europe. Arron used to throw darts with the likes of Adams, Hankey, Fordham and King and the youngster also used to attract a lot of attention from the BBC TV cameras when his Dad was doing well at the Lakeside……much to his embarrassment these days!
Aged 11, he was playing youth county darts for Hampshire and he then became a graduate of the Unicorn sponsored Andover Darts Academy.
His big passion away from the oche is poker and he is becoming an accomplished player.
He certainly has the pedigree and the dedication to become an accomplished darts player, so watch out for young Mr.Monk over the next four or five years!