Kempsey's Michele Hall is set to take on the nation's best after being selected by NSW Darts to compete in the Australian Championships.
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Hall, who was one of eight players selected in the NSW state darts team, said she was happy to see she had been picked.
"I was really happy to be selected this year," she said. "The competition has been really hard, so to be one of the eight ladies to be selected to represent NSW made me feel really proud."
Hall was selected after competing in various trials in Newcastle, Sydney and Forster.
She first competed at the Australian Championships in 2019 with her sister, Karen.
"I didn't play too well then," she said. "I was pretty nervous because it was my first time ever playing at the championships.
"I'm hoping to go further in the competition this time around."
Hall started playing darts when she was 10 and has been following in her mum and dad's footsteps ever since.
Her mum Diana Hall was selected to represent NSW in darts in 1986, while her dad Allan Hall helped train and coach the junior NSW teams from the 1990s to the early 2000s.
"My dad was the first person to hand me my first set of darts," she said. "I call darts my second family because I've played for so long and know so many people from it."
Hall grew up in Wauchope where she became president of the Hastings Darts for a few years.
She has been named the Hastings Player of the Year two years in a row and has also been crowned zone single champion and ladies country champion.
Hall moved to Kempsey eight years ago with the hope of continuing her success in darts. However, she said it has not always been easy to train due to a lack of darts boards.
"Kempsey hasn't had any darts for a few years," she said. "You either have to travel back down to Port Macquarie or travel to Macksville and Nambucca to play."
Hall has set up a darts board at home to train for the Australian Championships.
"We have a state training schedule where we have to train for at least one hour a day," she said.
The championships will be held in Moama in August, 2023, where the players will compete in a range of singles and teams events for two weeks. While there, Hall will also compete in an international world ranked event.
Michele is currently running a raffle to help with costs associated with attending the two events.
Tickets for the raffle will be available at Freddo Pies on July 8 between 9.30am-1.30pm.
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