posted Sep 1st, 2005 - The event pages for 4-way and 8-way are prepared, the work station for the NSL News at the media center in Perris has been confirmed by the meet management, the travel arrangements have been completed - it is now time to get excited and review the situation before the start of the USPA Nationals 2005.

Two earlier NSL News stories were already directly related to the USPA Nationals 2005, including the recent newspaper article covering DeLand Majik's trip to Perris. Several additional NSL News stories have been leading into the current situation right before the peak of the 2005 season. These stories introduced the top contenders and covered their attendance at competitions this year.

There are no more meets between now and the first day of 4-way competition in Perris on Monday, at least not with any of the US top contenders involved. The Northern Plains Skydiving League has the last meet of the 2005 season scheduled for this weekend, and the European Skydiving League Championship 2005 begins this Friday in Spa, Belgium. However, the main attention of the competition world will be focused on the USPA Nationals 2005.

The NSL News will now once again introduce the six top contenders and evaluate the current situation with a summary of the 2005 season. The valued NSL audience has the opportunity to provide additional feedback and join the discussion in the NSL Forum. There is also a poll for selecting the favorite teams to win the championship. The 4-way competition has never been so tight and exciting as this year, there is a lot to say...

Top teams in 2005	SSL February	FSL March	SSL April	MESL May	MESL June	Malevsky July	MESL July	Germany August	NSL August
DeLand Fire	-	20.7 (10)	-	-	-	21.6 (10)	-	21.2 (10)	-
Golden Knights	20.2 (6)	20.4 (10)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Airspeed Odyssey	19.5 (6)	-	20.8 (6)	-	-	20.4 (10)	-	-	20.3 (6)
Fastrax	-	18.3 (10)	-	16.3 (6)	22.8 (6)	19.9 (10)	19.0 (6)	-	-
Airspeed Velocity	18.7 (6)	-	22.8 (6)	-	-	20.2 (10)	-	-	18.2 (6)
DeLand Majik	-	19.3 (10)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The NSL News uses the current AAA Class Rankings to set the story order of the six top teams. DeLand Fire leads the NSL AAA Class Rankings with a 20.7 season average, which is identical with the only posted meet score. This 20.7 average is the result at the only NSL meet DeLand Fire attended in 2005, the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005.

However, the overview of the meet attendance shows that DeLand Fire did not stay away from other meets after surprising the 4-way world with the victory at the FSL Shamrock Showdown. The traveling team with PD Factory Team swoopers Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo and full time coach Gary Smith repeated the 10-round surprise at the Malevsky Cup 2005 in Russia.

DeLand Fire defeated DeLand Majik and the Golden Knights over ten rounds in March in DeLand, while the rest of the top contenders, Fastrax, Airspeed Odyssey and Velocity, experienced the DeLand Fire power live in July at the 10-round meet in Russia.

The DeLand Fire members staid in Europe during the summer and attended the German championship in August. The 21.2 average over ten rounds was another solid performance. DeLand Fire attended three 10-round meets and hardly showed any weaknesses at all. Consistency seems to be the strongest part of the team's performance.

Where does this consistency come from? There is no logical answer to this question. DeLand Fire is a new team that was formed early this year and has not trained much throughout the 2005 season. Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo are experienced 4-way competitors (DeLand Genesis and PD Blue), however, they never scored higher than PD Blue's 20.5 average at the World Cup in 2000, and their focus has been on swooping with the PD Factory Team in the past years. Ian Bobo is in his familiar tail slot, while Shannon Pilcher switched from center outside to the new center inside slot.

Gary Smith is a reigning 4-way world champion and one of the most experienced coaches in the world. He flies the front piece together with Natasha Montgomery who is on the lowest experience level of all top contenders this year. She made her first skydive in November 2002.

DeLand Fire was new and the underdog at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005, there was not much pressure at that time. This was different at the Malevsky Cup 2005 when many curious eyes were on DeLand Fire, and top teams from all over the world challenged the Shamrock winner. DeLand Fire did even better than before under that pressure. The competition in Germany was just a fun meet for the team, and Thomas Hughes replaced Ian Bobo. However, the 21.2 average added to the mounting pressure, and many people now see DeLand Fire as one of the top contenders for the USPA gold medals.

Here are the key questions as of DeLand Fire: Did the team get enough training jumps to be ready for the USPA Nationals? Can all team members handle the pressure of being the top contender? Is it possible to make 40 meet jumps without any serious mistakes? Will the casual DeLand Fire style be strong enough to deal with the expected aggressive challenge by the Golden Knights and Fastrax?

The Golden Knights attended the first two meets of the 2005 season, the SSL Valentine's Meet in February and the FSL Shamrock Showdown in March. Then the Army team retreated into the North Carolina headquarters and did not show up at any other meets.

This silent preparation throughout the remainder of the 2005 season did not mislead the other top contenders and the audience. Most teams and competitors still see the Golden Knights as the team to beat at this year's USPA Nationals. This position is based on the experience of the current line-up as a team and the unlimited training resources for the Army team, which includes the only real professionals in 4-way competition.

The theory of unlimited resources is not fully supported by feedback from the team members though. Golden Knights members have mentioned regularly that the training schedule is often limited. However, the Army surely covers all expenses for training and competition and has the team members on salary. No other team has this luxury.

The two meet averages of the Golden Knights at the beginning of the 2005 season (20.2 - 20.4) do not represent what the Army team will have to offer next week. The competition at the FSL Shamrock Showdown still indicated that other teams can catch up quickly. DeLand Fire was just formed, while the Golden Knights went into the second full year with the same line-up. DeLand Fire won by three points.

The 2005 top teams and competitors have no doubt that the Golden Knights can be expected at a 21.0 - 22.0 average level, even though there is no evidence yet for this assumption. Fact is that the Army team with a different line-up had its best meet performance at the USPA Nationals 2002 with a 21.8 average for the gold medals. The 2002 season was loaded with practice competitions for the Golden Knights, including several NSL/CASL meets.

The 2004/2005 line-up seems to have a different strategy and has not competed much throughout the bulk of the regular season, neither in 2004 nor in 2005. The Golden Knights finished in second place at the USPA Nationals in 2004 with a 19.9 average and have the two 2005 averages (20.2 - 20.4) in the records so far.

The Golden Knights must still be quite confident of their current performance level and top position since the team volunteered to give up some time and efforts to train and compete with the newly formed 8-way team, as well. The NSL News story on July 27 offered more insights.

The questions behind the Golden Knights performance are different compared to DeLand Fire: Can the team handle the pressure of being the top contender without much serious competition practice? Will the 8-way team efforts take away some of the concentration needed in 4-way?

The NSL News will follow up with the situation of the other teams soon. The NSL Forum is now open for feedback and discussion.