Kevin van der Voort on following in fathers' footsteps: "It is difficult to surpass that, but I will certainly do my best"

Kevin van der Voort made his debut on the PDC Tour last year. The son of 'The Dutch Destroyer' played on the Development Tour after spending his daily life working in their darts shop.

"I think I've picked up the darts for about three years now," Kevin van der Voort said in an interview with Dartsnieuws. ''I've always done it in the past, but the last three years I've also been working on the store and I want to do it seriously. I spent a lot of time with a good friend of mine, that has made me better and that's why I started to like it more than before."

He won three games and returned home with £150 in prize money from his opening effort on the PDC Development Tour.

''It went reasonably well. It could be better, but you can't expect much from the first time either. I think I played good tournaments. I had a certain expectation that I could achieve something. I wanted to win at least three rounds and not go home empty-handed. In three weeks I have tournaments again and I hope to do even better there. I just expect that from myself.”

Kevin did not experience any pressure because he is Vincent van der Voort's son. “I was mainly concerned with myself. I didn't have much contact with the rest and I try to avoid that on purpose because I knew it might distract myself and it worked."

In the future, Van der Voort hopes to follow in his father's footsteps. Although he realizes that it will be a difficult challenge to match the performance of The Dutch Destroyer .

"It's something I'd like to do, of course, but you also have to think realistically. What he has done is something not many people will ever surpass. He may not have won very much, but he has put down enough which is very difficult to top. He has been on the top of the Netherlands for thirty years and you see players come and go. It is difficult to surpass that, but I will certainly do my best.”

In February, Van der Voort will travel to Wigan for the first tournaments of the 2022 PDC Development Tour. Whether qualifying for the World Youth is a realistic option? “Depends on what the qualifying schedule is for it. If they say again like before, the top 64, then that is definitely my goal this year," said Van der Voort.