Van Gerwen talks about his relentless competitive spirit: "Even if it's a game of Monopoly I just would love to win"

Michael van Gerwen is known as a passionate darter. A good score, nice throw or important finish is often celebrated with a loud shout and wild arm gestures while cheering.

That fanaticism is driven by a relentless competitive spirit. Van Gerwen spoke about this at the Cambridge Union, where he gave a speech to the students at the University of Cambridge at the end of May.

"The bigger the matches there are, the better it is for me," MVG said, reflecting on his rivalry with some of the greats of the sport such as Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld.

"Even if it's a game of monopoly I just would love to win," he laughs. "It's never enough. People say 'you won 150 tournaments already' and I say 'yeah but I want to win 250'. If you're happy with what you already produced then you're never going to be better."