Fox4paintball Originally Posted by You are correct - no more Nick Leival on upTon 187 cRew for now.



Nick was offered an opportunity that I doubt anyone in his shoes would turn down. He's going to get the chance to play paintball around the world in 2014 on a quality team with great teammates. I helped Nick work though some of the difficult issues involved in making this decision and I fully support Nick in his choice. Additionally, so do all his former teammates on 187.



It is a privilege to have our players sought after by the top 4 teams in the world. Nick isn’t the only one that was offered an opportunity, but he was the only one offered a life changing opportunity. We don’t have the financial resources of some of the more “powerful” teams in the league. We know where we stand and what will most likely happen to our players over time as we ascend to the top of the pro ranks.



While Nick’s shoes are difficult to fill it also opens up great opportunities within our own organization for players and coaches to step up and fill the void both on and off the field. Everyone on the squad will be pushed to grow their game and I believe that the sum of those improvements will out way the downside of losing Nick. We will be a stronger team in 2014 then we were in 2013. And when Nick decides to come home we will be that much stronger.



As for picking up other players, we are always looking for local talent that can help us both on and off the field. We have plenty of roster spots available but we’re not rushing to fill spots with bodies. We want to fill spots with players that will contribute positively to the organization. We did have Thomas Mantoni join us this past weekend in Syracuse for the first NAPS event and practice with Rhythm. It was great to see him back on the field and I believe Thomas is one of those players that might be able to help us on and off the field. Time will tell if we decide to pick him up or not. We also have a few other players that continue to work out with us on a regular basis and it’s always possible one of them will get the tap on the shoulder too.



Look for great things to happen for 187 in 2014.