After a days rest and a good night sleep, here are some final words about this years event..
As all of you probably noticed I’ve worked hard to get this edition of DCC right up there with the biggest tournaments in Europe and on the international stage. Therefore I had to get it noticed by a lot of people.. you be the judge whether I succeeded in doing my job. I know that from time to time it must have been a little but annoying to get spammed and notified every single day for the past few months, but in my opinion just a marginal downside of things, it’s simply the way marketing works nowadays. Obviously our event tries to copy one of the biggest pool-billiard happenings in the world.. the Derby City Classic. Our goal is to bring the class and variety it has to people in Europe, but these are only the first few steps towards building the same success they have. We know that there’s more to it and that we need to improve over time. Nevertheless we are proud it rose to what it is now! Couldn’t have imagined it would be such a great event just the 2nd time around..
On Tuesday and Wednesday we prepared Ames for the 2nd Annual 2014 Deurne City Classic. Starting this year themed with our new partner and main co-sponsor Predator Cues, thanks to Jimmy Worung from Loontjens Biljarts (main sponsor) for setting this up. Hope in the future we will grow even bigger together...
Tables and balls were cleaned after the Dutch Nationals so the venue looked fresh again, ready to receive players from all around Europe. The DCC saw a massive turn-up from foreign countries like the UK, Germany, Poland, France, Spain and even Austria. As the event started on Friday people were looking to prepare themselves early.. Ames had then showing up Thursday morning for some practice and in the evening they already were fighting for some hard cash. For us organizers Thursday afternoon meant last minute prepping like; getting promo material properly arranged in the DCC Arena, setting up the tournament desk and finishing off all matters regarding draws and tournament setup. I was also occupied with pickup up family and friends from airports incl. old friend Bartek Skoniecki(crew member) and Imran Majid.Harry was doing his thing and Aziz still had to put in some hard work at his company. Thursday night the early arrivals included players from Spain; David Alcaide Bermudez & Juan Carlos Exposito, who I accidentally met walking to the hotel when I dropped off some friends. Later on the Livestream/Match Recording EBillard.fr Team from France arrived, we spoke a little bit and they went on setting up their gear and installing all necessary equipment to provide the live matches that were broadcast throughout the event. They also brought along Pool-Photo celeb JP Parmentier, imo the best photographer in our business! It was an honor to meet and work together with him! More players came in after a while including the first Polish and German guys; Marek Derek, Kuba Sawicki, Konrad Piekarski, Mieszko Fortuński, his brother Marcel and Konrad Juszczyszyn. Mario He and Oliver Ortmann also came a day early. All players eager to practice for our event. Stumbled upon some Facebook faces but now in real life, that was my highlight of the day. Del Sim and friends came in and we spoke a bit and after that it was back to work. As the clock ticked on we were all still busy finishing our work and setup. Harry did all preparations towards getting the bar properly set up, I was connecting all wires for the booth and Aziz came in to support us. With the arena set and ready to be played at, the booth ready for the tournament we all went home or to our hotels to get a good night sleep.
Friday morning we arrived early and found out that the big ‘FINAL ASSEMBLY’ poster had been dropped off by the courier and to my surprise it did not disappoint! Most of the players that entered the MAIN-EVENT were displayed, some missing and some replaced due to last-minute withdrawals. But all in all a well propped and liked feature of the DCC. People were feeling proud to be placed on the main promotional poster displayed at our event.
All in all it was a great first day, with some laughs and drink in the evening.. we had ringgames and money-matches going. The setup was 2x €50,- 10ball (2 tables x6 players afterwards combined into one final table), 5x €20,- 10ball and 1x €20,- Bankpool Ringgame. Here are the winners:
€50,- STAKES (2 tables got into 1 : Karl Boyes = €275,- , Wojtek Szewczyk €175,- , Imran Majid €100,-
€20,- STAKES 10ball: Del Sim, Konrad Juszczyszyn, Jelle Kijlstra, Mark Lunn, Wojtek Trajdos and Pepijn De Wit won the Bankpool Ringgame. All of them won the entire pot with an extra entry from DCC.
FINAL WORDS...
I speak for myself and my co-founders Harry Charalampidis and Aziz Moussati when I say it was a great pleasure and experience to organize this great event.
To get all those players together in the small town called Deurne @ Sportcentrum Ames. Especially great to have the big names come over from foreign countries; Ralf Souquet, Tony Drago, Oliver Ortmann, Daryl Peach, Imran Majid, Karl Boyes, Stephan Cohen and of course it was an honor to have our Dutch stars Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen present as well. But these are only a couple of players I was looking forward to meet, when starting the event I met new people on Facebook and was really looking forward to meet them in person as well. People who helped me out contacting others who enlisted and chatting in general about the event. Made new friends in real life like Del Sim, Phil Burford,Theodore Bitsaxakis, Sven Wenkheimer, Jürgen Wulf, Elliot Sanderson, Mark Lunn, Karl Boyes, Imran Majid and a lot more. Also had good talks with some people who know what they are talking about regarding tournament setup etc. like Ralf Souquet and others. Thank you for that. Met and befriended pool-photography celeb JP Parmentier who came along with Ebilliard.fr team and showed me the roped of marketing and internet publishing. Speaking of Ebilliard.fr.. these are some dedicated bunch of pool maniacs.. really! Kem Sen, Yannick Barrabès, Nikola Dc, Stephane Leveille and the rest of the guys that came along and helped out.. you are saints in the game of Livestreaming! We had so many people giving great feedback about the quality of your work, its just ridiculous! Big THUMBS-UP to you and hope we can count on you next year...
When creating events of this magnitude you need good people around you who help out when needed, that’s why I want to thank the following people for volunteering as crew or other ways; Gijs Van Westenbrugge, Kevin Dijkstra, Tim De Ruyter, Lesley Weeterings, Bartek Skoniecki, Konrad Piekarski, Susan Verheijen and other who I maybe forgot. Want to thank our two referees who got into the arena at the Last16 stage; Johny Vanrijkel and Tom Penrose.. a job well done ! Also want to thank the Ames Crew for doing a great job behind the Bar, especially Evy Peeters and Eveline Brinks.
A big thanks goes out to all spectators for coming to Ames and cheering on their beloved players and spreading the word to others. It really felt like the house was packed!
Obviously our event wouldn't have been a success without funding, therefore I would like to thank our Sponsors and Partners for making this event possible by contributing in all sort of ways:
Main Sponsors: Predator Cues & Loontjens Biljarts
Table fitting: Serge Das of Serge Das billiards
General: Bavaria, Savicki, AM Koeriersdienst, Simonis Cloth, Aramith, Ho-WAH, www.sixpockets.de, De Biljart Ballen (krant),
Martin Welk Custom Cues for his repairs
Q-Promotions / Bobby Boleyn
if it wasn't for these three guys this event wouldn't be a success either..
Aziz Moussati for being one of my best friends and partners in crime.. couldn't have imagined setting up DCC without you. Your input on all matters was the key to my inspiration.
Harry Charalampidis.. this guy build the best venue in Europe IMHO! Props go out to you for doing the best job in organizing all sponsors and creating the arena.. also helping me out on a personal level in the past few years!
Gino De Ruyter.. thanks to you we got the event riding on wheels! Schedules etc. ? HE is your man! Without your input and hard work the event wouldnt have started or finished on time.. ! Thank you!
thats it.. 2014 DCC is done and dusted..
Hope to see you all next year! @ the 3rd Annual ....
Martin Sawicki
