2009 PSP season

The 2009 PSP season was the national tournament season organised by Paintball Sports Promotions in the United States. It comprised four major events, beginning with the Phoenix Open in February and concluding with the World Cup in October. The season introduced PSP's professional RaceTo-7 designation in place of the National Xball League name, alongside a new semi-professional division.[1][2]

Philadelphia Americans won the professional season championship with 370 points. Boston Red Legion finished second overall and won the professional World Cup tournament.[3][7]

Calendar

PSP reduced its national calendar from five events in 2008 to four in 2009. The World Cup moved from Disney's Wide World of Sports to Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.[2][7]

Round	Event	Dates	Venue	Location
1	2009 PSP Phoenix Open	19–22 February 2009	Glendale Youth Soccer Complex at University of Phoenix Stadium	Glendale, Arizona
2	2009 PSP Mid-Atlantic Open	30 April – 3 May 2009	PBC Sports Park	Rock Hill, South Carolina
3	2009 PSP Chicago Open	24–28 June 2009	Bolingbrook Recreation and Aquatic Center	Bolingbrook, Illinois
4	2009 PSP World Cup	7–11 October 2009	Fantasy of Flight	Polk City, Florida

Dates and venues are documented in PSP's published schedule and contemporary tournament reports.[1][2][4][5][7]

Transition from NXL to RaceTo

PSP's format announcement for 2009 identified the professional division as “Pro Race to 7 (Formerly NXL)” and introduced Semi-Pro RaceTo-7. Divisions 1 and 2 used RaceTo-5, while Division 3 used RaceTo-4. Five-player competition adopted RaceTo-2 match scoring.[1]

Competition	Format	Scheduled match time
Professional and Semi-Pro	RaceTo-7	20 minutes
Divisions 1 and 2	RaceTo-5	15 minutes
Division 3	RaceTo-4	10 minutes
Five-player competition	RaceTo-2	Up to three five-minute points

In RaceTo-2, preliminary matches awarded two match points for a win and one for a draw. Playoffs used head-to-head, single-elimination matches.[1]

Contemporary terminology was not uniform: WARPIG continued using NXL in its accounts of professional competition, while PSP's announcement used the professional RaceTo-7 designation.[1][2][4][5]

Division 4 RaceTo-4 was also contested at Chicago and the World Cup, as recorded in the event results.[6][8]

Professional competition

Philadelphia Americans won the opening tournament in Arizona. Los Angeles Ironmen won the Mid-Atlantic Open, defeating Philadelphia 5–4 in the final. Boston Red Legion then won Chicago with a 7–1 final victory over San Diego Aftermath.[2][4][5]

Event	Winners	Runners-up
Phoenix Open	Philadelphia Americans	Los Angeles Ironmen
Mid-Atlantic Open	Los Angeles Ironmen	Philadelphia Americans
Chicago Open	Boston Red Legion	San Diego Aftermath
World Cup	Boston Red Legion	Philadelphia Americans

Sources: contemporary tournament coverage and APPA event placings.[2][4][5][8]

The World Cup professional final was a best-of-three series. Philadelphia won the opening match 5–3, but Boston won the second 7–0 and the deciding match 7–4.[9]

The World Cup victory and the season championship were separate achievements. Philadelphia's accumulated results placed it first in the final season standings.[3]

Professional season standings

Position	Team	Points
1	Philadelphia Americans	370.00
2	Boston Red Legion	347.50
3	Los Angeles Ironmen	317.50
4	Tampa Bay Damage	287.50
5	San Diego Dynasty	287.50

The published standings place Tampa Bay Damage ahead of Dynasty despite their equal points totals.[3]

Divisional event winners

RaceTo-7, RaceTo-5 and RaceTo-4

Division	Phoenix Open	Mid-Atlantic Open	Chicago Open	World Cup
Semi-Pro RaceTo-7	Sacramento XSV	Aftermath II	Aftermath II	Vicious
Division 1 RaceTo-5	Aftermath II	Seattle CDR	DBS Kidz	Raiden
Division 2 RaceTo-5	Free Train Rides	Team Unlimited	DSSP8NTBALL.COM	DefconPaintball.ca
Division 3 RaceTo-4	Tombstone	Boom	Cross Eyed Paintball Black	Velocity Wrecking Crew II
Division 4 RaceTo-4	—	—	Wreckless Intentions	Flip Syde

Sources: WARPIG reports and APPA event placings. Dashes indicate that no result for that division appears in the season standings for the event.[2][3][4][5][6][8]

Aftermath II won Division 1 at Phoenix before competing in Semi-Pro at the remaining three tournaments.[3]

Five-player RaceTo-2

Event	Division 3 winners	Division 4 winners
Phoenix Open	WiseGuys	Coalition Black
Mid-Atlantic Open	Inertia	Coalition
Chicago Open	New Jack City	DBSpaintball.com
World Cup	Annihilators	Notorious

Sources: contemporary reports and APPA event placings.[2][4][5][8]

The World Cup also included Division 2 RaceTo-2, won by No Limit, and Division 5 RaceTo-2, won by Fatality Green. Fluffy Bunnies won Masters RaceTo-4.[8]

The World Cup Division 4 RaceTo-2 winner follows APPA's final placings, which list Notorious; WARPIG's report instead names Revolution.[7][8]

Young Guns

Chicago hosted a PSTA Young Guns competition for eligible players aged 12–18. Entry and limited paint were supplied without charge. Demolition Fo2Three won the competition.[5][6]

Season champions

The following teams finished first in the published multi-event season standings.[3]

Division	Season champions	Points
Professional RaceTo-7	Philadelphia Americans	370.00
Semi-Pro RaceTo-7	Sacramento XSV	328.75
Division 1 RaceTo-5	TBD Fierce	291.13
Division 2 RaceTo-5	DSSP8NTBALL.COM	351.42
Division 3 RaceTo-4	Boom	390.90
Division 4 RaceTo-4	Wreckless Intentions	152.35
Division 3 RaceTo-2	Inertia	368.14
Division 4 RaceTo-2	Coalition	389.44

Division 4 RaceTo-4 standings covered Chicago and the World Cup. Masters, Division 2 RaceTo-2 and Division 5 RaceTo-2 each have only World Cup results in the season table.[3]

References