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Did You Know...

... that integration of new team members and lineup continuity have a high value?

Arizona Airspeed 2022 with Jack Jefferies (right)
posted Jun 20th, 2022 - The NSL Live Talk with Niklas Hemlin on June 15th included the coaching situation of Arizona Airspeed, where former 4-way opponents Jack Jefferies and Joey Jones have been working together on the goal to bring the U.S. team back to the top of the 4-way world.

The next topic covered Niklas Hemlin's own coaching career, which will soon bring him to facing former NMP PCH HayaBusa member Andy Grauwels, who is trying the do the same for 4-way Women team NFTO what Jack Jefferies and Joey Jones share as a goal for Arizona Airspeed.

Competing and coaching both are very relevant factors in the development of 4-way teams. In fact, coaching and the integration of new team players into an existing lineup play a major role in all team sports. The intensity of group dynamics and logistics in 4-way training and competition would make it even more important to bring these major components to the top of the priority list for each team.

There are still not many experiences and much expertise in this area of the relatively young sport. Former world-champion competitors Jack Jefferies, Dan BC and Shannon Pilcher dedicated their own experiences and interest in this territory to their careers and have become forerunners in the application of sport psychology, group dynamics and mental training.


Spaceland Pre-Nationals 2022: Expanded, Extended and Open for all Teams

Arizona Airspeed lineup continuity since 1994
Niklas Hemlin said that his own coaching is more on the technical side, while he is still trying to get as much learned knowledge as possible across to the teams he is coaching. Arizona Airspeed have obviously decided to use an external expert (Jack Jefferies) to bring the group dynamics to the best level and work with Joey Jones more on the technical side.

The lineups of the top teams and the integration of new team members play another major role in the development of a 4-way team, and Niklas Hemlin has had a lot of experiences in this area by himself. He joined Arizona Airspeed in 2011, after his time with Team Fastrax who tried to take the U.S. top position until the 2nd place at the USPA Nationals 2007.

Niklas Hemlin spent seven years with Team Fastrax, and the lineups changed annually, with one exception in 2004 and 2005, when the same lineup trained and competed together for two years. His first Airspeed lineup won the FAI world championship title at the end of the team's second year together.

He left the team after winning his first world meet gold medal and came back with the new Airspeed lineup of 2015. He has continued with the team ever since, together with Mikhail Markine since 2016, and they rebuilt the lineup even after missing the U.S. top spot in 2019.


USPA Nationals 2007
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Avg
Rank 4-way Open 11,6,K 12,E,C,A 18,17,F 4,8,P M,20,D,9 19,16,5 B,3,O,G 13,H,2 7,22,15 N,21,L,J Total Avg
1 Airspeed Odyssey  US  23 26 26 23 32 24 28 23 21 27 253 25.3
2 Fastrax  US  22 26 26 22 29 21 27 24 20 27 244 24.4
3 Golden Knights Gold  US  20 25 24 23 29 21 25 21 19 23 230 23.0
4 Perris Fury  US  20 23 19 20 28 19 21 20 17 22 209 20.9
G Arcteryx  NO  20 22 22 21 24 19 22 19 16 23 208 20.8
G Aerokart Seloger.com  FR  18 21 16 18 26 19 24 18 17 22 199 19.9
5 Mass Defiance  US  18 20 18 18 25 16 22 19 15 22 193 19.3
6 FooZa  US  18 18 20 16 23 16 24 17 16 22 190 19.0
7 Arizona Directe  US  16 20 18 16 21 15 20 15 16 21 178 17.8
G Nice Maubeuge Holidays  FR  17 20 16 15 19 17 21 16 15 18 174 17.4
8 Fastrax Blue  US  18 18 18 16 19 17 20 16 15 17 174 17.4
9 Arizona Ace  US  16 18 18 15 21 16 21 16 14 17 172 17.2
10 Arizona Divewerkz  US  16 13 15 15 20 14 17 16 13 19 158 15.8
11 Golden Knights Black  US  13 14 14 14 16 13 14 11 12 17 138 13.8
12 Optik Nerve  US  13 14 12 13 14 12 14 14 11 18 135 13.5
13 Team Twisted  US  13 0 9 13 18 9 17 12 11 14 116 11.6
NMP PCH HayaBusa lineup continuity since 2002
Niklas Hemlin with Team Fastrax and Arizona Airspeed in 2007
He explained during the NSL Live Talk conversation how important the efficient integration of new team members are for a successful and quick transition from one lineup to another one. That was one of the reasons why the current lineup began their partnership with Jack Jefferies early and have maintained it.

Niklas Hemlin discussed the situation of Arizona Airspeed's current lineup and compared it with the reigning 4-way outdoor world champions from Belgium, NMP PCH HayaBusa, at the same time. He is fully aware of the challenges that any change in the lineup is bringing.

NMP PCH HayaBusa's lineups over the most recent years have been going in the opposite direction than Airspeed's, after nine years of impressive continuity. The Belgians have become experts in the area of integrating new team members and were able to defend their world championship title successfully since winning it first time in 2014. They are now in the middle of the same process with new team member Neal Willems. Niklas Hemlin's Airspeed lineup is in its third year, and there is a very good chance that this continuity will be rewarded with a new world championship title for Arizona Airspeed in October this year.

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