'Darts influencer' Milkowski also wants to succeed with her darts career: ''Showing I'm more than just a social media person''

The darts sport has been booming in Germany for several years and this has also led to great popularity on social media. Sarah Milkowski stepped in and has now gained notoriety with its status as a 'darts influencer'.

Her pictures on Instagram attract a lot of attention. Currently, she already has over 49,000 followers on the medium. In her posts, she shares her experiences and adventures in darts with her followers.

The story all started in 2016 with a game of electronic darts (soft-tip) in a local pub with some friends. After a while, 'Sapphire', which is her nickname, got the hang of it and in 2018, she decided to play a local league and buy a regular (steel-tip) dartboard.

While pursuing her hobby, Milkowski regularly posted photos on Instagram. ''I realised very soon that the pictures got a lot attention in the darts community and I started to post more about it and my journey in darts. I never expected this to be such a big thing'', she tells Dartsnieuws.com in an interview.

So big by now, that she is already close to hitting 50,000 followers. ''When I was close to 10,000 followers at beginning of 2020 I thought this is amazing and the most I'll ever reach. But now with almost 50,000 and the blue tick on Instagram, I know now what I created and I'm very proud of myself.''

Her reach also came under the eyes of promoters and organisers of exhibition tournaments in Germany and the UK, who decided to book Milkowski for their events. ''I got a lot of bookings and requests for playing exhibitions or visit dart clubs and shops for a meet & greet. I'm grateful for all the interest and opportunities to do what I love.''

When it comes to bookings, she often works with professional darts players, and this usually produces good reactions. ''I get recognised by players very often. Not everyone in the darts scene know me but I would say a lot heard my name yet. The reactions are 99% positive. They say I'm doing great work for the darts in Germany, to reach more young people and females to get their interest for the sport and maybe stick to it and be part of the growing community.''

Eventually, she hopes to generate enough income so that she can devote herself full-time to her work as a 'darts influencer'. ''Meanwhile it is definitely a part time job. My personal goal is to make a living from it. But I also want to focus more on my game, practice harder and improve to achieve better results in official tournaments to show I'm more than just a social media person.''

Milkowski herself has two players she looks up to. ''My idol is Gerwyn Price. It's inspiring how he managed to be a professional player in no time. And only needed seven years to become the world champion and world number one and that's absolutely spectacular.''

''And for the ladies it's definitely Fallon Sherrock. What she achieved for herself and of course for all female players is huge. In my eyes, she deserved all the publicity and support from the PDC as she gained big attention all over the world for the PDC circuit.''

Milkowski regularly meets Sherrock at the PDC Women's Series, where the German herself also competes with the world's best female darts players. ''I'm one of only two German starters from the very first day of the PDC Women's Series. It was a dream come true to compete with all those great ladies in a tournament and also play on stream from time to time. At the moment I'm struggling a lot with my confidence but I'm sure I can get it done step by step.''

As a competitor on the Women's Series, Milkowski already made regular appearances on the streaming boards, which is available to all PDC TV subscribers. ''Playing on a streaming board for the first time in the mental situation I was last year, was too much for me to handle. I couldn't get any straight darts on the board. The second time, last month in Leicester, was a lot better for myself. I managed to win the bull and also won a leg. That's something I can build on.''

Whether she notices that she is more under a magnifying glass because of her status as an influencer? ''I put myself under pressure because I feel all the eyes on me. But it's only my thoughts. I feel all my followers and critics have more expectations in my game than I can produce at the moment. That's why my confidence dropped and my game was bad the last year's. Now I work on my mental condition and practice more to get back my confidence. And I'm positive to improve again.''

Milkowski is also actively promoting women's darts. For instance, she urged her female followers to sign up for the Women's Series tournaments, especially when they were played in Germany.

''I want to use my reach to inspire more people and especially women from Germany who maybe need some help to understand how the PDC is working and to get more professionally into it. We have so many great female players in Germany and I don't like the fact they don't try because of language issues. So I'm explaining and helping with registration (for events).''

Last year, fellow dart player Robert Marijanovic also criticised the problem that for many Germans it is not clear how they can start their darts career. Milkowski agrees with this criticism.

''I think there is a big information gap between the PDC Europe and the European players. There are so many people starting playing darts because of watching the World Championships (where Gabriel Clemens reached the semi-finals). When I started I had to search and read a lot before I really get into it how everything works. I really miss this (information) and that's why I felt I had to do something for the females and the Women's Series.''

Finally, Milkowski talks about her ambitions as a darts player. ''I want to improve my game again. I focus on my own now as I was distracted by my business and supporting other players the last year's. It did not really help me. But I increased my practice time and also work on my mental health. My goal is to win games again on the Women's Series like in 2020 and earn prize money. I want to get respected for my game again and shut up the haters'', said a motivated Milkowski.