Heidi The Hit Girl, 8, dreaming of darts glory

Heidi "The Hit Girl" may throw darts bearing Luke Littler's name, but the eight-year-old is dreaming of sporting glory in her own right.

She also hopes to inspire more girls to take to the oche and show that darts can be for everyone.

Heidi is one of about 200 young players who attend Boundary Park Darts Academy in Oldham, Greater Manchester, each week. It is believed to be one of the largest youth darts clubs in the UK.

"There's not a lot of girls out there that play darts," she said. "But I thought I'd give it a shot to inspire some others to start playing because it's really fun."

When she's not competing at Boundary Park, Heidi practises at home in her parents' kitchen.

"I really want to become a professional darts player," she told BBC Radio Manchester. "I want to be on telly so everyone can see that kids my age can get really good at something."

Her dad Kurt says Heidi has been watching him play darts since she was old enough to walk.

"It's not something I ever thought she'd do," he said.

"We tried to get her into dance [and] drama, but as soon as she picked up her darts and came here... she's just begged me to go to comps every single day.

"If she carries on taking it seriously, who knows?"

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Noah has played the game more than half his life after being introduced to it by his grandad.

Now his four-year-old sister, Matilda, is following in his footsteps.

"She's so good for her age," he said. "She normally beats me!"

Their mum Helen said joining the academy had boosted both of her children's confidence "massively" and had even helped with maths at school.

"It's just been amazing - it's like a little darts family," she said.

"[Matilda] would be really shy, but since she's come here it's really brought her out of her shell."

The academy's founder Duane Garfield believes the club's growing popularity and an increased interest in darts among young people has been driven by the rise of Warrington teenager and world champion Luke Littler.

"Within four months of us setting up, Luke Littler came. [He was] absolutely brilliant, signed everything and then kids got word of it and we started to get more of them through the door.

"At such a young age he's become such a phenomenon... and obviously the money as well ... they're just thinking 'We could do that', and they could."