Loxley Darts would like to extend our thanks to Owen Maiden for representing us proudly over the past 2 years. We wish Owen all the very best of luck as he moves on to the next step in his career.
Owen Maiden
After starting playing at just 12 years old, Owen Maiden has enjoyed a very successful career within the sport to date. For the former England Open, Welsh Open and twice British International champion, darts seemed to come naturally, enjoying considerable success in his developing darts journey.
Owen’s darting journey began back in 2012, when, inspired by his family’s love of the game, he joined a local pub team in Wolverhampton, honing in on his craft before his ability set about launching him further into the public eye. Shortly after joining his local team, he found his way into the West Midlands Youth County team, joining their U18’s and gaining stage experience that would prove invaluable in the years to come.
This experience paid off just 2 years later, when he won his ‘Maiden’ title, claiming the 2014 Welsh Open youth title, in a convincing 3-1 win over David Carr to become the youngest ever winner of the youth event, at just 14 years old. A year later, he made the final again, yet failed to defend his title, losing out to Danny Key. Unperturbed, Owen’s second title came at the expense of the man who denied him just a year previous, as he defeated Danny Key in a closely fought contest to be crowned the 2016 England Open youth champion!
On the back of his recent success, Owen was called up to the England squad for the 2015/16 season, and in his opinion, “nothing beats putting on your shirt and playing for your country”. In the 2016 British Internationals, a 3-1 win in the final saw England claim victory, with Owen defeating Cavan Phillips to get a point on the board for his country. After a successful campaign, he was re-called for the following season, enjoying further success within the team as they followed up their 2016 win, defending their title in 2017.
For Owen, his most defining moment in darts wasn’t a title win. “My most defining moment in my career”, he informed me, “was getting to the Winmau World Masters final [in] 2016, or the final of the Finders Zuiderduin Masters 2016”. While unfortunately neither final went his way, losing out in both to Dutch sensation and back-to-back BDO World Youth Champion, Justin van Tergouw, Owen had nothing but positives to take away from the events. For him, “beating some of the best players in the world” proved to him that he has what it takes to succeed at the very top of the game, while “getting some TV exposure” provided him with valuable experience on how to handle occasions such as that, as well as getting his name out there for potential sponsors, such as Loxley darts, in order to promote himself as the next big thing in the youth game, and a force to be reckoned with as he looks to ‘Massacre’ those at the oche.
Short term, Owen is looking to make inroads into the PDC, looking to improve and gain experience in both the PDC Development Tour, as well as the PDC Challenge Tour. For now, he simply wishes to “prepare [himself] for whatever tournaments come [his] way”, to ensure that when opportunity strikes, he strikes first to add to his already impressive darting CV. Long term, he wishes to become a full-time player on the professional circuit, joining Loxley stars Matthew Edgar, Ryan Searle and Aaron Beeney in holding a prestigious tour card. He is proud, he says, “to be wearing the Loxley and Darting Promotions on the way to doing so, because they do so much for me!”
Thank you to Owen for his contribution to this profile, answering my questions to help you learn as much as possible about Loxley’s next big thing! More profiles and reviews on the way, so stay tuned!
Author – Joe Reid