PEABODY — When it comes to hidden talents, 2020 Peabody High graduate Brendan Mills has cornered the market.
Mills played four years on the Tanners’ varsity golf team and ended his high school career as the team’s No. 1 player, serving as co-captain in his senior year.
But those accomplishments pale in comparison to his real passion — darts, a sport in which Mills has excelled in not only nationally, but globally.
Darts are often associated with smokey bar rooms, basements and drinking games. But they have been around since medieval times. Legend has it that English soldiers, trying to wile away the time in trenches between battles, threw sharp objects toward upturned wine casks to improve their throwing accuracy. The game took hold in this country after the American Darts Organization was founded in 1975.
Mills started playing darts when he was only eight years old. He credits his father Rob and Scott Rainville, a friend of his father’s, for their guidance.
“My family would go to a friend’s house Friday nights and the parents would play darts. I just wanted to be like the adults,” Mills said. “I remember getting a small dart board and just kind of worked at it. My father and Mr. Rainville were my mentors and I learned so much from them as they’re really good.”
Mills hit the tournament circuit in 2017 and rose to the top of the youth U18 rankings in no time flat, ranking No. 1 in North America and No. 5 in the world and finishing runner-up at the U.S. national tournament.
Mills said the disappointing finish (he was hoping to win and earn a free trip to the world championship) taught him much.
“I was arrogant and I thought that I was going to dominate this tournament and win my trip to England, but I guess that wasn’t going to happen,” Mills wrote in his college common application essay. “My biggest dream has always been to go to England to watch soccer and play darts. This possibility raced through my head every second of the day as the tournament edged closer and closer. In the end, I had my mind set on winning the Nationals. My brain didn’t even entertain the possibility of losing and when I did, I felt like my life was a waste…I knew that I needed to make changes fast, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t survive in this pond for much longer.”
At the 2018 Youth World Masters Championship in Bridlington, England, conducted by the British Darts Organisation, a re-dedicated Mills was one of more than 200 individuals from all over the world, including Canada, England, Holland, Italy, Japan, Australia, China, Brazil, Germany, Norway and Sweden, who competed.
“I played good but didn’t win, which obviously I wanted to win it all” said Mills, “The kids are insane over there, they all go to big darts academies, so they are really, really good. While I lost in the second round, I played the best kids in the world, so it was an incredible honor just to be there.”
IN 2019, Mills finished top-three in the U.S. and requalified for the world championship, held just outside of London in Grays, England.
While he was eliminated in the second round by the top-ranked player in the world, James Beeton, Mills was more than satisfied with his performance.
“I was happy, I gave him a good match,” said Mills.
Mills said the key to being a good darts player is consistency.
“It’s repetition, really, which I figured out when I started to play tournaments three years ago,” he said. “It’s that, and also being able to stay consistent and confident that is most important in playing well.”
Mills has aged out of the youth ranks and is not eligible to compete in the world tournament this fall, which he figures will be canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, his sights are set on continuing his education at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he plans to major in mechanical engineering.
“For me, the future is all about doing my best in school, that’s first, but I am going to keep up with darts as some of the leagues I play in are close to Lowell,” he said, adding he has no plans to turn professional. “I’m only 18 so I can’t go into bars for tournaments.”
