Editing 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. [[Russian Legion|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]

{| class="wikitable"
! 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]

{| class="wikitable"
! 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]

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 ===

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 ===

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 ===

{| class="wikitable"
! 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]

{| class="wikitable"
! 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]

== See also ==

* [[Paintball Sports Promotions]]
* [[National Xball League]]
* [[2008 PSP season]]
* [[2010 PSP season]]
* [[Paintball in the United States]]

== References ==

# [https://pbhub.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36028 Paintball Sports Promotions — 2009 schedule and format announcements, reproduced in the contemporary pbhub.de discussion “PSP 2009”, December 2008–January 2009.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2009/phoenix/ WARPIG — PSP Phoenix Open 2009, contemporary tournament report.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/league/1/seasonRankings/2009 APPA/PBLeagues — 2009 Season Rankings: PSP Events.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2009/mao/index.shtml WARPIG — PSP Mid Atlantic Open 2009, 30 April–3 May 2009.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2009/chicago/index.shtml WARPIG — PSP Chicago Open 2009, 24–28 June 2009.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/1119/rankings APPA/PBLeagues — 2009 Chicago Open: event placings.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2009/worldcup/ WARPIG — 2009 PSP World Cup, 7–11 October 2009.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/1164/rankings APPA/PBLeagues — 2009 World Cup: event placings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/1164/scores APPA/PBLeagues — 2009 World Cup: match scoreboards.]

[[Category:Paintball Sports Promotions]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:2000s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2009 in paintball]]