I’m a glam female darts player, 24, and people are shocked by extra accessory I carry but I don’t care

11 months ago 59

A GLAM female darts player aged 24 does not care that people are shocked by the extra accessory she carries.

Jessie Sale carries three darts in her right hand and a hair brush in her left, and always plays with no shoes on.

Jessie plays without shoes[/caption]

Jessie Sale began playing darts with her dad in the kitchen aged just five[/caption]

She dreams of one day playing at the Alexandra Palace in London in the PDC World Darts Championship[/caption]

Jessie has been throwing arrows since she was a little girl and now sinks pints with the lads like her hero Eric Bristow.

She jostled a few feathers when she joined the male dominated darts team at at Sheffield Hallam University.

Today the sports business journalist says she is normally the only girl at darts tournaments and it is rare to play matches against other women.

And despite there always being a positive reaction when she wins against a bloke, she claims men feel pressure to beat her in matches.

Jessie said when she transferred to the University of Salford in September 2019, she set up her own darts society and 15 lads joined the team.

She also converted her university garage into a pub with a dartboard and bar in lockdown so she could practice every day.

At every competition, Jessie says she plays each match without shoes on and is regularly spotted holding a hairbrush in her left hand as part of her pre-match ritual.

After necking two or three pints to calm her nerves before a match, Jessie admits she then can sink up to 10 pints while keeping up with the boys on a post-darts night out.

She now wants to encourage other women to try the heavily male-dominated sport.

Jessie, from near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, said: “I’ve grown up around darts and started playing with my dad in the kitchen when I was five.

“But, I didn’t get into it properly until I was 18 when I joined the darts team at Sheffield Hallam University.

“I went to the freshers fair and signed up to the darts team.
“One of the lads [who is now my friend] said to another lad at the time he thought I would never turn up to practice or the socials. But I turned up every week.

“I think this is because they weren’t used to having a girl join [the darts society] and I don’t fit the stereotypical darts look – I’m not a bald 50-year-old man.

“At both unis I was always the only girl on the team and when I went to competitions it was always just men. It was rare to play against another girl, but it didn’t even bother me.

“Everyone was always so supportive [on the teams and at competitions] and everyone was always so encouraging and I’ve never really thought of myself as any different to them [men playing darts].

“If anything there is a lot more pressure on the lad that I’m playing with because there is definitely a thing for them to not want to be beaten by a girl.

“I love getting involved in the drinking culture with darts. I’m always straight on the San Miguels and there is always a great night out after a darts competition.

“Some of the best times in my life have been from darts. I got my first 180 when I was 19.

“I have to keep up with the lads drinking – lads drink a lot more than girls, so I think I have sort of got used to drinking a lot of pints.

“You will never see me without a hairbrush in my hand [when playing darts]. I have always got three darts in my right hand and a hairbrush in my left.

“Maybe it is a nerve thing and all the lads joke about this on the team.
“I always take my shoes off when I play darts too, which is another thing they joke about.

“I don’t know why I do this but I have always played with no shoes on and I think this stems from playing in the kitchen with my dad when I was younger.”

Jessie says she loves watching the darts on TV and has been to watch the Darts Premier League and PDC World Darts Championship many times and would love to one day play on the big stage.

Jessie said: “I went to watch the Premier League last year and dressed as a shark and I’m going again in April.

“I went to the Ally Pally in December 2022 to watch the Darts World Championship.

“It is one of the only places I know where the women’s toilet queue is shorter than the men’s, which is always a positive to less women being in the sport.

“I would absolutely love to one day go professional, or even present for the major competitions.

“Obviously it takes a lot of hard work and you would need to practice for hours every day but the dream would be to be on the stage.”

And, although Jessie said players like Fallon Sherrock and Lisa Ashton are amazing female attributes to the sport, she would like to see more women playing darts.

Jessie said: “It would be great to get to the point in the sport that it’s not a shock for a 24-year-old girl to want to play darts.

“Fallon Sherrock and Lisa Ashton are famous in the sport and they have done brilliantly in darts [as women],
as have many other women.

“The sport is definitely still 98% men and 2% women though.
“To other girls that want to try darts, they should one hundred per cent go for it.

“It is just the initial part of it that can seem quite daunting but just turn up and everyone will be so nice and want you to do well.

“Even if you’re averaging at 12, it really doesn’t matter. Just go for the social side of it and have fun.

“To any girl who wants to get into the sport, I would say start as young as you can and by 16, you’ll be brilliant. You could be the next female Luke Littler.”

She now hopes 16-year-old Luke Littler’s performance in the Darts World Championship this year has increased the popularity of the sport with all genders.

Jessie said: “I was always a fan of Eric Bristow but I am also a big Rob Cross fan. I think he’s great player.

“I think more and more people – boys and girls – are seeing how exceptional the sport is and I think this year
there has been a big turning point in this.

“I think Luke’s age shocked a lot of people and just how good he was so I think this helped.

“What he did has never been seen before and this interested everyone, not just men.”