PLAYING FOR MY FAMILY HELPS ME TO HIDE MY PAIN
Tragedy and sacrifice push Aussie star on
TEARFUL Kyle Anderson has revealed the story of tragedy and sacrifice which he has battled to keep alive his dream of being a darting hero.
The Aussie has been through the emotional wringer to try to make his family and his Aboriginal people proud. Anderson has had to leave his wife and son at home in Perth. It breaks his heart daily to see his boy growing up through a phone screen on Facetime.
The 30-year-old was rejected for a visa a year ago and missed the Worlds but saving his passport from a house fire that almost wiped out his family opened a door to return.
Anderson said: “I’ve made a sacrifice to come away from my family and try to form a stable life for them.
“It’s for us to have a future. I dread phone calls being this far away and not seeing family. To say it gets easier with time is a lie.
“The first six months we tried it as a family and it didn’t work out so I had to come back on my own. I slept on a couch for 12 or 18 months.
“Twice a day, I’ll contact home, one before Charles’s school and one after school.
“There’s going to be a day when I get a phone call and it’ll be the worst of my life. There’s been a couple of times when dad has rung me and said so-and-so has passed away. But it’s something you have to get on with and I’ve never thought of quitting.”
Anderson’s had enough reason. At one point he thought it was all over when a fire almost cost him more than a career in the game.
He said: “It was after my first year and I went home. We came home from the Gold Coast after a holiday and that night went to mum’s house for the night. At 3am I heard mum screaming and thought someone was in the house.
“I ran to mum’s room, opened the door and flames just came out.
“I told mum to get out the house. I told Tara and Charles to get up and we all got out the house. Dad tried to run back in but I grabbed him and
I dread phone calls home being this far away and not seeing my family KYLE ANDERSON
told him it was too late to save anything. Within three to five minutes of opening mum’s door her room was in flames. So was mine.
“The firefighters got there an hour and half later and the house was gone.
“I wasn’t scared. I had to be calm. I walked outside and two hours later it really hit.
“The firefighter came out of the house with my passport and said, ‘Is this yours?’ I looked at it, opened it and started crying.
“I was in tears because three months beforehand my grandfather passed away and we were living in his old bedroom.”
Anderson also discussed the pride he feels in representing a people not always portrayed in the best light in his homeland.
Victory in the World Series event in Auckland this year was the first major darts title won by an Aborigine and he said: “Our role models usually come from football players, AFL and rugby. Darts is a different sport indeed but every person you talk to at some time has played darts.
“When I won my first major title I said on the day it was something that had to happen.
“I visioned it before, even though I’m not someone who is outspoken about what they think. It was on the cards a couple of times before.”