FL Charms (No,
they’re not from Florida! The correct way to write the team name
would be F.L. Charms – but they claim to be lazy ;) ) are made
up of 11 dedicated girls from the three countries Norway, Sweden and
Denmark – you know, the small peninsulas in the northern corner
of Europe.
Because of the distances, the team practices together once a month but
each individual player practices several times a week at their local
field. During the winter it is impossible to train paintball outdoors
in Scandinavia. You know why when you see these pictures from their
practise in Oslo, Norway in April this year:
Instead the team plays on small indoor fields using both Reballs and
paint, without them, practice in the winter time would be rare.
The girls feel very lucky to have some of the best players in the world
to help them during practices and tournaments. Most of you have probably
heard about Sebban and Brian from Stockholm Joy Division, but they also
get help from Stian from Oslo Menace, Koffe from Stockholm Ignition
and Tony from London Nexus. Well, they are the girls’ mentors
on-field and – sorry to all the guys hoping and praying out there
– some of the girls’ partners off-field as well.
When it comes to managing the team, the girls are working by the “do
it yourself” style. Sponsorships, coaching, travels, etc. are
all managed within the team. “We’re all highly educated
and modern women – so why let someone else decide for us?”,
they say.
Always showing good sportsmanship, true love for the sport, dedication
and a professional attitude has helped them get some of the largest
companies in the paintball industry on board with them. FL Charms play
with pink Shockers with Freak barrels and Micro Max-Flo from Smart Parts.
They shoot the best paint; Hellfire from Draxxus, and carry it around
in harnesses from R7. Their pretty faces are protected by the VForce
Profiler and Semcon Sweden AB helps the team financially. And all their
electronic equipment are fuelled by batteries from Altitec.no.
This trip is not the girls’ first time to the States. In 2002,
they played 10 man at the World Cup in Orlando, Florida, and last year,
they attended the NPPL event in Huntington Beach, California. The team
has stood on the podium at the Millenium Series several times and the
best result in the 2006 season was their 3rd place in Division 2 at
EuroDisney in Paris, France.
To get into the ”zone”, the girls are planning to have a
quick practice on Wednesday prior to the event. Look for more information
about the practice on their web site, if you want to test your skills
against the girls! And if you can’t be there, don’t worry,
you’ll get your chance: The team will appear as one of the featured
teams in the new version of Greg Hastings Max’d Paintball video
game, scheduled to be released next month!
If you want to know more about this charming team, have look at their
web site: http://www.flcharms.com – or come watch them live at
the Orange County Fair and Expo center during the NPPL Commander’s
Cup October 20-22!
Pictures (photos by Erik Chateau):
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