posted Jan 25th, 2022 - The NSL News has covered the events of the Polish Tunnel League regularly since it was launched several years ago. The indoor league offered 4-way teams in Poland regular 4-way competition opportunities, which went beyond the national outdoor championships.

Flyspot Warszawa, one of the three Flyspot windtunnels in Poland, eventually even hosted the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016, attended by a total of 48 teams in the four FAI 4-way indoor categories (4-way Open, 4-way Women, 4-way Junior, 4-way VFS).

The Czech Republic is a neighboring country and served as a model project after Jan Klapka launched the Czech Tunnel League at the Hurricane Factory years before the first Flyspot windtunnel was built in Poland. Czech 4-way teams have visited indoor events of the Flyspot Liga regularly ever since, and the Czech and Polish teams also met each other often at other international 4-way competitions.

Both countries are in a very similar situation with two passionate 4-way competitors who initiated the impressive 4-way activities in their respective countries, Jan "Geisha" Klapka in the Czech Republic and Zbigniew "Zbig" Kordzikowski in Poland. They have known each other for a long time, as well. In fact, Jan Klapka was Sky4Four's first coach in 2013.

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FAI Indoor World Cup 2016			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		15,11,6		7,2,A		J,B,18,5		E,19,Q,3		8,P,21		12,L,O,C		G,20,F,16		10,D,22		N,9,K,4		14,M,17		Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	25	-2	32	-2	33		31	-2	24	-2	31	-3	32	-1	26		41		31		306	30.6
2	Weembi	FR	24	-3	30	-1	33		33		25	-1	33		31		26		36		31		302	30.2
3	France 4-way Open	FR	20	-3	27	-1	29		29		26		30		29		23		35		31		279	27.9
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22		27	-1	27	-1	29		25		28		24	-1	21		36		27		266	26.6
5	Gryttjom Volo	SE	23		24	-2	24	-2	26		24		27		26		20		29	-1	25		248	24.8
6	Echochamber	SE	20	-1	27	-1	27		22	-1	20	-1	26		25		18		29		24	-1	238	23.8
7	XOTeam	RU	19	-1	24	-1	26	-1	25	-1	18	-3	24	-1	22	-2	19		28	-1	25		230	23.0
8	Sky Dragons	SI	18	-2	24		23		26		21		20	-2	23		18	-1	27		20	-3	220	22.0
9	ACM	UK	19		22		21		22		19		22		23		15	-1	26		22	-1	211	21.1
10	Bad Boys	CZ	19		23	-1	19	-2	22	-1	21		19	-2	22	-1	17		26		21	-2	209	20.9
11	Chimera	UK	19		22	-2	22		24		17	-3	19	-2	21	-2	18	-1	24	-2	22	-1	208	20.8
12	Energy	IT	17		21	-2	20	-1	23	-1	18	-1	21		23		16		23	-2	21		203	20.3
13	Jazz Republic	ZA	17		20	-1	17	-1	23		19		21		19	-1	18		25		22		201	20.1
14	Qatar Falcons A	QA	18		22		18	-1	21		19	-1	21	-1	22	-1	14	-3	22	-1	21		198	19.8
15	VAF Warriors	DK	17		20	-1	18	-2	22		18	-1	20	-1	20		18		21	-1	18	-1	192	19.2
16	Qatar Falcons B	QA	18		20	-1	17	-1	21	-2	20		21		17	-3	15	-1	25	-2	15	-5	189	18.9
17	Monaco	MC	15	-2	21		18	-1	20		14	-3	21		18	-1	15	-1	23		19		184	18.4
18	Flyspot Sky4four	PL	19		19	-2	15	-2	22		19	-1	19		17	-3	10	-4	24		16	-4	180	18.0
19	Aladeen	HU	17		20	-1	16	-1	21	-1	16		20	-1	14	-4	12	-2	20	-2	21		177	17.7
20	HF Michels Chicks	CZ	18		21		18	-1	19		18	-1	17	-1	19	-1	15		9	-8	18	-1	172	17.2
21	Phoenix	UK	14		19		14	-2	13	-4	17		18		18		13	-2	20	-2	16		162	16.2
22	Equinox	LT	13	-1	18		7	-3	15	-2	16		16		17	-1	12		19	-1	17	-1	150	15.0

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The NSL News has covered Jan Klapka's activities in the Czech Republic for many years, which eventually generated the 4-way junior world champion team HF Cubs and a solid foundation for a new generation of 4-way teams and competitors. Jan Klapka's success with the 4-way junior project eventually found the support of government resources, which he reinvests to advance 4-way competition in the Czech Republic.

Zbigniew Kordzikowski in Poland has been just as passionate in 4-way training and competition as Jan Klapka in the Czech Republic, even though his circumstances are very different. Zbigniew Kordzikowski is still training and competing with the Polish national indoor and outdoor champions of Flyspot Sky4four, while Jan Klapka's Bad Boys are not very active any longer as a team. Jan Klapka has joined his long-time friends in the M Team instead.

Zbigniew Kordzikowski has been coaching most of the Polish 4-way teams, and he develops them according to the history of the team members and their progression. He has been using the four NSL categories carefully for this purpose and accommodates the teams at the meets in Poland accordingly.

In fact, Zbigniew Kordzikowski and Jan Klapka both have been using the four NSL categories to support each team's progression as efficiently as possible, and both have been very successful with that in their own leagues.

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Bad Boys at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016 - Flyspot Sky4Four at the World Challenge 2017

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However, the 4-way teams from both countries follow their own patterns domestically, and the progression is not always the same when they meet each other at combined events. Zbigniew Kordzikowski said that he has to explain to his teams why they have to compete with better trained opponents of higher categories at such occasions.

He added that the rules of the Flyspot Liga are not only based on common sense. The regulations are well defined, and the teams cannot simply select a category as they think it may fit best for a competition. The four NSL categories are based on the natural and most logical progression of 4-way teams, and event organizers have the final word in sorting the leaderboards accordingly.

Teams and coaches, including Jan "Geisha" Klapka in the Czech Republic and Zbigniew "Zbig" Kordzikowski in Poland, share the same goal of supporting the progression of the teams year by year as good and efficiently as possible, while they have to manage the circumstances often in different ways.

The mixture of teams from Poland and Czech Republic at the Flyspot Open 2019 demonstrated how the different progression of the teams at their domestic events can result in unexpected results at other open competitions.

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Flyspot Open 2021			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		15,13,L	F,18,16	14,G,J,H	B,8,6	19,3,5	A,4,1	11,Q,7	O,22,K,17	21,20,9	C,12,D,E	Total	Avg
1	HF Cubs	CZ	27	26	26	25	22	27	23	22	22	22	242	24.2
2	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	20	24	24	22	20	22	21	22	21	26	222	22.2
3	MAD Team	PL	18	20	23	20	17	23	19	17	17	20	194	19.4
4	HF Flying Rebels	CZ	20	21	24	18	13	23	19	17	19	13	187	18.7
5	Flyspot Omega	PL	20	18	22	18	17	18	17	17	16	21	184	18.4
6	HF Chameleons	CZ	14	15	17	17	14	10	16	14	18	13	148	14.8
Rank	AA Class		14,B,D	2,M,P	O,F,9	20,15	8,11	Q,C,6	L,H,K,7	A,N,J,18	G,4,E	21,22	Total	Avg
1	Rusalky	CZ	15	20	28	13	13	19	22	17	15	11	173	17.3
2	Ladies Power	PL	12	21	32	11	13	21	16	17	14	12	169	16.9
Rank	A Class		K,C,19	P,E,8	2,J	L,D,N	F,G,4	9,H	B,7	21,A	O,M,6	Q,D,M	Total	Avg
1	Sky 21	CZ	9	15	12	18	16	19	18	15	19	29	170	17.0
2	Bitches from Hell	PL	12	16	12	16	18	14	19	15	17	26	165	16.5
3	DARK Team	PL	12	14	14	16	18	18	19	13	18	20	162	16.2
Rank	Rookie		N,Q,K	J,H,D	G,L,A	M,O,C	E,F,P	B,Q,H	N,P,M	A,L,B	F,C,D	G,J,E	Total	Avg
1	Vajca v Hirsti	CZ	5	8	9	14	14	13	11	10	9	5	98	9.8

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Polish 4-way teams could have been more competitive and would have probably won the other three categories below the AAA Class leaderboard at the Polish Flyspot Open if they had signed up for the event in a different way (Flyspot Omega, Ladies Power, Dark Team).

However, Zbigniew Kordzikowski explained to them that it is more important to collect competition experiences in their home category with a more realistic challenge by the competition draw than just winning. The Dark Team, as one example, had no competition in the Rookie Class at their three Flyspot Liga meets in 2021, and they stepped up into the A Class for their first meet in this new category at the Flyspot Indoor Open.

Ladies Power were in exactly the same situation in their second transition from A to AA Class competition. According to the Flyspot Liga rules, even AAA Class team Flyspot Omega would still be eligible to win the domestic AA Class title. However, they decided to continue their ongoing duel with MAD Team in the AAA Class.

Any potential domestic rules and regulations for the progression through the four NSL categories are irrelevant as soon as teams reach the AAA Class level, and the HF Cubs won the Flyspot Open on their way to the next FAI indoor world cup. Jan Klapka has been using the opposite strategy for his 4-way junior world champions of 2019, and he still applies it for some of his current junior teams. They compete in the AAA Class on home turf, even though they will be facing the AA Class dive pool and rules at the international 4-way Junior events. It worked out well for the HF Cubs...