Editing 2001 NPPL season

The '''2001 NPPL season''' was the [[National Professional Paintball League]]'s five-event United States tournament season. It comprised the Los Angeles Open, Gettysburg Open, Chicago Open, Atlantic City Gambler's Open and World Cup, with ten-man and five-man competition. [[Paintball Sports Promotions]] (PSP), formed through the combination of the event promoters, produced the tournaments.[1][2]

[[Aftershock]] won the professional series championship, [[Team Strange]] won Amateur A and [[Warped Kids]] won Amateur B.[3]

== Organisation and PSP's role ==

At the NPPL organisational meeting on 12–13 January 2001, league representatives and tournament promoters discussed event standards, player representation, finances and responsibility for the series. The promoters agreed to combine their events under a jointly owned organisation. The resulting arrangement retained the NPPL as the sanctioning body, with authority over rules and event requirements, while the promoters undertook tournament production.[1]

Contemporary reports identified this combined promotional organisation as Paintball Sports Promotions. At Gettysburg, Smart Parts carried out much of the event organisation within that arrangement.[4]

Before the Chicago Open, the NPPL steering committee negotiated further terms with PSP. These included a US$5,000 sanctioning fee per event to support the league's budget, in addition to assistance already provided for identification cards and staffing.[5]

PSP's involvement in 2001 therefore concerned the production of NPPL tournaments; the season was not a separate PSP championship running alongside the NPPL.[1][2][5]

== Calendar ==

The completed season comprised five events. Dates are given to the precision established by the contemporary event reports.[2][3][4][5][6]

{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! Event !! Date !! Venue
|-
| 1
| [[2001 NPPL Los Angeles Open|Los Angeles Open]]
| March 2001
| SC Arenas, Corona, California
|-
| 2
| [[2001 NPPL Gettysburg Open|Gettysburg Open]]
| May 2001
| Allstar Sports Complex, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
|-
| 3
| [[2001 NPPL Chicago Open|Chicago Open]]
| 20–24 June 2001
| The Badlandz, Crete, Illinois
|-
| 4
| [[2001 NPPL Atlantic City Open|Atlantic City Gambler's Open]]
| August 2001
| Atlantic City Racetrack, Mays Landing, New Jersey
|-
| 5
| [[2001 NPPL World Cup|World Cup]]
| 22–28 October 2001
| Kissimmee, Florida
|}

== Ten-man results ==

The following table records the winners of the three principal ten-man classifications at each event. Contemporary WARPIG reports and the ClassicScores archive agree on these placings.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Professional !! Amateur A !! Amateur B
|-
| Los Angeles Open
| [[Ground Zero]]
| [[Team Strange]]
| [[Warped Kids]]
|-
| Gettysburg Open
| [[Avalanche]]
| [[Naughty Dogs]]
| Team Worr
|-
| Chicago Open
| [[All Americans]]
| [[Team Strange]]
| Exile
|-
| Atlantic City Gambler's Open
| [[Aftershock]]
| [[Team Strange]]
| Nemesis DYE
|-
| World Cup
| [[Dynasty]]
| [[Trauma]]
| [[Warped Kids]]
|}

World Cup also included a novice ten-man classification, won by VIP.[3]

== Five-man competition ==

Five-man competition appeared at all five events, although the classifications offered varied between tournaments.[2][6]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Classification !! Winner
|-
| rowspan="3" | Los Angeles Open
| Amateur || Sinister
|-
| Novice || Full Breach II
|-
| Rookie || American Heat II
|-
| Gettysburg Open
| Unspecified in the published results || Eclipse
|-
| rowspan="2" | Chicago Open
| Amateur A || Shocktech Factory Team
|-
| Amateur B || Sharpshooters-Black
|-
| Atlantic City Gambler's Open
| Unspecified in the published results || High Velocity
|-
| rowspan="4" | World Cup
| Professional || [[Aftershock]]
|-
| Amateur A || Strange Red
|-
| Amateur B || Ravage
|-
| Novice || Static AKA
|}

Sources: WARPIG's event reports and ClassicScores.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Los Angeles did not offer a professional five-man division. At Chicago, the professional five-man competition began but its remaining games were cancelled following heavy rain. The professional teams divided the prize fund rather than completing the competition; no professional winner is listed for that event.[5][6]

== Season champions ==

WARPIG's World Cup report identified the following series champions.[3]

{| class="wikitable"
! Classification !! Champion
|-
| Professional || [[Aftershock]]
|-
| Amateur A || [[Team Strange]]
|-
| Amateur B || [[Warped Kids]]
|}

Aftershock secured the professional championship by qualifying for the World Cup ten-man final. Dynasty won that tournament, while Aftershock finished second.[3]

== League developments ==

At Gettysburg, teams selected an NPPL steering committee comprising three representatives from each of the professional, Amateur A and Amateur B classifications. Registration began collecting player information and photographs for the league's identification database, although printing problems delayed implementation of the cards.[4]

By Chicago, barrel bags were required for markers outside playing areas. Identification-card enforcement continued to be phased in, with full enforcement for ten-man players planned for the final day of that event.[5]

PSP also introduced a new compressed-air system at Atlantic City, comprising four compressors and ten player-operated filling stations.[2]

== See also ==

* [[National Professional Paintball League]]
* [[Paintball Sports Promotions]]
* [[2000 NPPL season]]
* [[2002 NPPL season]]

== References ==

# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/articles/news/NPPL_2K1_meeting.shtml Bill Mills, “NPPL 2001 Season Organizational Meeting”. WARPIG. Report of the meeting held on 12–13 January 2001.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2001/atlantic/index.shtml “Atlantic City NPPL — Gambler's Open”. WARPIG, August 2001.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2001/worldcup/index.shtml “NPPL World Cup 2001”. WARPIG, October 2001. Event results and series champions.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2001/gettysburg/index.shtml “Smart Parts Gettysburg NPPL”. WARPIG, May 2001.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2001/chicago/index.shtml “Chicago Open NPPL”. WARPIG, 20–24 June 2001.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2001/laopen/index.shtml “Los Angeles Open NPPL 2001”. WARPIG, March 2001.]
# [https://www.classicscores.com/ ClassicScores. 2001 NPPL results for Los Angeles, Gettysburg, Chicago, Atlantic City and World Cup.]

[[Category:National Professional Paintball League]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:2000s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2001 in paintball]]