posted Jul 4th, 2008 - New NSL-TV videos of the indoor competition at the Paraclete XP Money Meet 2008 feature other teams that have not been shown with their performances in the windtunnel yet, including Norway's national 4-way team in the female category, Fortitudo, and Denmark's national 4-way team in the Open Class, Danish Blaze.

Both teams had already attended the indoor competition at the World Challenge 2008 and competed indoor and outdoor in Raeford. The NSL News story on 2 July 2008 had already covered the current situation of the Norwegian team in the countdown to the World Meet 2008.

Danish Blaze will travel to France very soon, as well, and the team will have more competition experience than any other national team this year. Kasper Brand-Svanekier (Center Outside), Brian Gregersen (Center Inside), Allan Stejlborg (Point), Torben Tidemand (Tail) and John Pedersen (Camera), have already attended six different competitions to date, and they still have Denmark's national championship on the agenda (July 19) before making the trip to France in August.

The competition experience is very important and helpful for a relatively young team. The Danish national A-Team was selected at the beginning of the 2007 season and trained last year with only three of the current members. Former DaneZ member Rene Andreasen helped out for the whole 2007 season when Kasper Brand-Svanekier's shoulder was causing trouble.

The complete lineup actually began with training and competition at the beginning of the 2008 season. The FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 was the first competition for Danish Blaze. The team has been on a very busy training and competition schedule ever since.

The scores that Blaze has posted this year are not on the top level of the 4-way world, and the team will not be able to get there this year or any time soon. However, the team members and coach Solly Williams know that the team is much better skilled and trained as the scores show so far.

The young lineup had to go through the same troubles as all other national teams after having to switch from left-hand doors to the right-hand pattern of the Pilatus Porter. A lower level of competition experience makes it even harder for teams to deal with the additional challenge.

Exit problems and lack of consistency, which comes along with a shaky start into any competition jump, followed the Danish team all year long.

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The psychological situation for the Danish Blaze members hasn't made it much easier. Denmark has a remarkable history of strong national 4-way teams for such a small country. Team Touche even won bronze medals for Denmark at the World Meets in 1993 and 1995.

The DaneZ, Denmarks' national 4-way lineup before Blaze, took on the previous national 4-way records, set by Touche long ago, and broke them all. Rene Andreasen, Jesper Rasmussen, Jess Romer and Mikael Toft lifted the Danish bar to a 17.3 average and 27 points for a single round.

Danish Blaze can feel the pressure of the past, even more so since the DaneZ members are still around and competing just for fun here and there. The other project teams, especially Sequence, are also pushing from behind. There is no time to rest and relax for the official national team.

The Blaze members are still always in good spirits and have enjoyed the busy meet schedule. They shake off the sometimes disappointing scores and look forward to better days, which are only a matter of time. Training and meet experiences of the 2008 season will hopefully pay off at the right time.

Coach Solly Williams has worked enough with the team to know what Danish Blaze can actually put on the scoreboard. He hopes that the team will have a good meet at the Danish Nationals 2008 in two weeks and get the much needed motivation to deliver peak performance at the World Meet 2008 in August.