The Caribbean has his own Mosconi Cup: The King Of the Caribbean Pool Tournament

The story begins 8 years ago when Karl Vervuurt travels with his former Eight ball team, The Maishi Tigers, from their native island Curaçao to their neighbor island Aruba. They went to Aruba to compete in an Eight ball team event between the best teams from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
 
The so called ABC islands, which are part of the Dutch Kingdom, are situated in the Caribbean Sea just of the coast of Venezuela. These islands have a couple of unique characteristics in common.

All the islands have beautiful beaches, friendly people who speak the language Papiamentu which is a mixture of African, English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. Maybe it's because of this mixture of various cultures that most of the inhabitants can speak 4 languages: Papiamentu, Dutch, English and Spanish. Dutch and Papiamentu are the official languages.
 
As of that day, eight years ago, Karl Vervuurt had only one dream. To organize a big team tournament that eventually would bring all the islands of the Caribbean together in order to compete with each other. Finally, in 2005 with the help of Robertico Freitas, Nathaniel Zoetrum and Ditto Acosta (former IPT player and 9-ball Panam champion), the King of the Caribbean tournament was a fact.

A total of 16 teams, each consisting of at least 9 players, representing Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao competed during four days to win the title of The King of the Caribbean pool tournament.

The first year (2005) the tournament was dominated by the teams from Aruba who took home all the prizes which left a sour taste behind for both the teams from Curaçao and Bonaire. The Hut Predators after beating Barracuda in the final 5-3 became the first KOTC champion. It was clear that the Level of Aruba was above the level of those of its neighbor islands.

In the second year, it was also an all Arubian final where the Hut Predators took theirs second crown home.

During the third year in 2007 of the tournament the Maishi Tigers from Curacao were able to stop the Hut Predators by defeating them 5-3 in the final match in front of a packed crowd which all where cheering for the Tigers.

Last year Bonaire managed to put themselves on the board as the Sharp Shooters and finished on a strong Third place. The Trini shotters from Trinidad & Tobago who joined the KOTC last year for the first time made a strong impression and promised to come back this year with a much stronger team in order to bring back the crown of the King of the Caribbean to Trinidad & Tobago.

As for this year, the KOTC will celebrate its first lustrum. Karl Vervuurt and Nathaniel Zoetrum, who are the organizers of this tournament, decided to move the venue from Curacao to Aruba where it will be held in the brand new billiard room called: Classic Billiards. The original idea was to eventually move the venue to other islands in the Caribbean as well.  For the first time, St Kitts and Nevis and Guadeloupe are also planning to join the fifth edition of the King of the Caribbean.

In order to participate in the KOTC, please contact Karl Vervuurt @ karlvervuurt@hotmail.com or Nathaniel Zoetrum at natscorpio@yahoo.com

A lot of info can be found on Facebook. Search for King of the Caribbean.