About 250 international dart players are in the country this week taking part in the 19th annual Caribbean Cup. The opening ceremonies for the event took place yesterday evening at the Biltmore Plaza.
It is the first time Belize is hosting one of the world's biggest dart competitions and today we stopped by to check out the tournament and to see just how Team Belize is performing:
Malcolm Spicer - President World Darts Federation (America's Region)
"This particular tournament is the Caribbean Darts Tournament. It's been going now - this is the 19th - It's been going now for about 40 years. And every 2 years, we hold it in a different country. Last year, it was in the Bahamas; the time before that, it was in Barbados. Then before that, it was Trinidad. So, we go all over the Caribbean with this game."
Monica Bodden
"Tell us a little bit about the competition."
Malcolm Spicer
"The competition is strenuous. Every team has to play every other team. It's a round-robin format, and we also have individual events: men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, mixed triples - it goes on. On a daily basis, except for Friday, we'll be playing from 10 in the morning until 6 in the evening. Competition is very high, and we have some of the best - well, we have the best darts players in this region playing here right now. We have Barbados, Belize, Bahamas, Brazil, Cayman, Trinidad, Florida - We allowed Florida to come as a country because they were the founding members of the Caribbean Darts Organization. We do not allow the USA to come to this tournament."
Sean Burke - Team Barbados
"We came here to compete, to compete hard, and hopefully, we believe that we could play at the best of our potential. We're hoping that at the end of the tournament, if we perform really well, we can hopefully win it."
Donnie - Team Barbados
"Preparation is tough because to make the team back home, we had very tough competition. Everyone was playing really well, so we really had to stick in and fight hard for our place on the team."
Monica Bodden
"Tell me, what are your expectations coming into this competition?"
Donnie
"We expect to do very well. I think that we have the perfect balance. We had some new-comers that are hungry for it, and really want to get going, and we have some veterans that bring the experience and help us along the way."
Monica Bodden
"Tell us a little bit about how you got into darts."
Donnie
"I watched my mom play and I said, 'Let me try that.' They told me that had a talent, and I just started from there."
Peter Napthine - Team Brazil
"Coming into this, we hope to do well and maybe coming in the top 4. We've not done so well today, but I'm hoping that we'll do better tomorrow and get there."
Kenn Spencer - Team Trinidad
"Our preparation was actually very good. We had a lot of work done. We've been training for about 3 months. We got the team in gear, and started training twice a week for 3 hours straight. So, we've made adequate preparations for the tournament."
Monica Bodden "What are your expectations?"
Kenn Spencer
"We expect to win. We're the defending team champions, so we want to go for another victory."
Miguel Pariente - Team Belize
"The preparations normally, would be for a year. Unfortunately, we started out 4 months ago, to be precise. And the team had workouts from Cayo to San Pedro, Caye Caulker and Belize. One of our biggest obstacles was to have everybody in the same room at the same time, weather permitting, working - but these were expected. I gave them a thorough program to train. We wish we had a little more time. A little more time would have given an extra edge, but we are doing pretty well. With the exposure for the Belize team, it's very good. I am trying to enjoy myself, and I am doing my best at that because we have a very young team, and they have no discipline at all. Darts is a discipline game, both mentally and physical, and the discipline in that to practice 2-3 hours a day. And the only thing with this sport is that you don't have an opponent in front of you. It's you and the dart board; you're alone, and you can only get out what you put in."
Malcolm Spicer
"We have trophies for everybody, and Mr. Jose Mora - who is the president of the Belize Association, and Mr. Gerald Chavannes has been working closely - they've made some very beautiful trophies, hand-carved in the Mayan Slate. We had those for the Americas Cup; we just gave them out."
The competition is expected to wrap up on Sunday by 6pm. You can check out the tournaments for free at the Biltmore Plaza.
