Taylor Harding, a young darts star from Surrey is set to compete in a world championship just two years after playing the sport for the first time. DartsWorld has long championed stories of breakthrough players of all ages and backgrounds and we have been made aware of another to inspire even the hardest heart.
Taylor, 15, from Godalming, will travel to Gibraltar in November for the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) World Darts Championship, having only picked up a dart for the first time aged 13.
Taylor’s progression in such a short space of time is even more impressive given he was diagnosed with autism just a month before starting secondary school. He struggled with mainstream education following his diagnosis and is now home-schooled – but it was during this time he received a dartboard for Christmas – and the rest is history.
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In another example of how darts can bring the best out of individuals and organisation Taylor has received backing and support from a variety of sources including: Unicorn, DMH mechanical, Kravings and JG Contractors, along with national automotive services retailer Protyre Autocare – where his mum, Becky Dummer, works as centre manager at its Guildford branch.
Taylor said: “I enjoy competing the most – darts is a strong mental game but also has an enjoyable social side.
“My favourite dart player would be Gerwyn Price – but there’s no-one I would like to emulate, as I am my own person and strive to be me.
“I have achieved a lot in my short period of playing darts and my ambition would be to play at the Lakeside.”
Speaking about his autism diagnosis, Taylor added: “I struggled hugely with mainstream school. I was withdrawn from school and started home schooling – then one Christmas, I was given a dart board. I picked up darts and really enjoyed it, so I started to enter competitions and realised I enjoyed playing and meeting people.
“I started following darts tournaments online too – there were many of these for youth players, and I started to enter and was doing well.
“Darts has been a huge achievement for me. I have travelled and met so many people, and this has given me a good social network that has helped due to not attending school.”
Proud mum Becky has worked at Protyre Guildford for six years, and became centre manager in October 2025.
She praised her employers for their support when she needed to work reduced hours, at the time her family were supporting Taylor through his diagnosis.
She said: “I first worked here as a retail assistant – but I love a challenge and I found myself doing lots of things beyond that role.
“I progressed to assistant manager on a part-time basis, as I often needed to be out of work quite often to support Taylor. Now I am centre manager on a full-time basis, so looking at where I’ve come from and where I am now, I think it is quite an achievement.
“I find the more full-on my work is, the more energy I have! I have a great team here and I can’t praise Protyre enough. I’ve had huge support in being able to work part time to support Taylor, and they have never put any pressure on me.
“I’m very proud of Taylor and all he has achieved in such a short space of time. I can’t wait to see how he gets on for the rest of the year.”
You can keep up to date with Taylor via his Facebook page.
DartsWorld will keep an eye out for his progress and you can follow the stories of the new generations in our sport:
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Images: As supplied
