When I created Nexus, and certainly prior to any of the national trials we did, I had an idea of the spine of the team, in terms of its players.
The original Nexus team was actually the UK national team that was to play in Pittsburgh in the inaugurate World XBall finals.
I kept the team together after those finals to form a new UK team with a view to try and compete with the Yanks.
The players who were to make up that spine were Chrissy Edwards, Nicky T, Ledz [who was always gonna be the captain] and lastly, and most definitely not least, Mark Toye.
These guys still had to jump thru the qualification hoops of the Nexus National trials but I was confident they were all gonna sail thru them.
And that's exactly what they did - I had seen Chrissy play many times beforehand and he played very similar in style to Matty Schmiddt, another talented player [Actually, I had earmarked Matty to play for the Nexus but unfortunately politics, shall we say, kept him out].
I think Chris will be the first to tell ya, he was sometimes difficult to coach and on reflection, I don't think he was being a dikk but his playing style was already so ingrained, he was always gonna find it difficult to adapt to what I wanted.
Even so, Chris was a fackin good player and on his day, was one of the best in the world; if I had maybe been a better coach, I mighta made his play consistent, and consequently, he woulda been one of the best players in the world.
I dunno for sure on that one, all I know is this, he was, and is, an exceptional talent and I was lucky to be able to work with him and of course the others on that original Nexus team who all have a place in my paintball heart [except one].
Good luck in everything you do Chris ....