Eighteen months passed before Van Leuven was finally cleared to play in women’s tournaments. Then Covid struck, tournaments were shuttered, and the process ground to a halt. The Dutch Darts Federation had no rules or guidelines on transgender participation, and so launched a thorough consultation with medical professionals, sports scientists and the World Darts Federation. But it wasn’t immediately clear how she would do so. So the Netherlands is OK once you transition, but to get to that point: that’s really tough.”įinally enjoying life again, Van Leuven found herself drawn back to the sport she loved. I know a few that killed themselves, and I know a lot that are struggling with mental health. I’ve known a few people that were on the list for over three years. Trans healthcare is really decent compared to the UK, but you still have waiting lists of two and a half years before you get your first appointment with a psychologist.
Meanwhile I was waiting on an appointment at the hospital. My sister was next, and after that my father. I can end it, or I can live as who I want to live. And that was the moment where I thought: I can go two sides now. I can’t be like that.’ But I was getting more and more unhappy with myself, to a point that I didn’t want to live any more.
At first I was like: ‘OK, it’s just weird. I started exploring the journey when I was 16 or 17. “I just wasn’t feeling myself,” she says. The doubts had begun to creep in a few years earlier. “Because,” she says, “now I have the opportunity to tell my story.
#Anytrans crashing professional
Or the fact that she will be the first trans woman to play in a televised Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournament. Van Leuven knows that not everybody appreciates her “big glow-up”, as she puts it. In the purest sense, this is a sport for everyone.Īnd yet the journey that brought Van Leuven from Heemskerk to Blackpool as one of the world’s top-eight female players was by no means simple or straightforward.
You don’t need to find a team who will take you on. You don’t need a set of clubs or a mountain of expensive kit. But they all share a single origin story. The players arriving in Blackpool for the World Matchplay – 32 in the main event and the eight who will compete for the women’s trophy next Sunday – have come from all over the world in pursuit of ambition, glory, a career-defining cheque. The beauty of darts lies in its openness.
0 kommentar(er)
